Many players are leaving for Marvel Rivals, here's why

[Mbah Giman]

New Player Experience

The matchmaking is so bad, new players are matched against sweaty players. Back in august I have 50 friends playing deadlock, now I am the only one, their reason being the first 100 hours is just brutal beating and there is not even a room for having fun. The snowballing is so bad that when you feel like the enemy has laning phase locked, it's better to just quit because the next 30 min will be just you being stomped no matter how good you farm. Not to mention the newest patch where every match is ranked, and the rank system is broken af. it's either those who have no clue at all or seasoned players with 500 hours. If i tried Deadlock now, I wouldnt last 20 hours.

Bad Hero Balancing

Currently haze has 97% pick rate, and not a single nerf or patch to balance that. In lower ranks or new players match, to predict the winner it's basically just to see if the haze player is good. If she's good, her team wins, if not, then it's a normal match. They say she can be countered with return fire or knockdown, well, not if she already haz unstoppable and maxed their damage. And even if haze is countered, other heroes will punish you because you spent souls on her counters without taking account other heroes. Every mm you pray that a good haze in on your side and not on the enemy's.

The Release of Marvel Rivals

Then come the release of marvel rivals. Compared to Deadlock, it's straightforward, so many heroes to choose and even more important it's FUN. If you lose sometimes you will still have a good time. They give you a fighting chance with so many heroes to learn, and even when learning new heroes it's fun. I saw deadlock players among my friends dwindling, moving to Marvel Rivals.

If nothing changes in deadlock, this game will be another niche game or maybe even another "artifact". To hardcore players please don't hide behind the "it's pre-alpha" or "it's Icefrog" statements. By the time Deadlock releases, I don't think millions of new players will suddenly jump into it when the alternatives will have been released for sometime and will have had steady playerbase.

[Monky Games]

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

[Mbah Giman]

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

Design-wise, the only thing saving this game is the occult theme. Which is unique I must admit.

[=/\= RVN =/\=]

when ranked queue comes back, i will come back

[Monky Games]

Originally posted by Mbah Giman:

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

Design-wise, the only thing saving this game is the occult theme. Which is unique I must admit.

Clearly most gamers prefer Marvel Rivals Character Design over Woke Deadlock design.

[APN34Z]

Both are boring af

[Utophiλn]

What? Marvel rivals is doing great, big consistent numbers. It's Deadlock that leaking players despite the constant invite spamstorm.

[Tobithecomic]

Alright let's use a bit of logic here.
Every multiplayer game loses players, but in most cases you don't notice because the rate of new players joining equals it out.

Deadlock is a multiplayer game, just like with every multiplayer game players are leaving, especially with no extrinsic motivation like unlocks etc. to keep them. The game is also invite only, meaning there is a cap to the rate of new players joining.

Ranked mode was likely just introduced to capitalize on the player spike to collect data, and now all the matchmaking complaints stem from the fact that 2 completely different kinds of players are in the same queue.

Tadah, that's your big mystery for the dropping player count
On the bright side, too all the people who did play ranked, if my assumption is correct, your matches provided very valuable data for the devs, so the game can be better once it releases.

[Monky Games]

Originally posted by Tobithecomic:

Alright let's use a bit of logic here.
Every multiplayer game loses players, but in most cases you don't notice because the rate of new players joining equals it out.

Deadlock is a multiplayer game, just like with every multiplayer game players are leaving, especially with no extrinsic motivation like unlocks etc. to keep them. The game is also invite only, meaning there is a cap to the rate of new players joining.

Ranked mode was likely just introduced to capitalize on the player spike to collect data, and now all the matchmaking complaints stem from the fact that 2 completely different kinds of players are in the same queue.

Tadah, that's your big mystery for the dropping player count
On the bright side, too all the people who did play ranked, if my assumption is correct, your matches provided very valuable data for the devs, so the game can be better once it releases.

Deadlock Player Population has been decreasing since Sept.

https://imgur.com/a/zo6VUpC

[Tobithecomic]

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Originally posted by Tobithecomic:

Alright let's use a bit of logic here.
Every multiplayer game loses players, but in most cases you don't notice because the rate of new players joining equals it out.

Deadlock is a multiplayer game, just like with every multiplayer game players are leaving, especially with no extrinsic motivation like unlocks etc. to keep them. The game is also invite only, meaning there is a cap to the rate of new players joining.

Ranked mode was likely just introduced to capitalize on the player spike to collect data, and now all the matchmaking complaints stem from the fact that 2 completely different kinds of players are in the same queue.

Tadah, that's your big mystery for the dropping player count
On the bright side, too all the people who did play ranked, if my assumption is correct, your matches provided very valuable data for the devs, so the game can be better once it releases.

Deadlock Player Population has been decreasing since Sept.

https://imgur.com/a/zo6VUpC

That's literally proving my point. We got a burst of players and then the natural decline from players leaving.
Did you not read what I wrote?

[Donut Steel]

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

Abrams, Lash, Warden, Kelvin, Grey Talon, Mirage and Infernus are all heavily masculine characters compared against their explainable backgrounds and archtypes. Only Bepop, Dynamo and Viscous give off any sign of non-alpha energy, and in different ways.

Pocket is a metereosexual that's taken it too far and goes by pronouns just to represent 'that person'.

McGuiness is hetero tomboy or butch lesbian.

Geist, Paradox, Vindicta and Wraith are feminine archetypes: Disney villainess, aristocratic playgirl, lady-in-white style ghost-witch, early comic-book heroine. This time it's Ivy who causes dissonance due to her having a high-energy feminine personality fitting her background, but a body that is animalistic with attractive feminine features such as being slightly child-like but not too much to be weird. Except it's still weird. She is Alita: Battle Goblina.

[ChaffyExpert]

Originally posted by Mbah Giman:

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

Design-wise, the only thing saving this game is the occult theme. Which is unique I must admit.

Yeah the occult theme with the early 20th century New York setting is really cool and there is attention to detail on it too. The heroes seem interesting on paper but it's way too unbalanced.

[ChaffyExpert]

Originally posted by The Man With No Aim:

Originally posted by Monky Games:

Marvel Rivals has actual heroes where men look like men and women look like women. The hero design is what we all actually want. Deadlock is DEI garbage.

Abrams, Lash, Warden, Kelvin, Grey Talon, Mirage and Infernus are all heavily masculine characters compared against their explainable backgrounds and archtypes. Only Bepop, Dynamo and Viscous give off any sign of non-alpha energy, and in different ways.

Pocket is a metereosexual that's taken it too far and goes by pronouns just to represent 'that person'.

McGuiness is hetero tomboy or butch lesbian.

Geist, Paradox, Vindicta and Wraith are feminine archetypes: Disney villainess, aristocratic playgirl, lady-in-white style ghost-witch, early comic-book heroine. This time it's Ivy who causes dissonance due to her having a high-energy feminine personality fitting her background, but a body that is animalistic with attractive feminine features such as being slightly child-like but not too much to be weird. Except it's still weird. She is Alita: Battle Goblina.

Bebop is pretty masculine, has boxer look, dynamo seems like a a scientist turned robot, which i think is more of a typically masculine trope although i could be wrong.

Overall pretty cool design. Viscous is just slime mysterio.

Pocket only had "they/them" because he has a bunch of other souls, like the coat or the frog thing in the suitcase- no idea what that's about, Asian man with ghost frog is... unique.

[ChaffyExpert]

Originally posted by Tobithecomic:

Alright let's use a bit of logic here.
Every multiplayer game loses players, but in most cases you don't notice because the rate of new players joining equals it out.

Deadlock is a multiplayer game, just like with every multiplayer game players are leaving, especially with no extrinsic motivation like unlocks etc. to keep them. The game is also invite only, meaning there is a cap to the rate of new players joining.

Ranked mode was likely just introduced to capitalize on the player spike to collect data, and now all the matchmaking complaints stem from the fact that 2 completely different kinds of players are in the same queue.

Tadah, that's your big mystery for the dropping player count
On the bright side, too all the people who did play ranked, if my assumption is correct, your matches provided very valuable data for the devs, so the game can be better once it releases.

Marvel Rivals hasn't really been losing players, it's been at about the same. Deadlock has lost players, and while isn't losing as many is still pretty much declining. and there is only like 20k people playing- which is REALLY BAD for any game, especially a Valve game.

[Mbah Giman]

Originally posted by ChaffyExpert:

Originally posted by Tobithecomic:

Alright let's use a bit of logic here.
Every multiplayer game loses players, but in most cases you don't notice because the rate of new players joining equals it out.

Deadlock is a multiplayer game, just like with every multiplayer game players are leaving, especially with no extrinsic motivation like unlocks etc. to keep them. The game is also invite only, meaning there is a cap to the rate of new players joining.

Ranked mode was likely just introduced to capitalize on the player spike to collect data, and now all the matchmaking complaints stem from the fact that 2 completely different kinds of players are in the same queue.

Tadah, that's your big mystery for the dropping player count
On the bright side, too all the people who did play ranked, if my assumption is correct, your matches provided very valuable data for the devs, so the game can be better once it releases.

Marvel Rivals hasn't really been losing players, it's been at about the same. Deadlock has lost players, and while isn't losing as many is still pretty much declining. and there is only like 20k people playing- which is REALLY BAD for any game, especially a Valve game.

agree. even dota 2 on alpha has steadily increasing in playerbase. seeing this is worrying

[Nauct]

1. When Rivals has been out for a while Noobs will get matched with Sweats, there's not as many sweats in Rivals yet. Any MOBA has a steep learning curve, especially if you're not familiar with the genre, I was owning right away because I have 15+ years experience in MOBAs and Shooters. We would have been in the same beginner lobby, how would they fix that?

2. You're using the easiest hero to play, Haze, as an example. She's similar to other heroes in team shooters, also has the rogue aspect with stealth. Before the big patch she was rated as the worst hero by high rated players. Suddenly she wasn't the worst so many people are trying the easy, familiar, strong Haze.
Idk what site you're getting your stats from, but they don't even have accurate data.

3. You have a point. MOBAs became popular because they were an easier to play alternative to RTS games. There are more people that just want a casual game to pick up and play with the homies on the weekend. If that's your thing great.
I love fighting games and they're the least popular genre, but when you play games a lot you want something with a little more depth to sink your teeth into. Deadlock is also in that category.
Since I know how to move and build the heroes, when I play Rivals, it is fun, but I feel restricted and get bored after a few short games. To each their own