I told myself I’d work through my hefty backlog over the Christmas break. That was a lie. While I did finish a few short video games, most of my gaming time was spent on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, and Marvel Rivals. All three were riddled with the traditional microtransactions, but only NetEase Games’ hero shooter didn’t feel like a chore to stay on top of.
By and large, I’m okay with battle passes. I think they’re a good alternative to gambling money on loot boxes and being tempted by overpriced premium skins, the latter of which are a thing regardless in most online games that have passes. If you’re someone who plays an online regularly and cares about cosmetics, battle passes are good value and help pay for the development of actual playable content for everyone. Their traditional implementation could be better though, and one key issue with the model is the fear of missing out (FOMO). Marvel Rivals swiftly fixed that by making passes not expire, but what about the average time to complete them?
After completely moving away from Overwatch, Marvel Rivals has felt like a winner in that same space so far. It looks gorgeous, exudes charm, is consistently fun to play, and runs well enough. Now, I’ve also begun to appreciate that it’s the rare breed of live service game that doesn’t feel like a second job if you want to complete its premium seasonal tracks and free events.
At first, I was very worried (and I’m still sorta annoyed) by the game approaching battle pass progression from a ‘daily/weekly challenges’ angle. For a game that prides itself in letting players embody their favorite heroes and villains from Marvel’s impressively rich multiverse, forcing us into certain missions and play styles a fair amount of time just to get the points needed to make progress on the passes and events isn’t ideal. It’s helped me spend more time with characters I wasn’t really paying attention to before, but I’d like to have the opportunity to progress just by playing.
I was, however, quite surprised by the rate at which I progressed through the (admittedly half-length) S0 pass. The daily amount of points I could get in short one-hour-ish sessions was quite generous even if it didn’t seem like much at the moment. A little below 15 hours later, I’d fully completed the pass. This would make the completion of Season 1’s regular pass around 30 hours in length, which honestly feels quite relaxed if the folks at NetEase stick to the planned three-month schedule.
As someone who jumps between wildly different games constantly (and not only because of work), I’ve given up on the idea of ever completing the battle pass for something that isn’t MTG Arena (an addiction I’ve currently escaped) or another card game you can play in small bursts. The time commitment just seems too high and not aimed at functional adults. Marvel Rivals’ devs and publisher, on the other hand, appear to be fully aware of this issue. Sure, this might translate in much less engagement when it comes to the total average of hours, but it might help with the recurring issue of players burning themselves out gradually. After completing the S0 pass, I just kept playing, and I can’t wait to hit S1 as soon as possible.
The Jeff-centric Christmas event was another pleasant surprise. Even without trying, only a handful of hours allowed me to gain the required ‘golden stars’ to progress through the slim track that ended with a cool winter skin for our favorite land shark. I’m well aware that such things might change in the future if NetEase and Marvel want to squeeze players harder, but right now, Marvel Rivals is feeling like early days Overwatch 1 in all the right ways.
Another byproduct of the first pass and event not steamrolling me is that I’ve been enjoying the game well enough to constantly jump into competitive matches. It turns out that letting players breathe a little bit and play ‘for fun’ more often leads to healthier, more curious habits. Shocker!
In the age of live service titles coming and going and a handful of massive whales controlling a space that’s too large in the crowded online gaming market, more player-friendly approaches such as Marvel Rivals’ are gravely needed. It’s not perfect by any means, and there’s room for both improvement and failure as the game grows bigger and gets into a groove, but as it stands, Marvel Rivals has much more going for it than brand appeal. I’m almost 33 now, and I don’t want to be pushed out of online gaming because of business-first practices.
Hell, NetEase and Marvel could keep hitting home runs with this banger and I might end up paying for a premium skin that’s sick enough. Sorry, but as great as Sue Storm’s rear looks with her Mistress of Hate skin, I’m the kind of nerd looking for legendary comic book-inspired looks instead.