Marvel Rivals bans players for pro farming

Marvel Rivals is finally doing something about the most frustrated gamers you can come across. From now on, standing still and doing nothing for farm knowledge is a banned offense, meaning players will have to actually contribute to the match if they want their accounts to be safe.

Previously, players complained about others blatantly abusing the system to reach Lord level as quickly as possible. This was done by joining a match and just spamming abilities, sometimes without even moving their character. Now apparently using an ability won't be enough to keep you from getting kicked for not doing anything, as the developers of Marvel Rivals want to make sure everyone gets their way.

Marvel Rivals goes after anyone who tries to get the Lord Icon without putting in the effort

“Recently, we've noticed that some players are abusing matches by staying put and repeatedly farming stats to gain Heroic Expertise points,” said a report from NetEase. “This behavior disrupts normal gameplay and seriously affects other players' match experience.”

Although this is not a recent phenomenon, at least developers are doing something about it now. “To address this, we plan to implement a combat behavior detection system,” the post continues. “Players who engage in such behavior may face sanctions, including but not limited to: warnings, short-term suspensions, long-term suspensions, or permanent account bans.”

With permanent bans on the table, it's clear that NetEase is starting to take this issue seriously. And it makes sense because it coincides with some big changes made to the proficiency system. Now you don't gain skills by completing character-specific challenges, but rather by playing as them, dealing damage/healing, and getting kills or assists. This should motivate you to actually play the game, no matter which character you want to grind, whereas previously some looked for the easiest ways to beat the challenges, even if it meant throwing away the match.

In addition, more skill levels have been added so that the highest is no longer Lord. Now here it is:

Count
Colonel
Fighter
Elite
Watchman
Master

With new levels (and rewards) up for grabs, experienced farmers will likely start looking for ways to max out as quickly as possible. But now that the new system requires you to actually play the game normally – and bans are in place if you don't – hopefully we shouldn't see these new levels have a negative impact on the game.