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Yesterday, Marvel Rivals devs announced plans for an upcoming rank reset, and players wasted no time in explaining every reason why this would absolutely suck for everyone involved.
“Ranks will be reset when the second half of Season 1 starts on February 21, 2025,” a Marvel Rivals blog post says. “Based on your standing at the end of the first half of Season 1, prepare for a drop of four divisions. For example, if you ended the first half of Season 1 at Diamond 1, you’ll start the second half at Platinum 2.”
A mid-season rank reset may not sound like a big deal to everyone, especially as this one saw players only going down four levels as opposed to the six levels for the seasonal rank reset. But even still, it was way too big an ask for players to just accept without any backlash.
It’s only been a month since Marvel Rivals Season 1 launched, and for many players, it’s taken most of that time to climb back to their initial rank before the reset took place. I played Marvel Rivals a few times a week, and I only started to surpass my Season 0 rank in the last week or so. So the idea of taking four steps back and having to climb all over again so soon after Season 1’s reset was tiring to just think about and something that I would not have enjoyed doing again.
Hey Rivals, The first half of Season 1 is reaching its end with the second half set to kick off on February 21, 2025! Get ready to welcome two new Super Heroes to Marvel Rivals—The Thing and Human Torch—along with seasonal rank adjustments. We will be introducing additional… pic.twitter.com/KpKZsSpAGuFebruary 10, 2025
The beginning of Season 1 was chaotic, to say the least. It was full of high-level players stomping on low ranks to get back to their initial ranks, poor team matchups, and some ridiculously tough losing streaks. For a few weeks, the matchmaking felt a little off—you’d seesaw between crushing a team and then getting wiped. Recently, it’s all evened out. Games are difficult but feel closer in skill, and the matchmaking seems better, but that’s likely because most players have finally found the right rank. But a mid-season rank reset would throw all of this out of the window again. And while some players like myself may have the time to rerun the gauntlet, not everyone has that luxury.
Marvel Rivals’ accessibility is one of the things that makes it so appealing to casual players who perhaps don’t have as much time to spend grinding out games or battle passes—it’s why the non-expiring battle pass works so well here. So, adding a rank reset this often really makes no sense if you want to keep casual players involved and engaged.
“I can promise you NOBODY wants to have their rank reset halfway through every season. People have JOBS,” AngryRaccoon44 says. “I don’t have the time to re-rank up every few weeks. Out of everything great about this game, this WILL make me and my friends stop playing. They can make every character flawless and everything can be OP in just the right ways. But I won’t play because ranked is pointless.”
Another player even went as far as to reach out to NetEase and complain about the reset: “Dear NetEase, hope you guys are all doing well. I am currently GM 2 with around 200 hours playing your well made game. However, I have an issue with the upcoming mid-season update. I and many others do not like the fact that our ranks will be pushed back twice per season. Having our rank pushed back 10 times is overkill, and I hope you guys will rethink the rank reset system.”
It’s undoubtedly hard to find the balance between ensuring the competitive pool is active and really competing while also ensuring you’re not scaring off casual players who don’t have the time to keep up with all these demands. I can understand why you wouldn’t want players to just be able to grind to a good rank and then wait it out there until the next season, but a mid-season rank reset really wasn’t the right move.
Luckily, this isn’t really an issue anymore, as just as quickly as it was announced, the devs clocked all the backlash and quickly corrected the statement, saying that there wouldn’t be any mid-season rank reset this time around.
“When the second half of the season begins, there will be no rank reset,” the blog post says.
“Players will retain their ranks and scores from the end of the first half. To earn new rewards, players simply need to complete 10 matches in Competitive mode and meet the relevant conditions by the end of the season. Rewards will include a new Gold rank costume and a variety of Crests of Honor, featuring distinct designs for Grandmaster, Celestial, Eternity, and One Above All.”
The competitive rewards that were promised at the beginning of Season 1, like the Invisible Woman costume for players in Gold and above, the silver crest for GMs to Eternity, and the gold crest for players in One Above All, will all still be dished out to players in those ranks as well as the new prizes for the second half of the season.
Kurt Indovina
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