Marvel’s Avengers Fans Have Had Enough

Marvel’s Avengers continues it’s downward slide by Introducing paid XP boosts and making it harder to level up after claiming to only have cosmetic DLC.

It seems like a slam dunk, doesn’t it? One of the biggest IPs in the world. How could an Avengers game fail? It seems like ever since Marvel’s Avengers was announced, people have been skeptical. And Crystal Dynamics proves the skeptics right at every turn and shames everyone who continues to trust and believe this game will figure itself out. I was one of the few people who played the beta and pre-ordered a couple of days before release. But as I pre-ordered, I knew this game had to grow to reach its potential. It wasn’t a finished product. I was aware of that and accepted that. And when the game was released, I was proven right with various bugs that marred every aspect of the game. But It felt like solid footing. The story mode was charming, all be it short, and had great performances from an amazing lineup of voice actors. Not to mention a fun if also button mashing gameplay system burried under skill points.

But for every step forward Avengers takes, it feels like it trips over its own feet far too often. Those bugs that I mentioned that marred the release. Well, a lot of those bugs have gone unfixed for over a year. Hell, one of the big events, Red Room, was ruined by a bug that made it unplayable for many people, and if you were one of the people affected, too bad the event is over, and you don’t get it any of the rewards for participating. The Cherry on top is that an Xbox Live stream event recently was cut short because a bug broke the game. Avengers, on rare occasions, does fix bugs, but the ones that get prioritized make fans scratch their heads. Shield mutt farming and Vibranium mound farming were both little exploits that people would take advantage of to earn more loot, mostly because the normal loot system is pretty lackluster but spending time fixing those exploits seem to pale in comparison over character abilities, items, and bugs that have been broken since the game came out. But bugs are every game’s problem. A game shouldn’t be crucified for having them or even taking time to fix them, especially in modern-day video game making. The Issue with Marvel’s Avengers’ isn’t just the bugs. It’s everything else on top of the bugs.

This game mostly seems like a skin farm at this point. The only new content I feel confident in seeing every couple of months is a new costume. In my opinion, they’re far too pricey for what you get in return; legendary skins are 15 dollars. But the game has to make money somehow, I guess. All of the detail for those skins is spent on the MCU recreations. They are by far the most popular partly because of that detail. A lot of the other skins are ugly or simply recolors. And while you can only buy high-end skins through the marketplace. It didn’t always use to be that way. Seven months ago, you could actually earn various outfits, But suddenly, that mechanic disappeared because they were “reworking cosmetics,” which is fine; the game up to that point was pretty lackluster in terms of content. Maybe they just want to adjust some things and be ready for the upcoming Black Panther DLC. But to this day, there still is no cosmetic rework, and no one at Crystal Dynamics has even talked about any updates to its reworking. A cynical person who has been playing this game since launch might say they are trying to squeeze more money out of you by taking away the option to earn skins and make them all purchasable. Because as soon as the cosmetic rework was announced, we started getting more and more purchasable costumes every couple of weeks. It’s like groundhog day with this game. They also claimed they were working on a new loot system, and then, after almost six months of no new information, They changed their minds, and that loot would be an “ongoing process.”

One thing that seems absolutely impossible for some game developers to handle is good communication. It’s honestly one of the most important parts of making a game now, especially if your game is going to “live” for years to come. You have to communicate effectively to sell your game and tell people what’s coming next, from fixes to the actual content, and varied content is essential with a game like this. You can only run down the same hallway so many times before you get burnt out. You can only fight Abomination so many times before you wonder why on earth this game, with 70 years worth of villains to work with, chose to focus on only two. But the thing that you definitely can’t do. Especially to those who have supported the game through all of this game’s failings is lie.

This is a quote from the Developers. “We’ve also committed that content purchasable with real money in Marvel’s Avengers will be aesthetic-only additions, which will ensure we can keep the game fresh for years to come.” straight from the horse’s mouth, they said you’d never have to pay for something that affects gameplay. And then, this last week, the game was updated to include paid XP boosts and consumables. Not only that but the leveling system was nerfed to make it harder to level up. So obviously, the community got mad. And in response to that anger, Crystal Dynamics has refused to say anything and has even canceled a developer stream presumably to avoid questions. They won’t even comment to other media outlets about the sudden heel turn. Forbes asked for them to comment, and they were given the cold shoulder. Maybe it’s our fault. Maybe when we all saw the Verizon-specific DLC outfits early on, we should’ve known this game had one job, and it was to make money at any cost. Maybe it’s our fault for hoping and believing that things like Cloning Labs would be released soon. They said at the launch that they were coming soon, but here we are a year later, and the most recent “Road Map,” if you can call it that, doesn’t even mention them.

I find it incredibly hard to get angry at game developers. It’s a hard job. I always lean towards giving people the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I even lean towards giving companies the benefit of the doubt sometimes. After a year following Marvel’s Avengers, I simply can’t do that anymore. Even if Crystal Dynamics does have a perfect cosmetic rework coming or even if Cloning labs is actually right around the corner, I refuse to accept it anymore. I and many other fans of this game feel as if our loyalty has been taken advantage of. Part of me wants to say, “Well, you brought that on yourself. Don’t trust companies trying to take your money.” but I can’t live that way. I love video games too much to assume every game developer is trying to steal from me. I love this hobby, and I know for a fact that a lot of other game developers love it too. Maybe this game figures itself out and earns so much money that it becomes a cash cow like they all want it to be, but I won’t be there for it. Maybe more likely it’s time to accept Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics for what they continue to prove they are. Liars.