Update:
Crystal Dynamics has been discussing how the new changes will add three-to-five hours to reach maximum level per character.
"We wanted to offer more clarification and details on the recently announced XP change: we did not change XP to increase grind for grind's sake," a Reddit post explains.
"Our initial blog was not comprehensive enough to convey what we were doing and why... so we caused confusion... we get it."
"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."
"We want people to level up, in fact, we really want to see more people level up more Heroes, as playing the full Avenger roster should be the most fun thing you can do, but we don't want the leveling up experience to be too overwhelming or diminish exploring each skill purchase."
We'll be revisiting the game in the coming weeks for an updated review, so will offer our impressions soon.
Original Story Follows
Marvel's Avengers will get its next-gen upgrade next week, but Crystal Dynamics is also making changes to the game's levelling system.
With levelling essentially the same from level one to two, or 49 to 50 (the game's level cap), the developer is making the XP requirements from level 25 onwards higher.
Marvel's Avengers Getting New Levelling System, Adds Grind
As part of a new blog post, the team describes the "XP curve" as "not being a curve at all".
"This has led to pacing issues, such as skill points currently being rewarded too fast, which may be confusing and overwhelming to newer players," the post explains.
"We want each decision to invest in a skill or Heroic to be more meaningful."
"Based on these issues, we’ll be increasing the amount of XP needed to level up, starting from around level 25. This amount will increase the closer you get to level 50 so that it will take longer to reach higher levels, and will only affect character level, not power level."
"If you already have level 50 characters, which is the current maximum, this won’t affect you. If you have a character who isn’t level 50 and want to speed up their progress, take this time to do so before the update on March 18. "
As our resident 'Games As A Service' writer, I'm not entirely sure this is the right move for a game that's struggling to retain players as it is.
It's also bizarre that the developer is essentially suggesting players power-level over the next two weeks to avoid the XP increase, which suggests that they are aware that this isn't a smart play.
It brings to mind Ubisoft selling "XP boosts" to help players level through main story quests in recent Assassin's Creed games, suggesting that there was an arbitrary grind.
We'll be revisiting the game once the next-gen patch drops, but until then, find out what's coming here.
We've also rounded up all the information we have about Spider-Man and Black Panther, the next two characters rumoured to arrive.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Marvel's Avengers page.