Marvel Rivals is currently enjoying a boost in its player numbers following the long-awaited debut of Deadpool, but some players continue to ruin the fun for everyone. Thankfully, the developers of the game are on the case and planning to ult them into oblivion soon enough.
On 19th January, the official Marvel Rivals account on X/Twitter acknowledged the annoying situation players are often running into, with some matches being disrupted by farmers who just stand still and farm the required stats to progress through the hero proficiency track fast.
The answer will be to introduce a “combat behaviour detection system” which will punish the players engaging in such activities with warnings, short-term suspensions, and even longer time-offs. The worst offenders will face “permanent account bans” which may not amount to much since the game is free-to-play, but will surely enrage anyone fully committed to maxing out heroes.
Though this wave of farming has been partially enabled by Marvel Rivals’ slightly convoluted hero proficiency system and its approach to challenges tied to cosmetic rewards, the online shooter isn’t the only one that’s been affected by exploiters who’d rather mindlessly farm for hours than play the game normally. Sadly, it’s the kind of negative stuff that comes with the territory, but NetEase developers have, so far, done well at acting fast on negative feedback pertaining to the game’s health and game environment, so we’re hoping to see this system live in the game soon.
For now, players on the game’s community subreddit are celebrating the news, with the most upvoted comment saying the banhammer “might actually help some of these lord farmers touch grass.” If you’re wondering what “lord farmers” are, some users are describing them as the people that engage in farming on dead regional servers in the night hours; when they queue at the same time, they face each other and just AFK as DPS, tanks, and healers do their thing taking turns. Proficiency is tied to excelling in those roles, so you can see where the boosts are coming from.
“Great, now do something about throwers,” another user says in the same thread. This is more of a widespread competitive online game issue, but anyone who’s spent enough time playing ranked Marvel Rivals matches knows it’s easy to run into folks who jump ship as soon as they see things going south. That’s an entirely different problem NetEase hasn’t properly addressed yet, so don’t get your hopes up.
