A new Marvel Rivals item lets you skip losses in ranked and players worry the climb has become meaningless

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Choose your own rank.

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(Image credit: NetEase Games)
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Update, May 14: Netease has confirmed that the Chrono Shield Cards will only be usable by players in gold rank or below. "The purpose is to allow lower-ranked players to enter ranked mode with even less pressure through this mechanism," it wrote.

A new item in Marvel Rivals' latest event has broken the idea many players had about its ranked mode—namely that it's an accurate way to measure your skill at the game. One loss is no longer necessarily weighed the same as another: The Galacta's Gift event lets you earn up to eight free Chrono Shield Cards which can be used to avoid the penalty of losing a match.

"Why do I even play ranked? This rank means nothing, it's just whoever plays the most every season!" streamer Eskay wrote on X.

"Basically inviting trolls to go into eight matches and throw on purpose," Reddit user Snowi5 wrote on the game's subreddit.

Marvel Rivals' competitive mode already has a system in place to prevent you from going on loss streaks called the Chrono Shield. It automatically activates when you're about to get hit with a demotion to give you a chance to climb back to where you were. This new item, however, gives you direct control on what counts or not.

Players have already been skeptical of how accurately rank reflects your skill level in Rivals. When it's not Netease dropping everyone down a few ranks every season, it's highly ranked players finding themselves in matches with people way lower than them. Netease has loosened up on the aggressive rank resets, but people are still convinced the key to success is just to play a lot (and not because practice makes perfect).

The Chrono Shield Cards aren't helping the perception that Rivals ranked is more casual than competitive. Letting players decide when they don't want to lose rank—even in a limited capacity—can't be a good thing for a system that is supposedly built to group players of similar skill levels together. At some point, it won't be all that different from Quick Match.

The last time this many people were upset about a change to Rivals, Netease did a complete reversal on its plans. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens again given the response.

Tyler Colp

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.

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