The introduction of new Chrono Shield Cards in the latest Marvel Rivals update has stirred controversy among the game’s competitive community, and players are not happy.
For the uninitiated, Chrono Shield Cards have been added to Marvel Rivals with the game’s May 15 update as part of the Galacta’s Gift event. The update also reintroduced the Season 0 Battle Pass for a limited time, giving players who missed it another chance to unlock its rewards.
Upon unlocking the Chrono Shield Cards by going through the tiers of the Galacta’s Gift event pass, players could use them to prevent rank rating loss upon losing competitive games.
This move by NetEase caused many players to question the competitive integrity of Marvel Rivals, with concerns being raised about rank inflation and griefers ruining games without repercussions.
Marvel Rivals Chrono Shield Card Controversy
Shortly after NetEase announced the addition of Chrono Shield Cards to Marvel Rivals, players took to social media to highlight its potential negative impact on the game.
The majority of players reiterated the point that ranking up in Marvel Rivals is already too easy, and giving away these ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ cards could worsen the rank inflation the game has been struggling with for some time.
Some players also argued that the Chrono Shield Cards can introduce a pay-to-win aspect to the game if the devs decide to put them up for sale in the future, while others slammed NetEase for incentivising players to throw ranked games without the fear of consequences.
Following this, the devs put up a statement addressing player concerns, claiming that Chrono Shield Cards will never be put up for sale. Additionally, they also stated that these cards would only be usable in Gold and below.
However, players were still not satisfied, arguing that limiting the cards to lower ranks doesn’t solve the potential impact on the overall competitive experience.
At the time of writing, players can get eight Chrono Shield Cards from the Galacta’s Gift event, and can stack up to 20 cards in total. These cards expire at the end of a season.
Whether these Chrono Shield Cards remain a short-term experiment or signal a longer-term design shift, only time will tell.