When Crystal Dynamic’s action brawler Marvel’s Avengers released in September 2020, player expectations were high. The live-service game, published by Square Enix, promised to give gamers the opportunity to team up with up to three of their friends, each embodying a different popular Avenger, including Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Iron Man.

Unfortunately, Marvel’s Avengers was met with tepid reception from both critics and players alike due to a lack of content, repetitive gameplay, and a game that was unpolished at launch. According to Steamcharts, for example, while the peak number of players in September reached over 28,000 on Steam, that number had fallen to less than 800 by February 2021. Square Enix reported a $48 million loss in the second quarter of their financial year, due in part to the underperformance of Marvel’s Avengers, which had failed to recoup development costs by December.

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Players were hopeful that the free addition of Hawkeye Kate Bishop in December and the upcoming DLC that will introduce Clint Barton to the game would breathe new life into the struggling title. However, an announcement on March 3 that Marvel Avenger’s XP system would be reworked was met with widespread protest on social media and seemed a questionable design choice to many. In an official Reddit post, Crystal Dynamics has attempted to clarify its decision in the face of player backlash.

In the original announcement and on the Reddit post, Crystal Dynamics explained that leveling up in Marvel’s Avengers occurred too frequently. Whereas with many RPGs, players level up on a curve, with an increasing amount of XP required to reach subsequent levels, in Marvel’s Avengers leveling occurs in a straight line, leading to pacing issues and players leveling too quickly, sometimes as many as two to three times per mission.

According to Crystal Dynamics, the company received feedback from gamers that the current XP system causes them to feel inundated and overwhelmed with new skills. Players didn’t have the time to fully enjoy or learn newly acquired skills and Heroics in Marvel's Avengers before unlocking new ones, thus making each level milestone less meaningful. As a result, the developer decided to increase the amount of XP required to level up, beginning around level 25, with the amount increasing incrementally with each new level. This would make it take longer to reach level 50, the current game maximum.

Many players in their social media responses have stated that the problem with the revamped XP system is that Marvel’s Avengers is backloaded, meaning much of the interesting content and combat is found towards the end of the game. Prolonging the path to get there will just increase the grind through less engaging missions. The decision to change XP progression is, according to some players, merely a ploy by Crystal Dynamics to extend the amount of time players will spend playing the game.

Marvel’s Avengers is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and will be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 18.

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Source: Reddit, Steamcharts