Earlier this week, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix released a brand new War Table giving fans a first look at Future Imperfect, the next major update forMarvel’s Avengers. Originally planned for release in November last year, Future Imperfect will bringClint Barton’s Hawkeye to the world ofMarvel’s Avengersin a new story expansion. This new wave of content is inspired by fan-favorite comics including Old Man Hawkeye, The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, and Matt Fraction’s iconic 2015 run, Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon.
The new story expansion launches alongsideMarvel’s Avengersfree PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X upgrades, giving fans plenty of reasons to return to the game. However, many players have already dropped off due to the state ofMarvel’s Avengersat launch, and the minimal content updates over the last five months. With news thatEA is currently assessing the future ofAnthem,Marvel’s Avengersfinds itself in a similarly tight spot and it’s going to take work to bring the game up to scratch. The path to redemption forMarvel’s Avengersisn’t going to be easy for Crystal Dynamics, but there’s still hope for Earth’s mightiest heroes.
RELATED:‘Marvel’s Behind The Mask’ Documentary Clip Honours Black Panther
Brand New Characters & Smaller DLC Updates
WhenMarvel’s Avengersreleased last September, the two areas that received the most praise was the singleplayer campaign and the core combat mechanics of the six heroes. Crystal Dynamics built a decent foundation for a fun game that was propelled by the power of the property, but it suffered from major issues with its online services, gameplay loop, and how it rewarded players.
Rebuilding entire systems takes time. It’s not going to be a quick fix, and because of that, will likely be saved for a larger expansion similar toDestiny: The Taken King. While those systems are overhauled, the focus should be on quality of life improvements and delivering on the planned roadmap with new characters and story missions. The worst thing that Crystal Dynamics could do is go silent and abandon the game while it works on new content - there needs to be content to satiate the players that stuck around.
A Roadmap for Season 2, 3, and Beyond?
During the Hawkeye War Table, one thing that was surprisingly emphasized was the fact that both the Kate Bishop DLC and Clint Barton DLC were part of Season One forMarvel’s Avengers. Crystal Dynamics spoke about seasons of content before launch, but those plans seemingly disappeared. If the current plan is to continue with seasons, then what players need right now is a roadmap for content and updates.
Bungie has been great in the past at releasing roadmaps forDestinywhen it was in a bad state, detailing new content, features, updates and fixes, and system overhauls coming to the game. Being transparent with the active player base and setting realistic timeframes for bug fixes, system overhauls, new activities, and thePlayStation exclusive Spider-Man DLCwill do nothing but help the game.
Rework the Core Systems: Loot, Activities, and Matchmaking
Some of the biggest complaints coming from theMarvel’s Avengerscommunity right now include matchmaking not working, or it being very difficult to find players, a lack of meaningful endgame content, a lack of meaningful loot or rewards worth grinding for, and repetitive missions and enemies. LikeDestiny 2before it, many of the systems need to be entirely reworked if Crystal Dynamics wants to keep players invested and bring in new ones, but that won’t happen overnight.
The path to redemption forMarvel’s Avengersneeds to include smaller quality of life improvements on the core systems throughout the year while bigger changes are being worked on. Reworking the loot system to make loot more rewarding and creating fun, challenging activities to earn that loot is the end goal. In the meantime, implementing an auto-dismantle feature for lower-tier loot after a set power level would go a long way for many players.
Endgame Content & the Max Level Grind
After players finish the main campaign forMarvel’s Avengers, the game’s live service elements begin to open up more and unlock a range of new War Zones, HARM Room challenges, side missions, and more. The problem withMarvel’s Avengersright now is that, outside of Elite Hives, there’s no meaningful endgame content which makes the lengthy Max Level grind unbearable.
Back when the game first launched, a Twitch streamer was able to access anendgame level activity called the AIM Secret Lab. However, Crystal Dynamics has never officially released theMarvel’s Avengersraid or mentioned the activity since. Whether its this secret lab or something else entirely, without endgame content, live service games simply can’t survive long-term.
RELATED:WandaVision May Have Introduced Two LGBTQ Characters To The MCU
A Big ‘Destiny: The Taken King’ Fall Expansion
ForMarvel’s Avengersto even have a chance at a revival and win back players, it needs to get a proper expansion at the end of the year (this would be the case even if the launch had been incredibly successful). When the originalDestinylaunched in 2014, it had a lot of the same issues asMarvel’s Avengers, and it took Bungie time to turn things around. In September 2015,Bungie releasedDestiny: The Taken King, the first of many annualized expansions which included a brand new campaign, locations, new weapons and game modes, and complete overhauls of existing gameplay systems. Not only did the release ofThe Taken Kingbreathe new life intoDestinyand fix all of the game’s most troubling issues, but it’s also still considered to be some of the best content released in the franchise to this day.
Adding new playable characters is integral to the success ofMarvel’s Avengers, however, the game can’t survive on that alone. At some point (September would make the most sense), Crystal Dynamics needs to release a properThe Taken Kinglevel expansion that adds brand new playable heroes, a new story campaign, a brand new location like Wakanda, new villains, reworked systems and levelling, and perhaps most important, a robust endgame. Until then, players can look forward to the long-awaited release ofMarvel’s Avengerson PS5 and Xbox Series X, which will introduce significant improvements to load times, framerates, and more.
Marvel’s Avengersis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
