Marvel Rivals: How Will Players Adapt to the New Changes of Update 1.5 and What’s to Come for 2.0

Marvel Rivals is a team-based player vs. player online game developed and published by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games. The popular game was released on December 6th, 2024 and has continued to grow. The game includes five main modes such as Convoy, Domination, Convergence, Conquest, and Doom Match. The first season was Dooms Rise (Season 0) and since January 10, the new season is called Eternal Night Falls, having released two new maps. The game has reached a concurrent player base of around 640,000 players since late January, with an impressive total of 40 million total users over these past 2 months.

Recently, the new update 1.5 launched on February 21st, introducing The Thing, a vanguard, and Human Torch, a duelist, completing the Fantastic Four team. Players are now wondering who will be next, other characters rumoured to join are Blade, Jean Grey, and Emma Frost, suggested to be added in 2.0. Meanwhile, many of the strategists received nerfs such as Luna Snow, Mantis, and Cloak/Dagger. Some notable upgrades are some of the team-ups, Moon Knight’s ability “Full Moon”, originally just for invisibility now heals him 25 HP per second. Many other characters received buffs as well in order to balance them out. Quick mode has received some new adjustments allowing for players to no longer join games when nearing the conclusion to ensure smooth matchmaking. Extending cooldowns and allowing more time for characters to gain their Ultimates, a character’s strongest ability that builds over time, especially strategists have been downgraded.

Many players dispute over the changes but overall the community has received it well. Developers were originally planning for a rank down for the competitive system but player feedback made them change their mind. Gold rank players and up can receive free skins every major update. For 1.5 these players can receive a new invisible woman skin. Though there have been concerns regarding the ranking system and whether to continue character bans or force players in forced team composition, filling two of each role. Players often argue over character balances with their abilities and cooldowns which NetEase Games tries to adhere to the demands and though there have been many changes within the development of the game, certain teams have been laid off. One team in Seattle was just let go as the company thought they were unneeded. Players still wonder if the game is going to continue to grow or fall off soon.

Either way Marvel Rivals is still a fun game and it is accessible to numerous people. It is free to download on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, GeForce Now, and Microsoft Windows.