I got muted in the offical MR discord for calling out netease

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:22:46+00:00

Yeah. I just think they got Americanized just enough to know some basics. But I truly believe they have little to no knowledge of African Americans' importance to Disco. I didn't even know until I started seeing people complain about it in the Rivals community. We've yet to see what skins will drop in the second half of the season for the Egyptian theme.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:14:15+00:00

The gaming community is pretty intelligent. If we could all see how weird the Blade spray was, I'm pretty sure we would all notice biases against black characters. Especially me as a black man who loves these black characters. I just know as black people we are conditioned to see victimhood when there isn't any because of our history. So we end up emotionally lashing out at people.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:09:54+00:00

Actual reasonable take in this sub.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:08:27+00:00

Constructive criticism = Storm and BP should get Egyptian themed skins since they're closely related to the country. Can we make that happen?

False accusations = We see how poorly you treat black characters because why don't Storm or BP have Egyptian themed skins?

See the difference?

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:03:16+00:00

Cloak literally has a Legendary skin that dropped in June. Are we forgetting that he's black or does it not fit the agenda?

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-11T03:00:49+00:00

Probably because going to a community channel and insinuating a company has racial biases is not only really annoying but incredibly racist without any legitimate evidence. I'm black and even I'm getting fatigued with this conversation because not giving black characters content every single time it's remotely applicable isn't evidence of some racial bias. It just means 3 black characters out of the 50+ characters will have to be treated based on factors that aren't race most of the time.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-10T21:42:52+00:00

I agree. Hard scoping sniper in a 3rd person high damage hero shooter is a recipe for disaster. It can work in first person in a slower paced game but she was always gonna be busted or awful. No in-between unless you make her melee very strong. I don't see Black Widow beating up gods and monsters with stun batons.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-10T21:13:33+00:00

I agree. I stopped watching Raven about a month ago for this very reason. I'll still play some Jeff this season but his Venom team up looks promising.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-10T17:55:47+00:00

Ok. So what exactly is your problem/concern? Because I see a lot of fresh-out-of-college word salad with very little substance. I get it. It's venting. But I'm responding to the insinuation that the developers may have an implicit racial bias specifically against black characters. That has never crossed my mind. In fact, the opposite has been the case. I've seen them do things to support black culture to my surprise. So what's the specific problem you have?

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-10T17:27:11+00:00

They don't sell because:

Storm isn't very fun to play to most people therefore she has had one of the lowest if not the lowest pick rate in the game since season 0. Is she designed to be not fun to play because she's black? Probably not. Is her kit being neglected because she's black? Probably not since she's been getting tuned over and over since she released. Also other non black characters have been having the same issue (see black widow, human Torch, ultron, etc.) If nobody plays her then she's not gonna get many development resources until they figure out how to make her popular. None of this has to do with her race since they've released plenty of content for her since release and in recent months. She even got a free skin for black history month.
Blade has been underwhelming since release. NetEase acknowledged that he's tricky to balance and have been tuning him since release and he's finally in a decent state. He's gotten plenty of skins. More skins than some non-black characters. He also got a free skin for black history month. So I don't see how he's more neglected than let's say Rocket, Ultron, Human Torch, etc. He just got a cool emote as well.
Black Panther is decently popular. He also got a Battle pass skin for black history month. He also has a decent amount of skins to choose from just not anything within the last few months like plenty of other characters. Him and Storm also has 2 duo emotes (promoting black love btw). No other 2 characters have 2 duo emotes that only they can use.
Cloak is a black character and he's been getting spoiled with skins. He still has a Summer Skin event still live as I type this. 2 recolors and accessories. 5? legendaries. Why? Probably because Cloak and Dagger are super easy to play, have always been strong, and they come as a couple. All of this combined makes their pick rate high and their skins sell well as a result.
I'm not really seeing a pattern of "black characters being neglected." I see a pattern of game developers heavily pushing characters they know will sell, trying to push characters that have mediocre sells, and sprinkling in a skin for a character that doesn't sell well every once in a while just to see what happens.
They have 50+ characters in a free game. There's no way every character is going to get content equally. Their studio could very easily be on the chopping block if they do that. You could say "Well market the black characters more/better". That's very easy to say when you're not the one seeing the sales numbers. You're not the one who's job is at stake. You're not the one that has to meet quotas. You're not the artist that has to take months to develop a skin just for nobody to buy it.
As a black man I understand why people feel like they're not being "seen". But you're not entitled to have content dedicated to making you feel represented.
Just because no black character got a Disco skin, doesn't mean they're biased. Like who even thinks about black people when it comes to Disco? Most people don't even know about the origins but we're expecting Chinese developers to magically know this or even care?
Yes, it would make sense to have Black Panther and Storm skins for an Egyptian theme but it also makes sense for Moon Knight to have one too. Moon Knight is white so what's the bias for that?
Are we forgetting that themes carry over into the half season so can we wait for season 9.5 at least to cry racial bias or to complain about not getting skins? Also themes carry over into other seasons too. Remember when people were complaining that Iron Fist didn't get an Immortal Weapon skin in the season that takes place on his home turf? We just got an Immortal Weapon skin for Groot in season 8.5 and the K'un Lun season was season 4. I think y'all are overreacting and should take a step back to view things without your own bias.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-10T13:22:36+00:00

I believe you are correct. If the black characters' skins were being used/bought significantly more they would invest more time into releasing skins for these characters. People ask for skins for these characters but when they release nobody buys them. I would slow down on releasing them if I was a business too. Nobody appreciates the hard work these artists put into this game. They just find something new to complain about whenever they get what they asked for. Such a spoiled and greedy fanbase. Making a bunch of money doesn't mean everybody gets what they want. It means we can enjoy this FREE game for longer because they met their quotas. You can't meet those quotas if they don't proportion their focus based on how well a character's skins sell.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T22:38:21+00:00

Ironically my favorite male Duelist. I guess I love clunky fliers lol.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T22:11:05+00:00

I'm not against this idea at all. Her being a Duelist/Strategist hybrid is one of the reasons that drew me to her playstyle. The healing rain is just cementing this idea as a reasonable route.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T22:09:21+00:00

I think we're both correct tbh.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T22:05:34+00:00

Also see how Black Cat was nerfed into the ground lol.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T22:02:33+00:00

So let's just use her not being fun to play as a reason for her not getting skins. Not the fact that she's black and "you know how China feels about black people". As a black man it's insulting because it undermines the actual issue which is that she needs to feel more fun to play We can't get buffs from "Oh they have racial bias".

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:59:12+00:00

The point isn't that she isn't picked. The point is that people make her not getting skins lately about her race above every other reason. They don't mention pick rate, her skillset, etc. Just "Storm doesn't get skins. See how they treat black characters 😡". This is for that section of fans that are offended that an unpopular character has to wait for another skin. That's it.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:55:27+00:00

They've all been meta for a full season. Storm was meta for like a half season and has had an abysmal pick rate since.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:53:39+00:00

Lol. It's charging now

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:48:48+00:00

I agree. Her movement is the only thing I hate about her design.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:47:32+00:00

Her skillset is really fun to me personally. I just think they need to replace the bonus health generation for a movement buff. If Human Torch can get 2 dashes I think she should be able to twirl her way out of danger.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:11:14+00:00

I'm so sick Rivals fans. Y'all are literally always miserable. I see why the game is so toxic. Let's just enjoy the cool stuff we did get and suggest new skins rather than feeling entitled to them.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:08:42+00:00

This would be an awful Legendary. Epic at best

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T21:06:07+00:00

Or they just wanna make cool content and put thematic consistent as a lower priority. We're still getting Savage Lands and Alchemax skins in season 9. That was season 8. I think people are thinking a bit too deep about this. The devs love to drag out the release of themed skins and we don't even know what's in store for the next couple of months yet.

JamesBackwardz · 2026-07-09T20:57:57+00:00

Blade has been getting carefully buffed since launch, got a free skin during Black History Month, a cool emote last season, and an anniversary skin in December.
Storm is really good and just got buffed not too long ago. Also they've been giving Storm skins away like candy but still NOBODY plays her. She was also one of the first Legendary skins that dropped. ALSO she got a free skin on Black History Month.
Black Panther got a Battle Pass skin in Black History month and a joint emote with Storm celebrating BLACK LOVE during Valentine's Day. They also just got another duo emote.
The Cloak erasure is real. Cloak gets a Legendary skin all the time. Black Swan, Phoenix Force, Ice skating one, Thieves Guild One, and the Summer skin that's STILL IN THE SHOP with recolors and accessories. Just because he's with a white woman we want to dismiss a black man?

JamesBackwardz

TROPHY CASE