Marvel's Avengers doesn't appear to be off to the smoothest of starts, especially on PC, with the number of players on Steam hovering in the hundreds, if not thousands, since launch, and in my experience matchmaking is slow and often unsuccessful. These problems aside, what most players agree on is that the in-game marketplace is a rip-off.

Now, maybe it's just following the grand old comic tradition, but still, the stuff is only worth what people are willing to pay for it, and obviously, players are not tempted by some of the more ridiculous offerings here. One particular gripe is that the "Epic Takedown," an animated finishing move in the game, was selling for 1,200 credits in the marketplace. Calculated at 4 pounds 500 credits for the base currency pack, that means $12/£10 for one animation. That's right.

After a recent in-game event in which the prices of costumes, takedowns, and emotes were cut in half, developer Crystal Dynamics added a splash screen to the game announcing that the takedown and emote discounts were permanent. There is no mention of costumes, which will also remain at half price for the foreseeable future.

I really want to like Marvel's Avengers more. I have wasted half an hour of game time in the lobby, or worse, lost a player or dropped out in the middle of a match. But the other thing is that it was set up to squeeze players from day one and it felt like it. The problem wasn't necessarily that there was so much stuff on sale, we've all gotten used to that these days, but that there was a disconnect between the prices and what you were willing to pay. I'm not willing to give actual cash for an emote, much less something that costs $5 a pop.

The game is currently running a promotion for returning players alongside this price cut: log in before November 5 and get 1500 credits for free, among various other perks.

Hopefully this is the beginning of more positive changes for "Marvel's Avengers" for players. There is the core of a potentially great experience here, but it needs much more improvement than a few price cuts.