Marvel Rivals cancels its controversial rank change after players revolt

Never mind, your rank is safe from the upcoming midseason patch in Marvel Rivals. NetEase has cancelled its plans for a surprise rank reset after players criticized the change on social media and the game’s Discord server.

“After the release of Dev Talk 10 regarding the seasonal rank adjustment, we received a wealth of feedback from the community,” NetEase wrote in a Dev Talk post today. “A common concern was the pressure associated with having a rank reset every half-season, which has made participating in competitive mode less enjoyable.”

Next week’s patch won’t reset your rank, and midseason patches going forward won’t either. The cosmetic reward — in this case, the Blood Shield Invisible Woman skin — for reaching Gold will be handed out and replaced with a new one, but everyone won’t have to climb back up from Bronze to earn it. The start of seasons, however, will still include a rank reset.

Shortly after the announcement on Monday, players on Reddit, X, and Discord discussed how a midseason rank reset would discourage trying to climb, especially for anyone who doesn’t have a lot of time to play. Kicking people to a lower rank every six to seven weeks would also hurt the quality of matches as players settle into their proper skill levels. “This the kind of thing that just kills my vibe for the game,” one Reddit user said at the time.

With the change now reversed, players are happy they were listened to. “Very impressed to see how they handled the criticism, I’m honestly shocked,” wrote on Reddit user. “A dev team that makes adjustments almost immediately, unlike my teammates,” wrote one X user.

The midseason patch will go live on Feb. 21 and will mark the debut of the Thing and Human Torch on the roster, as well as a list of balance changes.