Marvel Snaphas been going strong for a little longer than two years now. During its first year after release,Marvel Snapquickly attracted a sizable audience thanks to its fast-paced gameplay and free-to-play-friendly design. However, a few issues made critical features feel more and more cluttered, which has in turn made the free-to-play experience feel more and more difficult.
Thankfully, developers have apparently been listening to the community and its concerns. In keeping with other mobile deck builders,Marvel Snap’s balance updates are frequent and transparent. InMarvel Snap’s most recent patch, the game has made some clear steps towards resolving card acquisition and other issues. While it isn’t a complete fix yet, it’s certainly a good first step.
Marvel Snap Makes Major Improvements Towards a Long-Running Controversy
Marvel Snap’s OTA Balance Update Explained
Marvel Snapgenerally releases major patches every month, with each update corresponding to the release of a new Season. These updates often contain adjustments to some of the content released in the month prior, and to lay the groundwork for the next month’s content. This allows for developers to paint in broad strokes, but the ever-changing nature ofMarvel Snap’s metaoften demands a more hands-on approach.
This is where the game’s OTA updates come into play. “OTA” stands for “Over the Air,” and is a term that refers to the game’s weekly system of updates. OTAs primarily focus on small balance adjustments and hotfixes, with the larger changes being left up to the monthly updates.Marvel Snaprecently broke the weekly schedule for the holidays, with only one being released in December. The game began its next round of updates with the monthly patch on January 14, which includes the recent changes to card acquisition.
Progression in Marvel Snap is No Easy Task
Card acquisition has been a majorcontroversy inMarvel Snap’s communityfor quite some time now. Cards are split into five “Series,” and players can acquire Series 1-3 cards by climbing the game’s Collection Ladder. Meanwhile, Series 4 and 5 cards can only be obtained from Spotlight Caches or by purchasing them with Tokens. Tokens are difficult to come by, however, and the Token Shop rotation makes it somewhat difficult to target any given card.
Series 3 makes up the bulk ofMarvel Snap’s progression, and completing it can be an arduous process. However, the rarity of Tokens makes completing Series 4 and 5 an even more difficult task. There is also the potential to pull duplicate cards from Spotlight Caches, and although this rewards players with Tokens, it often isn’t a sufficient reward to make up for the frustration pulling a dupe creates.
Marvel Snap Update Finally Addresses Card Acquisition
Marvel Snap’s latest update is a definitive answer to fan outcry, seeing as it addresses many of these issues with the most direct action in quite some time. For example, the Token payout for pulling duplicates from Spotlight Caches has been increased from 1000 to 2000. This is far from a complete fix for theSpotlight Cache system, but this has certainly offset the issue of duplicates.
Furthermore, the drop rate of Series 3 cards found inCollector’s Reserveshas been increased. The old rate would allow players to get a new Series 3 card in 2 out of every 9 Reserves, while the new rate would pull a new Series 3 card in 4 out of every 9 Reserves opened. This rate doubling has the intended effect of halving the time it takes to complete Series 3. Card acquisition will likely need further adjustments in the future, but these two measures will be a great step in the right direction for both halves of the game’s progression.
WHERE TO PLAY
MARVEL SNAP is a fast-paced, award-winning collectible card game with innovative mechanics that has been called “accessible, and utterly brilliant” and “one of the best card games” today.Build your deck of 12 cards. Each Card represents a Marvel Super Hero or Villain, each with a unique power or ability. The goal of the game is to outsmart and outwit your opponent. Learning how to play only takes a few minutes, and matches only takes 3 minutes.The game is designed so that every match feels different. Play your cards at 50+ different locations across the Marvel Universe, each with iconic game-changing abilities. From Asgard to Wakanda, new locations are introduced regularly to put your creative problem-solving skills to the test.Every player begins with a Free Starter Deck that helps you get started. From there, you can earn new cards to add to your collection simply by playing and mastering the game.Unlike other games in the Collectible Card Game Genre, there are no card packs in MARVEL SNAP. You can Play More to Earn More.
