Skin distribution seems to be an issue in pretty much any game with more than one hero and clear favourites. Marvel Rivals has come under fire for it for a while now, ever since players got wise to which heroes were favourites and which had clearly been shoved to the side.
It all came to a head a few months ago when the summer skins were released, and it was revealed that Storm was the only female hero to not get a legendary costume among all the swimsuit designs. Players did not look upon this favourably, as Storm is a hugely popular character and had already gone a long time without the same kind of legendary skins as other heroes like Luna Snow and had been passed over for skins in the Disco and Egyptian God skin lines.
But all the player complaints seem to have gotten through to NetEase, with creative director Guangyun Chen acknowledging in a dev diary that "season 10 has been a challenging one for us." Not only were players upset about only one hero being released this season, but the devs have "been closely following the community's feedback regarding certain heroes receiving fewer costumes. With strong demands for more high-quality Legendary costumes featuring recolours and ultimate ability visual upgrades."
The decision has since been made to upgrade Storm's summer skin to legendary tier with the devs "targeting a release around Christmas this December" for it. Other slightly forgotten heroes who will be getting some visual upgrades include Human Torch, who will get a legendary costume in early December which includes "recolours and ultimate ability VFX". Cloak and Dagger will also be getting a (presumably Valentines Day-themed) skin in February.
"We've been hard at work at this for almost eight months," Guangyun Chen says. "Cloak's design will include full legs. We fully re-animated Cloak's entire movement set strictly for this, we really hope you enjoy it."
But with all these new redesigns and costumes on the way, Guangyun Chen wants to remind players that skins can't just be made or changed at a moment's notice: "Please understand that art asset production requires a certain lead time and simply can't be done overnight. Generally, a single costume takes eight to 10 months to produce from start to finish."
Storm's redesigned summer skin has been in the works for three months already, with the finished product coming out after five months of work. That's under the average of eight to 10 months, but this sounds like the exception not the rule.
