Rocket Raccoon players inMarvel Rivalsare not happy with the latest changes made to him with the release of Season 2, with some alleging that he feels like a “healbot” and has lost his more unique identity. Since the game’s release,Rocket Raccoon has been an easy-to-play Strategist characterthat provided both healing and firepower support for his team. With the recent balance changes, Rocket is more healing-oriented than before, and there is concern rising in the community about the Strategist characters becoming homogenized.
In a thread on Reddit created byThopterthallid, fans are voicing their opinions on the Rocket Raccoon Season 2 changes, and a lot of them are not happy. With Rocket’s changes to how his healing orbs work as well as the healing buff that replaced some of his ultimate’s damage buff effect, some feel developer NetEase Games has gone a bit too far with making him feel like other healer characters. Thopterthallid remarked:“Everyone accused Rocket of being a healbot before, but now he’s more of a healbot than EVER.”
Rocket’s Changes Bring Some Healing Concerns
Is He Too Similar To Other Healers Now?
Rocket Raccoon was originally a characterthat had some pretty oppressive firepower to make up for his lower healing abilitywhen compared to other Strategist characters. Before Season 2, Rocket’s ultimate gave a 40% damage boost. That was changed to just a 25% boost, with an additional effect of applying 100 bonus health (maxing at 150 bonus health) per second. Rocket also saw a nerf to his jetpack mobility ability, so his survivability was toned down as well.
There were previousconcerns that Rocket would be less fun to play inMarvel Rivalswhen the patch notes released, andit seems that the response to Rocket’s changes have been mixed at best, with some agreeing with the changes to improve his healing output, while others are feeling a sense of worry that the game’s Strategist characters feel too similar. Withdozens of characters rumored to be coming toMarvel Rivals, it seems that there is some worry that having so many characters could result in a lot of them feeling similar to existing characters.
Our Take: NetEase Games Is Consistently Making Changes
Rocket Likely Won’t Stay This Way For Long
Season 2 brought theicy Vanguard Emma Frostand a slew of changes to the game, and with Ultron and likely an additional balance patch coming in the mid-season update,it’s not likely that Rocket will remain this way.Marvel Rivalsis an immensely popular game, with its free-to-play model allowing everyone to play all the characters, game modes, and maps as new ones are released. Characters have seen a lot of adjustments since the game’s release, with some team-ups even being temporarily disabled to add new ones.
There is some legitimate concern thatMarvel Rivalsmay need to expand its gameplay elements to fit its huge and ever-growing roster, especially withone new character coming every month with Season 3 and beyond. But, NetEase has taken player feedback seriously so far, so it’s likely the studio will continue to make adjustments to the game to make room for a lot of characters and give them their own identities.
