Over the summer, you can expect to see dedicated blogs outlining big items from the 2026 Roadmap. While we get those updates ready for you, for now, as an update to our MARVEL Puzzle Quest 2026 Roadmap blog, we’re giving the floor to our Lead Designer Finn to share some of the philosophy and background behind how he’s been looking at the MPQ meta. But first, we wanted to provide a couple of updates on some things we’ve been working on…

GAME STABILITY
This will continue to be a priority in our efforts to improve the backend of MPQ and we hope some of the changes implemented can be felt as you play through the game.

In addition to continuing that work, we will be updating the version of Unity that MPQ is using around R343. Along with platform compliance, this newer version should help specifically with some of the various freezing/crashing issues familiar to folks on iOS 26. We’re also hopeful that updating to a more stable version of Unity should see at least some general improvements on all platforms.

RETURNING PVE EVENTS
Not too long after the release of Heroic Mode, you may start to see events that have been missing in action for some time. Our Lead Engineer Josh has been working his magic and chipping away at them to fix the issues with them that kept them out of rotation, and making sure they’ll fit into our 3 or 4 day event schedules.

MOVING THE METAGAME FORWARD
Now, we’re passing it over to our Lead Designer, Finn to talk you through what we’re thinking and what we’re planning for MPQ’s character meta.

LOW-RARITY CHARACTER BOOSTS & REWORKS
Over the past few months, we’ve been taking a closer look at the long history of MPQ’s character system to better understand everything that goes into building, balancing, and maintaining a character. As part of that work, we’re exploring ways to rebalance and improve characters already in the game while also creating a more consistent foundation for developing new characters going forward.

A big part of this is looking at how we can boost some of the lower star rarities (1-3 Stars) to feel more impactful to beginner players while also trying to address the problem caused by later star rarities that have a significant power bump, causing knock-on effects with lower star rank Ascended characters. Some characters will have a more significant lens trained on them, with more work going into reworking their abilities.
One example that stands out is 2-Star Bullseye and his Black ability, Murderous Aim. Even at max level, the ability is very expensive, and its bonus damage condition, requiring four or more Critical tiles on the board, is extremely difficult to trigger in normal play.

With this rebalance effort, we plan to slowly roll out updated characters in batches, with the first batch currently targeted for June. Our initial focus will be on 1-Star through 3-Star characters that we believe need numerical improvements the most, with ability changes mixed in where appropriate.

6-STAR CHARACTERS
Moving on to a much more recent topic, it’s fair to say that 6-Star characters have not had the overall impact on MARVEL Puzzle Quest that we originally hoped for. They haven’t delivered the major meta shake-up they were intended to bring, and they also create future challenges across systems like Ascension, feeder rewards, Championing, and Shards. In many ways, there also isn’t enough in practical terms that clearly separates them from 5-Stars, and we’re keenly aware of player feedback around their availability.

With that in mind, we want to give 6-Stars a more meaningful presence in the game, both in how you build your roster and how you bring characters into battle going forward. We’re exploring ways to make them more exciting, create additional paths to acquire them through play, and give them a stronger influence on the meta as a whole.
More broadly, we’re looking at how 6-Stars can introduce new mechanics and progression opportunities into MPQ, creating fresh goals for players to work toward. We’re not ready to share too much just yet, but we do plan to provide more details on how we intend to give 6-Stars a stronger, more interesting impact on the game.

UNTIL NEXT TIME
As always, thank you for continuing to play, support, and share your feedback with us. The 2026 roadmap is starting to take shape in some exciting ways and we’re looking forward to sharing the big, juicy details with you all. Until then, let us know what you’d like to see in upcoming blogs!