Marvel Snap Dev To Address "Overall Lack Of Agency" In Card Acquisition With January 2025 Patch

Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner has recently addressed major player concerns regarding card acquisition, something that I have suffered one too many times. It's no secret that I've documented my issues with the current Spotlight Caches and the recent string of Pixel variants obtained from Collector's Reserves that the prospect for change seemed to be a dying hope.

This may be changed as the developer has outlined new plans to remedy the problems many Snappers have experienced in acquiring cards, some more out of reach as most card releases have either been a Series 4 or 5. With a massive Series Drop planned for the new year, the first major patch update arriving in January 2025 will long-last some considerable changes to card acquisition, which is a step in the right direction.

So, what are the new changes to be implemented in the January 2025 patch? Firstly, the patch update will likely roll out alongside the next season for Marvel Snap and what this season will be themed after.

What is known is that these changes are coming soon, which the developer posted across the official Second Dinner social media accounts, stating that "acquiring cards has become progressively more difficult." This is based on player feedback they've received, but the major issues plaguing Snappers from acquiring the cards they need boil down to the following:

• Overall, there is a lack of agency in acquiring new cards.
• New users struggle to “get to the meta” faster, as earning all Series 3’s cards takes too long.
• Returning players struggle to "catch up" after skipping a season or more of new cards and rewards.
• The randomness of the Spotlight Cache system feels frustrating.

To address these growing concerns, they have revealed that work on a permanent "design" is ongoing; however, it does have a drawback. "Rebuilding some core aspects of SNAP takes time to get right" as "we are in the process of gathering additional feedback on the design while the work continues in production."

The exact time of when this "design" will be released is unconfirmed, citing "it will take a few months" to complete, but they have a few ways to address this in the meantime "to improve quality of life around card acquisition." This is where the January 2025 patch comes into play, as the developer will add a few changes to make card acquisition less frustrating to all players.

The first is by increasing the existing drop rates of Series 3 cards for the Collector's Reserve caches, which are found within the Collection tracker, doubling its rates "from 2 out of every 9 to 4 out of every 9." This is to ensure that Snappers who are starting the game or have yet to complete their Series 3 collection more efficiently and reduces the time to achieve this, adding that "this is a band-aid fix, but something we can do quickly."

Next is increasing the Collector's Tokens payout from the Spotlight Caches, which refreshes weekly with a new card release and two Series 4 or 5 cards, from 1,000 Tokens to 2,000 Tokens when acquiring a duplicated card. As someone who had received two duplicated cards during the Luna Snow and, recently, the Doom 2099 Spotlight Cache weeks, it was agonizing (not the card), and the payout continues to be an issue not just for myself but other Snappers, too, so this is a welcoming change.

Staying with issues plaguing the Spotlight Caches, the developer understands that this system is flawed, with the duplicated card feature an even bigger issue, whether it is being pulled for the first or last slot. As this uses up precious resources, the Spotlight Keys once again stated that this increased Token payout is too "a band-aid" change "but fairly straightforward so that we can release it quickly."

As mentioned, these "band-aid" changes will go live in the January 2025 patch update, which we are guessing will launch with the new season of Marvel Snap, possibly on 7th January 2025, but we cannot confirm the date as of writing. Lastly, there is a Series Drop set to go live for Marvel Snap, which the developer has confirmed is expected to drop "in the first quarter of 2025," but the exact date has yet to be confirmed.

For more Marvel Snap news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below: