Prepare to Enter the Battlegrounds! Open Beta March 14-21

Salutations Summoners!

A new challenge has arisen for those who are Uncollected or higher!

Battlegrounds is a game mode that tests your skills, your Champion roster, and all the game knowledge that has brought you this far into The Contest! In this game mode, you will be challenging another Summoner in head-to-head combat as you select Defenders to defeat them, and they do the same for you.

The first of two betas for Battlegrounds (with the second arriving for a full month in April) will be taking place between March 14th, 10am PST to March 21st, 10am PST.

But first, here’s a walkthrough of the Battlegrounds experience so Summoners know what to expect when hopping into this latest game mode. Read all about it on our Blog!

Keep in mind that this is the first time that Battlegrounds will be open to all Summoners. This test will not be indicative of the Rewards structure of the final mode, and there may be issues present. We will be collecting Data and Feedback during this period to help us improve upon the mode as we move forward.

Comments

BitterSteel

I know there won't be a "Challenge your friends mode" in this beta, but is it a possibility for the next Beta? Or is this only a concept for the full launch as and when it is released? My alliance leader @CaptBT828 keeps on trash talking me, I'm hoping a 2-0 win will quiet him for a little while

Either way I'm really looking forward to checking this out!

Colinwhitworth69

Awesome.

Kabam Miike

I know there won't be a "Challenge your friends mode" in this beta, but is it a possibility for the next Beta? Or is this only a concept for the full launch as and when it is released? My alliance leader @CaptBT828 keeps on trash talking me, I'm hoping a 2-0 win will quiet him for a little while

Either way I'm really looking forward to checking this out!

I think that we're gonna have to wait for the full launch for the friendly mode.

Oliv

Man, I'm excited about this game mode but I don't think I'll play that much with the 15 energy cost, hopefully it will be lowered in the future.

Maratox

15 energy cost is still too high. You really should implement a different energy for battlegrounds.

Also, masteries being free: is that across the entire game? Or is this taking place on a special beta server?

Eb0ny-O-M4w

Why not just cap the points/rewards per week/month, and remove the entry cost instead?

Same system as incursions, would overall work better. I don't see why this couldn't be the case.

Chobbly

This sounds fantastic and will be a great addition to the Contest. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

Just to echo the general comments, I would query the energy cost. If there needs to be a gateway cost, maybe have it like duels instead? You get five free goes each day and after that it costs 5 units.

Danemo666

Was pretty excited to try this out, but the energy cost side of things puts me off tbh.
I like to explore all difficulties of the monthly eq, and this feels like I'd have to make a choice between doing that and trying out this new mode.
Which is unfortunate as I would like to have seen this as just additional content we can play instead of having to choose between regular content and playing this each month.

I totally agree with the suggestions made of a seperate energy system for this or a cap placed on matches.

Wicket329

I don’t mind there being an energy cost *or* a champion recharge. I do worry about running both an energy cost *and* a champion recharge fee. It just seems like an unnecessary double hurdle in the way of what appears to be a very well put together piece of content.

In any event, I’m very much looking forward to this. I’m also looking forward to the mode @BitterSteel mentioned, as there’s been a lot of trash talk in the alliance chat lately that I can’t wait to settle.

BitterSteel

I know there won't be a "Challenge your friends mode" in this beta, but is it a possibility for the next Beta? Or is this only a concept for the full launch as and when it is released? My alliance leader @CaptBT828 keeps on trash talking me, I'm hoping a 2-0 win will quiet him for a little while

Either way I'm really looking forward to checking this out!
I think that we're gonna have to wait for the full launch for the friendly mode.

Thanks for the info Miike, still exciting stuff! That's the feature I'm most looking forward to

RiderofHell

What about the champions??? Not everyone has them maxed out, so are we gonna see fully maxed out roster instead???

Diplodocus

So someone wants to play this mode. He uses a full energy refill, than plays 5 matches and loses 3 of them. In the end he not only loses his ratings but also a full energy refill.

Phillip14233

If 15 energy a time stays, no one is gonna play after the first week.

Worknprogress

What about the champions??? Not everyone has them maxed out, so are we gonna see fully maxed out roster instead???

This will be on the live server from the looks of it (No reason to make mastery changes free if not). The roster you'll have is the roster you have now.

Wozzle007

I was never interested in this mode until I saw Brian Grant play it. I’m really looking forward to it, but not at 15 energy. If it’s going to take that much energy to play, you can honestly keep the game mode.

DNA3000

What about the champions??? Not everyone has them maxed out, so are we gonna see fully maxed out roster instead???

Just as with alliance war, not everyone has fully maxed out rosters, but you aren't going to be competing against players with fully maxed out rosters. You're going to mainly be competing against players of comparable rosters and skill levels via ratings match making.

Kabam Miike

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.

Oliv

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.

Nice, I'll play as much as I get back from the objectives then. I think the best way to go is the incursions suggestion that has been said before, we can play as much as we want but only get rewards once every week/month/season.

KoopaKrusher

What about the champions??? Not everyone has them maxed out, so are we gonna see fully maxed out roster instead???
Just as with alliance war, not everyone has fully maxed out rosters, but you aren't going to be competing against players with fully maxed out rosters. You're going to mainly be competing against players of comparable rosters and skill levels via ratings match making.

I definitely want battlegrounds to be a place for endgame players to use their expansive rosters of R3s and R4s, but I think it could also be interesting to have a *much* lower reward tier that only allows lower champs (I'm thinking 3*s since the arena update kinda made them irrelevant). It'd be easier for players to build out a roster and work on the strategy side of the game, but also not take away from the main battleground being the place that attracts beyond-endgame players

Kabam Miike

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.
Nice, I'll play as much as I get back from the objectives then. I think the best way to go is the incursions suggestion that has been said before, we can play as much as we want but only get rewards once every week/month/season.

The Incursions method doesn't really work here because this is meant to be a highly competitive mode. There may be other entry methods to explore, and a public Beta helps us understand more.

Eb0ny-O-M4w

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.
Nice, I'll play as much as I get back from the objectives then. I think the best way to go is the incursions suggestion that has been said before, we can play as much as we want but only get rewards once every week/month/season.
The Incursions method doesn't really work here because this is meant to be a highly competitive mode. There may be other entry methods to explore, and a public Beta helps us understand more.

This method won't work as well then, unless you decide to cap it somehow. How is this game mode being promoted as "highly competitive" and then making the entry requirements purchasable? Not to be mentioning the possible unit refreshes and re-rolls that will likely be possible as well.

unknown

This content has been removed.

Riptide

Are there are any beta restrictions? Like, will it be open to everyone UC above, or random?

GrassKnuckles

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.

These energy refills can be used in other content...right?

FlameGod

If this is meant to be a highly competitive mode, I think removing the energy cost and keeping the champion recharges is the best way to go. Also, if the system is set up like the Alliance War game mode with a regular season / off-season with ranked rewards being received at the end, I think it will make things more competitive since players can fight for that top spot just like in alliance wars.

Ultimately end-game players and players who spend units on crystals will have the biggest advantage because they will have the largest rosters meaning they can play more even with the champion recharges as an obstacle. Having an additional energy cost will not hinder these players, but it will affect players who need that energy to explore content to obtain rewards which will hopefully help them expand their rosters.

If this is Kabams definition of highly competitive, then I guess I won't be able to play this mode much even though I am very excited for this new game mode to go live. I really hope the upcoming beta gives your team some insight on which direction to take this game mode and if you do stick with a quest energy cost I really hope that the cost is lowered to the 5 - 10 range with 8 being the number I would use. Of course I have no information on the rewards so that amount of energy may be too small for the reward tradeoff.

unknown

This content has been removed.

odishika123

Will there be any kind of rewards or will it be just for testing ???

You get to test it early that is the reward😉

unknown

This content has been removed.

Mauled

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.

Sounds awesome, my suggestion- admittedly without playing it yet - is that if you cap the entries rather than make an entry cost it’ll be easier to build a balanced reward structure.
If you know that the best player in the world who wins every single match is limited at say 100 matches/week then you can say ok, this is worth a 6* nexus and 50 sig stones but if you make a 6* nexus and 50 sig stones worth 100 wins but there’s unlimited entries just a cost then you could conceivably have people treating this like the 6* featured and just refreshing all day.

xNig

Hey everybody!

Regarding Energy: The cost of energy to enter matchmaking is still under consideration, and this Beta is going to help us collect Data. Additionally, our plan is to put Energy Refills in Battlegrounds Solo Objectives during this week to subsidize the use of Energy during the Beta, and help you get more rounds in.
Sounds awesome, my suggestion- admittedly without playing it yet - is that if you cap the entries rather than make an entry cost it’ll be easier to build a balanced reward structure.
If you know that the best player in the world who wins every single match is limited at say 100 matches/week then you can say ok, this is worth a 6* nexus and 50 sig stones but if you make a 6* nexus and 50 sig stones worth 100 wins but there’s unlimited entries just a cost then you could conceivably have people treating this like the 6* featured and just refreshing all day.

But if it is like the war ratings system for AW, it doesn’t matter how much they refresh since their ratings will gravitate towards their equilibrium rating as the number of matches increase.