Marvel's Avengers Dev Explains The New XP Grind Changes

Crystal Dynamics has responded to the feedback surrounding the changes coming to Marvel's Avengers involving the XP grind. The March 18 next-gen update for the game makes a big change that means after level 25, the amount of XP needed to level up will increase the closer you get to level 50. Many players responded negatively to the news, prompting a further explanation for the change.

Posting on Reddit, Crystal Dynamics said its initial announcement "was not comprehensive enough," and this prompted confusion among fans.

To explain what's changing and why, Crystal Dynamics said the XP required between levels "didn't scale well." The studio said it's not uncommon for players to "ding" two or three times in a single mission, which might seem good, but according to the developer, it's not.

"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," it said.

Crystal Dynamics said a core component of Marvel's Avengers is levelling up and getting a sensation of power from seeing your character grow. However, "We don't want the leveling up experience to be too overwhelming or diminish exploring each skill purchase," it said.

In response to this, Crystal Dynamics said it "smoothed out the higher-level curves" to prevent players from reaching multiple new levels in a single mission.

"The end result of our tuning was meant to add around 3-5 hours to reach the maximum level in total. This means leveling at a steadier place around every 2-4 missions at the upper end," the studio said. "We consider this a way to achieve clearer 'ding' thresholds, and more time to engage with and enjoy each skill purchase."

For newcomers, the early-game levelling is "slightly faster," the studio said. This was an intentional design choice to help new players "feel more like a super hero faster."

"Hopefully, this clears things up and offers a better vision of what we're doing with the XP change, and we'll work better to make things clearer when we share this sort of information," Crystal Dynamics said.

Finally, the studio said it is aware of a bug in Marvel's Avengers that causes Kate to level up at a "blistering pace." She gains levels 200-300% faster than other characters, but it won't stay this way for much longer. "We intend to fix this so that all Heroes can level up at the same pace," Crystal Dynamics said.

For more on the visual upgrades that Marvel's Avengers will be packing when it arrives on PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, you can check out our post detailing improved textures, lighting effects, and much more.

The next-gen upgrades will also conclude the two-part Hawkeye storyline, adding the original Avengers archer to the team in the Future Imperfect operation. Like his protégé Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye, Barton has plenty of offensive options, but it's his quiver full of trick arrows that make him a completely different character to use in combat.