Marvel Rivals has a monumental task in front of it after promising players a new hero every month and a half. So far, the devs have made good on their promise with new heroes every half-season, the latest being Phoenix and Blade, with the former arriving in under a week for the start of Season 3.
It's not as if Marvel has any shortage of heroes, though, so there's plenty of inspiration for the devs to take, but the question is, which heroes should be added first? Blade already had to wait months after being teased in a map release for Season 1.5, but it seems like the devs have come up with a solution.
Speaking to VideoGamer, game director Guangyun Chen discusses the idea of bringing hero voting to Marvel Rivals: “We continuously pay attention to the community and have noticed that players frequently take the initiative to vote on new heroes they would like to see in the future. We consider these votes to be highly valuable and will use them as an important factor in our planning for upcoming seasons.”
Now that would be a truly epic voting list. There are thousands of Marvel heroes, and Chen explains that NetEase “are licensed to explore the full Marvel universe,” (via VideoGamer). "From over 85 years.”
Fan voting does sound like a fun and engaging idea, but some things should be left up to the experts. One of the best parts of Marvel Rivals' roster is how it's full of household names and some curveballs. Jeff the Land Shark rose to astronomical fame when he was first revealed in Marvel Rivals, leading players such as myself to go read through all his fantastic comics and learn more about the adorable hero.
Chen does mirror this sentiment, explaining that the devs don't want to just “focus on the heavy-hitters” but will continue to “shine a light on some lesser-known yet equally fascinating characters. Players [want] to experience the Marvel Universe from other unique and enjoyable perspectives” and Marvel Rivals offers “a chance to discover new aspects of Marvel”. Balance this with community engagement, and you have yourself a winner.
It's commonplace to keep the community up to date via its Discord channel, and the devs have even responded to community backlash regarding weak characters. Not long ago, after a fight broke out between Strategist and Duelist mains, the devs responded to players who said that there was too much pressure on Strategists by dishing out a hefty buff.
But that's not to say that the team would simply divulge all power to the people. Chen explains that every recommendation from a player is “researched by our internal team to assess its feasibility." So by the sounds of things, NetEase already has a decent idea of how it will implement fan voting, and I'm excited to see what it looks like.
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