March 18 will mark the release of both Hawkeye and the official next-gen versions of Marvel’s Avengers, but there’s also a few changes about cosmetics and XP coming that we’d like to discuss. 

XP Rework 

Since we launched last September, our balance team has been evaluating the XP curve for leveling from 1-50 and we’ll be making some changes to address two core issues. 

The current XP “curve” isn’t really a curve at all. In most RPGs, the amount of XP you need to level up increases as you gain levels in a curve, but our system is a straight line. This has led to pacing issues, such as skill points currently being rewarded too fast, which may be confusing and overwhelming to newer players. We want each decision to invest in a skill or Heroic to be more meaningful. 

Based on these issues, we’ll be increasing the amount of XP needed to level up, starting from around level 25. This amount will increase the closer you get to level 50 so that it will take longer to reach higher levels, and will only affect character level, not power level. If you already have level 50 characters, which is the current maximum, this won’t affect you. If you have a character who isn’t level 50 and want to speed up their progress, take this time to do so before the update on March 18. 

Note: Due to a bug we discovered, players could level characters at a blistering pace if they had multiple high-level characters. We intend to fix this issue once Clint arrives. 

Cosmetic Rework 

We’ll be reworking how players obtain certain cosmetic items with the goal of providing more player agency and clarity about how to obtain them by removing randomness from the process. Currently, many of these items are only obtainable through a random chance in strongboxes or in Chastity’s store (cosmetic vendor). We want to make sure that when you earn a cosmetic item, it is something you have had a choice in working towards. 

The first step of this is to temporarily disable the random cosmetic items drops in preparation for the change. Players won’t lose anything they have already earned. These items will be available again in places such as the cosmetic vendor once her store is reworked in future updates and will be purchasable with Units. This will directly affect random chance cosmetic rewards from completing activities (Missions and Strongboxes) and character progression (Hero Level and Faction Level). Numerous patterns will also be temporarily disabled from dropping and in some cases replaced with additional Units that can be spent at the cosmetic vendor. 

The cosmetic vendor will still be open while we work on updating her functionality. The following outfits and nameplates will remain in the cosmetic vendor while her store undergoes the rework: 

Outfits:  

• Black Widow’s Dawn and Midnight 
• Captain America’s Covert Commando and Freedom Fighter 
• Hulk’s Shattered and Fractured 
• Iron Man’s Midas and Gunmetal 
• Ms. Marvel’s Detailed and Crafted 
• Thor’s Hard Hat 
• Kate Bishop’s Private Eye and <3  

Nameplates  

• Black Widow 6 and 14 
• Captain America 6 and 10 
• Hulk 14 and 27 
• Iron Man 7 and 14 
• Ms. Marvel 18 and 19 
• Thor 17 and 22 
• Kate Bishop 7 and 8  

The following emotes, which were previously level-up rewards, will be added to the cosmetic vendor on March 18 to allow for more selection during her time of limited wares. 

   

• Black Widow Head Nod and Watch Me 
• Captain America Salute and Let’s Go 
• Hulk Hey and Follow 
• Iron Man Over Here and Beacon 
• Ms. Marvel Wave and Follow Me 
• Thor Hey There and You There 
• Kate Bishop’s Hey and Beckon  

Finally, we wanted to give players a more immediate reward for activating Hawkeye’s Challenge Card, so we moved an outfit to the first slot of the activated path. 

With these changes, Marvel’s Avengers will be a more balanced experience overall. We’ll let everyone know when the cosmetic vendor rework is coming, but in the meantime, if there are items you wish to receive in the current fashion, you should do so before March 18. Until then, we’ll have more information on replaying the Reassemble Campaign and updates to the Harm Room in the near future. Thank you for all the continued support!