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Marvel Rivals has a problem, one that every hero shooter since the invention of the concept—and every MOBA before it—has suffered from: People keep picking DPS. You rock into a game, expecting a balanced team makeup, but alas. Your crew is composed of Hawkeye, Black Widow, Magik, Psylocke, Spider-Man, and a Punisher. You proceed to die violently.
This has, predictably, led to cries for a role-based queue, where players have to commit to playing one of the three roles—Vanguard, Strategist, or Duelist—before entering a game. In theory, this karmically balances things. Sure, you can play your favourite DPS hero, but to do so you’ll need to endure long queue times. Meanwhile, your tanks and healers get the VIP treatment and, crucially, all games are balanced as a result.
Unfortunately for these people, Marvel Rivals isn’t getting a role queue any time soon, according to the developers in an interview with Dot Esports. Guangyun Chen, the game’s creative director, says that “right now, we’re not considering a role queue. The team’s goal is to offer a wider variety of team composition through team-up skills and their own designs, to let people play their Marvel superheroes rather than limiting players to choosing a role.”
There’s a saying I like very much: ‘You’re not stuck in traffic. You are traffic.’ While I’m not sure its original author was thinking of hero shooters when they wrote it—especially since it appears to be from a decade-old advertisement for TomToms, a satnav device from the age before you could just use your phone—I think it’s extremely applicable to them.
Point being, most people who are complaining about being in a team made up of six DPS heroes are, often, playing a DPS hero themselves. And look, I do get it. It can be frustrating to be nudged into tanking or supporting roles when you really just want to blast some folks—but you need to be the change, Venom, or Jeff the Shark you wish to see in the world.
I also happen to think that part of Marvel Rivals’ appeal is its absolute chaos, a sensation of free-for-all fun that is lent to its wonky balance and absurd team comps. I personally don’t want this thing to become sweaty, mostly because the moment people figure out to watch their flanks when I’m playing Spider-Man, I’m doomed. And trust me, my shoddy aim’s not going to save me.
But what about competitive play? Well, if you’re serious about improving, having a good understanding of what every role does is probably healthy for your development, anyway. Besides, Chen says “things have been rational and within expectations. In our Competitive play recently, there are a lot of different compositions emerging from players, and we’d like to continue to monitor these fun compositions and how they impact our game.”
Mind, this tune has been sung before. Back in 2018, Overwatch was similarly against the idea of role queues, and look how that turned out. In the meantime, you’ll probably win a lot more if you pick up a Strategist or two. Or you can just commit to the bit and not get upset if you take a couple of losses. I promise you that Squirrel Girl is, in fact, not real—and she doesn’t care about your K/D ratio.
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Kurt Indovina
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