Marvel Rivals has a limited-time Phoenix Discord Avatar Decoration, which seems to be overlooked by a largely unhappy player base. The promotion runs from July 11th to July 18th; players need to have Discord open and run Marvel Rivals for 15 minutes to have this digital flair inspired by Jean Grey appear in their inventory. Judging by the responses to the official tweet, gamers want the least on their mind right now.
So, let’s get into the details of the promotion, shall we? Play the game with Discord running, and get a cool avatar border with Phoenix branding. It’s your typical cross-promotional cosmetic we’ve come to expect from virtually every live service game. But look at the replies. Oh, boy, they’re painting quite an ugly view of the current state of affairs in the game.
Players started coming in hot with complaints about everything: ranked matchmaking, to character balance. “New season but still cant fix the unfair matches in ranked,” says @IversonCross, echoing hundreds of replies. Fresh complaints about competitive play were from @JJIceWish stating “new season first 4 rank games are straight loses lmaoo” and @BWall posted a video supposedly showing matchmaking going horribly wrong.
Character balance appears to be yet another sore subject. Wolverine is the obvious target; @gumpsarmy77 critiques a recent team-up ability making Wolverine “too strong against tanks.” “NERF WOLVERINE PLEASE, LET US PLAY TANK” screamed in all caps by @luisramirez193, because sometimes being subtle does not matter. Meanwhile, @reigndott dragged on Thor calling him utterly useless last season and is somehow worse now.
And then, there are those technical problems, the bugs, the glitches. Integrated runaway problems from Discord, with @Scarlet_witch87 sharing screenshots showing the system refusing to acknowledge they’re online. Then, @coolstorykazz starts whining about “weird lagspikes after update,” and @TimSwee02912631 is frothing mad about battle pass unlocks being glitched.
Complaints keep coming in: @KammyGAyo calls controller feel inferior to Overwatch, @1xSCZ calls the playerbase “THE WORST in the history of multiplayer,” while @AQuestionMark__ offers almost no further explanation beyond a mysterious accusation: “maybe stop using generative ai.” Even the Phoenix cosmetics weren’t spared; @sainty_fem requested the developers “remove the permanent phoenix force floating around her” since it’s distracting and inaccurate to the comic.
Now, through the storm of negativity, there are also bright spots: @Dec1pher7 said the ban system removal has been “a relief,” and @SuperKirby388 enjoys the new battle pass skins, despite recent criticisms of the new map. Meanwhile, @Marcelo0089 catches this opportunity to request Pixie as a playable character since shooters can never have enough magic-wielding mutants.
One thing is clear: while NetEase may put its greatest commitment behind promotional cosmetics, the biggest them is far-off core gameplay issues first for half of their player base. Judging from the responses, there is much bigger baggage to handle for Marvel Rivals even before thinking of Phoenix flames thanks to the above-mentioned Discord promotion that’s surely going to garner some engagement. Whether the devs will be paying attention to these or continue making their noses in the next cosmetics collaborations is anyone’s guess, but for now, the community’s glare could almost outshine Jean Grey.
