Marvel's Avengers has had a rocky road since Square Enix announced it at E3 2019. Before its release, it was criticized for its lackluster character design, at launch it was criticized for the shortness of its campaign, and post-launch it was criticized for the grind of its multiplayer. Despite this, the game is still going strong, and a version optimized for the PS5 and Xbox Series X will debut on March 18.

However, there will also be a patch that will make leveling up characters even more difficult. In other words, the most troublesome aspects of "Marvel's Avengers" are about to get even worse.

Information comes from Square Enix's blog post, Upcoming Cosmetic and XP Rework. The cosmetic update is very simple: in Marvel's Avengers, players will be able to purchase the costumes they want directly with in-game currency, rather than unlocking them randomly. So while the selection of cosmetic items is limited between now and March 18, if you sit tight and be patient, you'll find an easier way to get your favorite costumes.

On the other hand, reworking XP is likely to further slow down the game, rather than make it more efficient.

"In most RPGs, the amount of XP required increases on a curve as you level up, but our system is linear." This currently creates pacing issues, such as skill points being rewarded too quickly, which may be confusing and overwhelming to new players."

To alleviate this problem, Square Enix will significantly increase the amount of XP required to level up a character from level 25. This should, in theory, address the problem of "new players gaining too many skill points, too quickly. In practice, however, no one seems to be happy with the change.

For those who have not played it, "Marvel's Avengers" is already a very crunchy game. After the initial campaign (which is not very long, but still requires quite a bit of grinding to complete easily), there is a seemingly endless series of multiplayer missions of varying difficulty; these missions must be run over and over again in order to collect XP, gear, and other resources. While it is true that character XP is not curved, it still takes quite some time to max out each character.

It is not difficult to understand Square Enix's logic. Gamers who run out of characters tend to then stop playing the game and only return when new characters are introduced. Since "The Avengers" is a live-service game, Square Enix needs to keep people playing all the time; by lengthening the XP curve, completionists are forced to play longer, but only out of obligation, not because it's fun. There is also the risk that players will grow tired of the grind and leave.

The strangest thing about Square Enix's decision is that, as far as I can tell, no one has asked for this; the social media response to the XP retooling has been almost entirely negative, with many players saying that what "Marvel's Avengers" needs is "more of this. They point out that this is more repetitive grinding. Higher-level players seem to want more varied and meaningful endgame content instead.

Square Enix may, of course, change its mind before the patch is released along with the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions on March 18. But if they don't, it could further discourage hesitant players.