Marvel Rivals' competitive mode needs a major fix before Season 1

Marvel Rivals is heading towards its first full season soon. In addition to the likely, but no less exciting, inclusion of new characters, maps, and a new battle pass, players can also expect some changes to the game's competitive play mode. The exact form of this change remains to be seen, but based on the fact that there are already rewards for specific ranks in Season Zero, a competitive reset seems likely.

Regardless of how the first season is implemented, Marvel Rivals It desperately needs a solution to one of the biggest competitive problems, especially before the first season launches. At the moment, Marvel Rivals There are no placement matches, with the entire competitive player base starting their journey at bronze. While perhaps acceptable for Season 0, to avoid an ongoing series of unevenly rated matches, Marvel Rivals You need a method to properly position your players.

Placement matches are extremely necessary

Players need to be placed closer to their abilities

Placement matches, or a system that achieves a similar goal of placing players in a ranking bracket where they should belong, are a core component of an effective competitive system. The lack of such a system creates a level of friction for players of all abilities. High-ranking players could certainly move back up if they started at bronze, but the result of that choice would be Consistently uneven games that drain the fun out of everyone involvedas has already been seen with the disparities in skills classified into Rivals season 1.

Reducing the number of clearly uneven matches as much as possible should be an important goal for the Rivals developers heading into the highly anticipated first season. Matches will eventually become more balanced as the season progresses, but without a placement system, this process takes longer than necessary. In addition to ranked rewards like free skins and a sense of achievement, players often flock to competitive modes for those competitive games where skills are truly tested. A positioning system allows these games to be played more quickly and without time-consuming work.

What rivals could learn from other competitive games

How other games make rank resets seamless

Many other games use the balance of a hidden MMR system and a required number of placement matches at the start of a season. An MMR system is likely already implemented in Rivals. With Season 0, players likely started with the same MMR, with the number of uneven matches reduced further as the best Rivals Team compositions and strategies were still being defined by players of all skill levels. However, the question remains as to how this MMR will translate into future seasons, especially as player knowledge stabilizes.

Rivals could learn from games like League of Legendswhich uses a combination of MMR and positioning matches. At the start of a season, placement matches occur, with rank gains tied to this hidden MMR. Single matches can cause players to skip entire ranks, decreasing as player skill and rank equalize.

This relegates these uneven matches primarily to the starting placings, allowing for a quicker transition to a proper ranking. The best option for Marvel Rivals is to implement a similar system, which preserve new seasons as an exciting event without the dreary hard work of ratings.