The superhero NetEase’s shooter, Marvel Rivals, has begun its Season 5.5 update, which is titled ‘Love Has Entered the Battlefield’. The new character Elsa Bloodstone for playing and cosmetics, events, and rewards are the few things that have come along with this update. The mid-season patch intends to change the competition among the players, but the community’s reactions have been mixed, and it seems that some are thrilled while others are anxious about the character roles, bugs, and access issues.
So the official account spilled the beans. Season 5.5 is now playable. It has been referred to as ‘Love Has Entered the Battlefield,’ which is… an interesting choice, but acceptable. The Parties are unleashing your inner power and setting new rules for the fight. New hero, new alliances, heaps of cosmetics—you know the truth. The fight is just starting to be as exciting as they say.
Nonetheless, let’s be truthful—the feedback became the battlefield of its own kind the second that tweet was posted. It is a complete mood.
To begin with, the good side. A few gamers are really going to town with it. User DividendDad1 simply shouted “LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO ❤️❤️❤️❤️,” which, mood. LeoJS quickly responded “Rogue is so fun btw,” giving a nod to the character just released. And clarissa stanchus, in a reply chain, just called the new season “epic.” So yes, the love is indeed in the air. There is love.
On the contrary, if you scroll a bit and… oh dear.
The new character Elsa Bloodstone is the source of the greatest disagreement among the players. Just to give you a brief, the characters in the game are categorized into three different roles: Vanguard (tank), Duelist (damage), and Support. Based on the trailer and early information, most of the players are quite confident that Elsa is going to be another Duelist, a damage dealer. The players’ community is somewhat… annoyed? A long thread exists where the gamers almost literally beg for new Tanks and Supports.
User Blazingjackal jumped on his soapbox in a reply and said “Hopefully not dps even tho I feel like she will be cause rivals hates us.” The sentiment was widespread. Another gamer Daiméon| Cursed King, posted a lengthy critique, calling Elsa “another Duelist disguised as a Vanguard.” They even claimed that from the trailer one could deduce she is a flanker, not a frontline tank, and wondered where the “Vanguard” is in her kit. “Do we need to do a vanguard strike and a support strike for y’all to give us characters that will fully be what their role entails?!” they asked. That seems to be a fair question, to be honest. New characters become less appealing when they are from the same class.
And then there are the… other issues. The bugs problem. One user Tripptrapptrull openly criticized the developers with regard to Black Widow. “Are you going to fix Black Widow’s bugs that have been around for ages or is it part of the plan to make her less useful?” Ouch! What a harsh impression that is. They even finished off with a sarcastic “OK. Understood Chingchong-guangguang,” which is uncalled for and messy, but it does highlight the irritation.
Then, there is the issue of being able to play the new character. User Revenging Claw pointed out a common negative aspect of such games: “Too bad no one can play her… It’s not fair to people who don’t have fast enough internet connections or hand-eye coordination.” He suggested setting a limit on the number of times a player could select the new character in a day. It is a typical problem encountered during launch week—everybody wants to try out the latest feature, but it is nearly impossible to choose her in a battle.
Difficulties with cross-progression also came up. A user by the name of Desired Purpose complained that their purchased items had not been correctly transferred between accounts. “Over $100 worth of items just lying around unable to be used.” That’s a huge feels-bad situation. Another player, Kali, tried to help and said their cross-progression worked fine, but obviously, it’s not a universal case.
Amidst the uproar, there were still some funny speculations and requests. One player, Joshua Gopal-Boyd, was already looking past Elsa, posting a gif and commenting, “I’m more interested in what role Elsa Bloodstone is going to be.” Wait, what was I saying? Oh right, she is the new hero. They meant they were curious about her actual in-game role. See? The confusion is real.
