Alliance War Season 19: Updates to Path Identities and New Nodes! [ June 30]

Summoners,

After his defeat at the hands of the Summoner and Carina, the Grandmaster has been an elder without a calling. Despite the problems and conflicts that the Grandmaster and The Collector have caused, they are still Carina’s family, and she loves them very much.

Instead of banishing them to a far off land, she’s worked with her council to create a plan to keep the two of them busy, and out of trouble.

The Universal Gamesman

Carina knows that a game with changing rulesets and unpredictable pieces is the perfect distraction to keep En Dwi Gast out of trouble. Under her supervision, The Grandmaster will transform Alliance Wars into his tournament, where he seeks the strongest Alliances every season to crown as his victors!

Recreating the Battlefield

The Grandmaster has never been shy about wanting to mould the Contest to his vision, and making sure his presence is noticed. He’ll be starting with the Maps on which you fight.

So first, we’re going to take a look at the new Nodes, Path Identities, and Layouts of the Grandmaster’s New Maps. All Map Changes will take effect on June 24th!

New Maps

First, we've got 2 Brand New Maps! One for Alliances playing on Easy and Normal, and one for Alliances playing on Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert. If you'd like to take a closer look, we've attached the High-Resolution versions of these maps to this post.

These new more simplified Maps eliminate Portals and bring the entire Battlegroup back together and key points throughout the Map.

Easy and Normal:

Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert:

New Local Nodes

The Grandmaster has crafted the following nodes for Alliances on the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, or Expert Maps.

Path Identities

If you like to plan ahead, the Grandmaster is happy to provide you with a list of all buffs on all nodes across the Maps. There are lots to look at, so we've attached the lists of Nodes in the next post.

Matchmaking Updates

The Grandmaster wants to ensure that his tournament stays as competitive as possible. To do so, he is updating the parameters of Matchmaking. Matchmaking will now emphasize your Alliance's War Rating above all else. This will ensure that Alliances vying for the crown will be competing against other top Alliances.

This will be a big adjustment for a lot of Alliances. Currently, many Alliances are either have an inflated War Rating or a Deflated War rating due to the current system. To expedite the process of Alliances finding their "true" War Rating, we will be reducing every Alliance's War Rating by 50%. This will affect every Alliance in-game and will accelerate the rate at which Alliance's find their true position faster because of the concentrated War Ratings of all Alliances.

The Change to Matchmaking and the War Rating reduction will occur on July 8th.

What's Next?

There's still so much to reveal about Season 19 and beyond. Next week, we'll cover:
- Reward Changes
- Defense Tactics and Attack Tactics
- Alliance War Solo Events

Remember, Alliance Wars Season 19 Starts on July 7th, and there will be no war starting on July 5th!

Stay tuned for more information on everything else about Season 19!

Comments

hungryhungrybbq

Thanks for fixing the matching system. That's great news. It will have a significant impact on my alliances decision on whether to return to competitive war or not. Looking forward to seeing what the rewards update entails. Now, to read the nodes and view the map:)

GroundedWisdom

Either way, I'm upset because I'm concerned but I'll still keep an open mind and wait to see. I'm just not comfortable with people having to face Losses that they can't win just so the system can "balance" itself, and I'm definitely not comfortable going back to something that was being abused without some kind of preventative measures. I've been involved in War since they started, and my concerns aren't necessarily for myself alone. It's the fairness of the system I'm worried about. I would have no issue at all with using War Rating alone if the other problems weren't present. Unfortunately you have people using the system with Tanking and Shells in a way that makes it absolutely unfair for others, and the entire thing runs amok. Everyone's Season matters. Not just the upper crust. That's about all I'm going to say on it. I'll wait and see how things go.

GroundedWisdom

Also worth pointing out that if every Alliance is reduced by 50%, that won't help anything because everyone is affected the same way. Season 19 is going to be a massacre.

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KnightZero

@DNA3000 very well said. Literally highlighted all the issues with war in a single post. Just by looking at the nodes, players have already come up with quite a few nasty combinations. With defender tactics, it'll get really messy. Looks like they're trying to really make it that people don't 100% the Map. Or make us test the map and die for a season before they change it.

GroundedWisdom

I think cutting the points would bring zero because somebody has to be in t1 2 etc
U cut the points and the same alliamces will be in the same leagues only with half points
I dot understand that

That's exactly my point. Cutting the WRP in half for everyone doesn't do anything because everyone will still experience the same grossly overpowered Matches. Season 19 is just going to be sacrificed for people so the system can balance. It's going to be an unfair bloodbath.

joke1004

@Kabam Miike thx for the fix. Almost done

Lanes 1-3 in section 2 still have wrong node numbers. The rest looks fine now.

Hector_1475

Totally awesome changes. It will make it crystal clear to all that War is no fun anymore and barely worth bothering with. I will probably advocate it to my alliance to drop it alltogether or place one BG for the masochists in us. Maybe that's what all the nodes should be named:

Masochism 1
Masochism 2
Masochism 3
etc.

It will only take a real masochist to deal with war anyhow...

*smh*

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Sensei_Maat

Just get rid of the hidden nodes. Now multiple players have to run scouter lense
I don't personally mind hidden nodes, the hidden path on the current map was one of the easiest lanes if you brought in a utility team - CaptIW, Domino and someone for the minis like SS, helped if I found someone like annihalus too

i ran hidden path with beardo also cus he is very versatile, not many champs get one up on him and he takes care of some annoying defender like Annihalus just as you said. solo'd the path almost every war with minimal headaches. korg was my biggest issue if i saw him.

Sensei_Maat

I think cutting the points would bring zero because somebody has to be in t1 2 etc
U cut the points and the same alliamces will be in the same leagues only with half points
I dot understand that
That's exactly my point. Cutting the WRP in half for everyone doesn't do anything because everyone will still experience the same grossly overpowered Matches. Season 19 is just going to be sacrificed for people so the system can balance. It's going to be an unfair bloodbath.

it needs to happen.
10mil rating alliances do not deserve to be above 30mil alliances becuase in no world would the 10 mil aalliance ever win if they fought each other.
the system that has allowed small allies to leapfrog larger allies because they never fight is an unfair handicapped system and has no place in a system where everyone is fighting for the same ppol of rewards.

so this needs to happen and should have happened a long time ago.

LordSmasher

I think cutting the points would bring zero because somebody has to be in t1 2 etc
U cut the points and the same alliamces will be in the same leagues only with half points
I dot understand that
That's exactly my point. Cutting the WRP in half for everyone doesn't do anything because everyone will still experience the same grossly overpowered Matches. Season 19 is just going to be sacrificed for people so the system can balance. It's going to be an unfair bloodbath.

Just want to point out only half the alliances will have grossly overpowered matches. Half will be the opposite.
My alliance only runs 1BG and when we realized prestige makes a difference we got another 6 accounts. Still only 19 in the alliance but it made a big difference to get our win/loss ratio to 10/2.

GroundedWisdom

I think cutting the points would bring zero because somebody has to be in t1 2 etc
U cut the points and the same alliamces will be in the same leagues only with half points
I dot understand that
That's exactly my point. Cutting the WRP in half for everyone doesn't do anything because everyone will still experience the same grossly overpowered Matches. Season 19 is just going to be sacrificed for people so the system can balance. It's going to be an unfair bloodbath.
it needs to happen.
10mil rating alliances do not deserve to be above 30mil alliances becuase in no world would the 10 mil aalliance ever win if they fought each other.
the system that has allowed small allies to leapfrog larger allies because they never fight is an unfair handicapped system and has no place in a system where everyone is fighting for the same ppol of rewards.

so this needs to happen and should have happened a long time ago.

No. It does not "need" to happen. Those Alliances fight their own fair Matches and earn their own way to wherever they are. They Match, and fight, and put every bit of effort in they can. A month's worth of Wars to work towards the end goal. The fact that a fair fight is a foreign concept to some is ridiculous to me, but the truth is they didn't leapfrog anywhere. They earned it through the Points they earned in their own Matches. Now people are bitter that they can't peck them off. There are other solutions and it absolutely does not need to happen. Those people played the system fairly and earned what they earned based on their own performance.
It does not need to happen. Those Alliances represent many people who put every effort they can into Seasons. Forcing them to do Wars that they absolutely cannot win as something that "has to happen" is totally disrespectful and caters to one demographic alone. The demographic that can't get past their Ego because Allies smaller than them are earning big Rewards. There would have been other options. Making them fight Wars they literally can't win and ruining their Season when they're working just as hard as anyone else is just flat-out cruel. Everything makes a difference during the Season. Every Alliance you do that to has 30 people putting in their best efforts and what you're talking about is Wars that no matter how hard they try, they can't win. I mean literally can't. Numerically can't. You're talking to the wrong person if you're trying to sell the idea that this kind of mistreatment is necessary. Yes, I use the word mistreatment without any kind of dramatics. The people working their butts off to earn Rewards in Season are being mistreated because people complained about who else was getting what. It's altogether unfair. If you don't care about the efforts that hundreds if not thousands of people put into a Season, that's your shortcoming. I do.

GroundedWisdom

Setting people up to fail just to balance a system is sadistic. Period.

Nmbghjju

Hey guys, do you know what is "Cold Turkey" buff?

Bassanio

How do the links interact?
What are they?
Do we have to take some fights linked?
Is there a hidden lane?
On the Easy and Normal Maps:
Nodes 13 and 14 Link to 19, 15 and 16 link to 20, 17 and 18 link to 21, 38 and 39 link to 44, 40 and 41 link to 45, and 42 and 43 link to 46. Finally, 48, 51, and 52 Link to the Boss.

On the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert Maps:
Nodes 10,11,12 link to 19, Nodes 13,14,15 link to 20, Nodes 16,17,18 link to 21, 36,37,38 link to 45, 39,40,41 link to 46, 42,43,44 link to 47, and 49,52,53 Link to the Boss.

You do not have to take any fights linked this time.

There is no hidden path anymore, but Nodes 19,20,21,45,46,47 are hidden.

19,20,21 and "39",46,47??

Bassanio

reduce all incoming damage by 90%.........Is debuff damage included?
@Kabam Miike

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Sensei_Maat

I think cutting the points would bring zero because somebody has to be in t1 2 etc
U cut the points and the same alliamces will be in the same leagues only with half points
I dot understand that
That's exactly my point. Cutting the WRP in half for everyone doesn't do anything because everyone will still experience the same grossly overpowered Matches. Season 19 is just going to be sacrificed for people so the system can balance. It's going to be an unfair bloodbath.
it needs to happen.
10mil rating alliances do not deserve to be above 30mil alliances becuase in no world would the 10 mil aalliance ever win if they fought each other.
the system that has allowed small allies to leapfrog larger allies because they never fight is an unfair handicapped system and has no place in a system where everyone is fighting for the same ppol of rewards.

so this needs to happen and should have happened a long time ago.
No. It does not "need" to happen. Those Alliances fight their own fair Matches and earn their own way to wherever they are. They Match, and fight, and put every bit of effort in they can. A month's worth of Wars to work towards the end goal. The fact that a fair fight is a foreign concept to some is ridiculous to me, but the truth is they didn't leapfrog anywhere. They earned it through the Points they earned in their own Matches. Now people are bitter that they can't peck them off. There are other solutions and it absolutely does not need to happen. Those people played the system fairly and earned what they earned based on their own performance.
It does not need to happen. Those Alliances represent many people who put every effort they can into Seasons. Forcing them to do Wars that they absolutely cannot win as something that "has to happen" is totally disrespectful and caters to one demographic alone. The demographic that can't get past their Ego because Allies smaller than them are earning big Rewards. There would have been other options. Making them fight Wars they literally can't win and ruining their Season when they're working just as hard as anyone else is just flat-out cruel. Everything makes a difference during the Season. Every Alliance you do that to has 30 people putting in their best efforts and what you're talking about is Wars that no matter how hard they try, they can't win. I mean literally can't. Numerically can't. You're talking to the wrong person if you're trying to sell the idea that this kind of mistreatment is necessary. Yes, I use the word mistreatment without any kind of dramatics. The people working their butts off to earn Rewards in Season are being mistreated because people complained about who else was getting what. It's altogether unfair. If you don't care about the efforts that hundreds if not thousands of people put into a Season, that's your shortcoming. I do.

your logic makes no sense when talking about a system that award rewards based on a leaderboard.
a system that allows alliance X to finish in 1000th place while alliance y finishes in 5000th place when inf the two alliances ever fought alliance X would have no chance and be destoyed by alliance Y is a total farce.

imagine a sports competition. where someone finishes in first place because they only played the bottom teams and won all matches while a team finishes last because they only played the top teams.
HOW IS THAT FAIR?
teams fighting for spots in a leaderboard need to have the ability to reasonably beat all those below them.
an alliance should not be ranked 10th overall because they are the best 10 million rated alliance. because they only fought other 10million alliances, while a 30 million alliance finishes 100th becuase they did not do well against other 30 million alliances. if these two alliance ever fought we know who would win.

a system that segregates alliances into pools based on alliance ratings only works if each pool has their own set of rewards.

most people know this, even kabam know ths hense why they are changing the system.

once again you are very very out of touch with the community and you have a poor way of looking at the system.

TL:DR if a 2million alliance wins 10/2 season because it only fought other 2 million alliances, while a 40million alliance loses 3/7 season while fighting only other 40million alliances.
the 2 million alliance does not deserve to finish higher on the leaderboard and get better rewards becuase they were fighting in different competitions.. different competitions cant have the same pool of rewards.

Sensei_Maat

given it a season or two and alliances will balance out and fit in war ratings where they belong and there will not the the amount of "unfair" matches we will see.
the unfair matches we will see will only be "unfair" due to the shortcomings of the poor matchmaking system that has been in place.
alliances will balance back into positions on the leaderboard where they belong.
a 10million rated alliance has no place with a 2500 WR they will only get these unfair matches while the kinks of the old system work themselves out

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Feuerschwer

The thing with matchmaking is that there’s no way to go from “some people are too big rated and some are too low” directly to “perfect fair matchmaking” with any sane amount of existing data. Cutting the war rating in half means that wins and losses will balance the field faster than they would have before; because the relative change is greater. It sucks that it has to level out like this and some alliances will end up eating losses or getting easy wins but there’s no reasonable way to get to a balanced war rating system without fighting wars; this plan probably hurts fewer alliances than just zeroing out everyone’s war rating and having chaos for the first few rounds before people can separate out.

Sensei_Maat

u say it needs to happen

imagine

3100-3500 are t1
2900-3100 are t2
2700-2900 are t3 for example

that t1 2 3 will not stay empty

u cut the points and

t1 will be 1550-1750
t2 will be 1450-1550
t3 will be 1350-1450

please tell me what has changed here

i would understand if everybody goes below T6 and start there to climb high

only thing what happens now is that the gap has been narrowed and more alliances can be matched because of the new war matchmaking system. this doesnt benefit us...this only makes possible the new matchmaking system to function at all

not saying the half war rating part needs to happen.
but the matchmaking overhaul.
with War Rating being the primary factor and not alliance rating or prestige.

but halving the war rating brings everyone closer together and speads up the process people will seperate into where they belong. otherwise higher allies may have too far to fall and lower ones too high to climb

Pulyaman

on poisone and fire path...either have red hulk or die

because everybody will place there blade against mephisto or maybe morningstar which adds bleed as extra on top of it

Iceman covers all immunity brackets, but I get your point. If they place MS, bring blade with stark and problem solved. If they place blade, bring Domino. Its not that there is no counter. The counters are less. Its going to be a challenge for sure.Also, if you bring someone like CAIW with skill synergy , he can shrug off all debuffs. Same with Aegon with a 50 or so combo. A niche counter could be rogue. Shrug off quickly and heal up with sp1. We need to think a little and depending on the defender, we can manage I think.

Giome

The new map and node combination look worst and even more roster specific. The fact that hidden nodes are spread over the map forces more people to use the scouter lens. If the goal was to make AW more enjoyable you already seemed to have failed, at least on paper. I hope I'm wrong but that is really not a good start in my opinion. So many people are retiring already and war is one of the main reason. I really hoped the new AW would make things better.

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