Summary
TheMarvel Rivalsteam revealed some exciting news on Wednesday, revealing that an update rolling out today will add costume customization to the game. A feature many have been asking for since launch, so it generated quite a bit of excitement. However, now that the update is live, it has unfortunately become clear that costume customization means different things to the creators of Marvel Rivals and its players.
The belief among many was that they’d have the option to customize existing Rivals skins as they see fit. That is not the case. Far from it, in fact. For starters, the new color customization option is limited to four skins -Psylocke’s Vengeance, Luna Snow’s Mirae 2099, Winter Soldier’s Blood Soldier, and Magik’s Punchild.
Even if you have one of those skins, the new customization options don’t now allow you to change them to whatever color you like. NetEase has simply added one additional color option to each of the four skins. That alternative color option isn’t free either. Even though you will have already paid for those four skins, you will need to pay an additional fee if you want to unlock their new alternative color options.
Color Customization Options Have Been Added To Marvel Rivals
But They’re Not The Options We’ve Been Clamoring For
Just to make things even more annoying, you’re going to need to use a new currency to pay for the customization options. The new currency is called Unstable Molecules, and by my count, that’s four different currencies active in the game right now - five if you count the costume coins given out as a part of season one’s pick-up bundle.
It will cost 600 Unstable Molecules to unlock the color customization options for each skin, and right now, there is no way to earn that currency through play. The only way you can unlock it is by paying Lattice, one of the game’s other currencies. It’s a like-for-like exchange which has some players asking why the new customization options couldn’t just be sold for Lattice.
NetEase has noted there will be ways to unlock Unstable Molecules through gameplay starting in season three, but since season two has only just begun, that’s still a long way off.
Unfortunately, the color customization options Rivals players have been waiting for aren’t what they initially appeared to be. The backlash has already begun with playerstaking to the Rivals subredditto ask if anyone else feels blindsidedby how the new feature was framed vs. what it actually is, and even morecomplaining about the addition of yet another currency. Rivals devs have been good at listening and backtracking when backlash against new features or changes is loud enough, so maybe the customization color options will be tweaked or overhauled. That doesn’t seem likely this time, though.
