Update: Marvel's Avengers studio Crystal Dynamics has issued an update clarifying the logic behind reworking the XP system to require a little more grinding.
"We did not change XP to increase grind for grind's sake," the developer said in a new Reddit post. Crystal Dynamics also admitted that the original announcement detailing the XP change "was not comprehensive enough" and lead to confusion.
The studio goes on to explain that players were leveling up too fast at higher levels, making it too easy to overlook new skills and skill points between missions. "The problem we were seeing, and hearing, was that you would immediately get more skill points than you had time to review, apply, and get used to, before embarking on your next mission and gaining your next few levels. Hopefully, you can see the issue here," the studio wrote.
"We want people to level up, in fact, we really want to see more people level up more Heroes, as playing the full Avenger roster should be the most fun thing you can do, but we don’t want the leveling up experience to be too overwhelming or diminish exploring each skill purchase."
The result of Crystal Dynamics' tuning means you should start leveling up less often at higher levels, ideally every 2-4 missions or so. On the other hand, early leveling should move a little bit faster to help you out with those early game bosses and make you "feel like a Super Hero faster."
Marvel's Avengers is reworking its progression system and cosmetic item acquisition for the new-gen launch later this month.
According to an official announcement on the Square Enix blog, "the current XP 'curve' isn't really a curve at all" and is more of a straight line, whereas in most other RPGs the amount of XP you need to level up increases as you gain levels. Because of the straight line progression system, players are encountering pacing issues like receiving skill points too quickly, which can be a lot to take in when first starting out in Marvel's Avengers. "We want each decision to invest in a skill or Heroic to be more meaningful," the blog post reads.
That's why Marvel's Avengers will increase the amount of XP needed to level up, starting from around level 25 and increasing as you move towards level 50. This change will only affect character level, not power level, but if you're below level 50 and want to level up a hero, the blog suggests you do so before March 18.
Square Enix is also reworking the cosmetic item acquisition system "with the goal of providing more player agency and clarity about how to obtain them by removing randomness from the process." As many items are currently only available through a random drop in store boxes or through the cosmetic vendor, Square Enix wants you to actively work towards a cosmetic of your choosing. That means Marvel's Avengers will temporarily disable random cosmetic item drops as the rework the system, but the cosmetic vendor will remain open with several outfits and nameplates.
