Marvel Rivals director promises a "Marvel-inspired approach" to game balance as new heroes arrive

NetEase has confirmed Marvel Rivals will receive a new hero every month and a half, but won't be adding enforced roles.

Speaking to Metro, game director Guangyun Chen was asked about the cadence of heroes joining the game.

"Every season we'll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes," said Chen. "We'll actually be breaking down each season into two halves. The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community."

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Chen also discussed why the team has not included enforced role lock - setting a limit on what class types can be in a team, for a balanced spread of healers, tanks, attackers - which is something the community wishes to change.

It appears the team won't be altering this, but will instead provide new possibilities with the team-up mechanic.

"At its core, it's really about the game balance," said Chen. "So, what we want to offer is more line-up or more team comp possibilities through our hero design and our team-up mechanic. So, we'll be taking a little bit more of a Marvel-inspired approach.

"It's all about giving the players the freedom to experiment and find their unique strategies, as we've seen in many games and streams. Post-launch, people have been exploring an indefinite amount of team compositions, and we're excited about what's coming, we believe no role queue will lead to a richer gaming experience for everyone."

Game balance will also continue to be scrutinised. Season One has brought a number of balance changes to nerf some of the most popular characters, as NetEase has released a Hero Hot List to show the most frequently chosen heroes.

"After the launch, we've been keeping a close eye on the game's environment and balance," said Chen. "Moving forward, we will be looking at hero pick rates and win rates in different scenarios. Once we have some more detailed analysis and through thoughtful consideration, we'll definitely make necessary balances and adjustments.

"It's all about creating a good experience for our players. It hasn't been that long since our launch, so we're going to continue to monitor everything and make sure everything feels right."

The hero shooter's first season also briefly put an end to mods on PC, to prevent custom skins, FPS boosts and potential cheats. However, modders quickly found a way to use them once again.