Whether Marvel Rivals not having a role queue is the best thing since sliced bread or an annoying misstep really depends on who you ask, but for better or worse, the devs at NetEase Games are sticking to their guns on their decision to keep things as they are in the Overwatch competitor.
Although the Marvel Rivals devs “wanted to move away” from its Duelist, Vanguard, and Strategist roles being traditional DPS, Tank, and Support roles with different names, ultimately, teams still have to find a balance with what characters they pick if they want to fight effectively. However, simply due to the fact that there are so many Duelist heroes, a lot of people want to play as Duelists, which quickly ignited the debate within the fanbase over whether imposing role limits of some sort might be a good idea.
Creative director Guangyun ‘Guangguang’ Chen previously spoke out about this, noting that – as of December, at least – the team was “not considering a role queue,” with the overall goal being “to offer a wider variety of team composition through team-up skills and their own designs,” and not limit players. Chen has now doubled down on this sentiment in an interview with Metro, acknowledging that “the community is discussing role lock and role queue,” but “At its core, it’s really about the game balance.”
Chen reiterates that the team wants to offer “more line-up or more team comp possibilities through our hero design and our team-up mechanic. So, we’ll be taking a little bit more of a Marvel-inspired approach.” He adds: “It’s all about giving the players the freedom to experiment and find their unique strategies, as we’ve seen in many games and streams. Post-launch, people have been exploring an indefinite amount of team compositions, and we’re excited about what’s coming, we believe no role queue will lead to a richer gaming experience for everyone.”
Overwatch also launched with no role queue – it actually took over three years for it to be added. For now though, it seems like Marvel Rivals is steering well clear of this path, and with its popularity so far, that move clearly isn’t detrimental.
For more games like Marvel Rivals, be sure to check out our roundup of the best online games you can play right now.