I want to first apologize for the late response. It's been a very busy time here, and while we haven't been able to reply, we have been keeping up.
The team has been actively discussing your feedback, especially around the Dual Class nodes. We don't have anything to share at this time, or know what/if action is required, but wanted you to know that your feedback has not been ignored. We will update you all if there is news to share.
What about map 5? Most of the complaints here apply to map 5 as well. The enemies are newer and much harder with less good options to fight them and still handle other enemies on other paths, the nodes are harder, you buffed the attack and health boosts on the enemies and they aren't throwing specials easily which is killing us with degen mods because they hide behind block until you try to heavy and then they attack you and you eat a combo or special.
You said you were making things easier to encourage people to go to higher maps but you made it harder instead and have stopped aq potion compensation as well which makes it even worse. Many people both here and in my alliance have said the same things about map 5.
They definitely increased the difficulty of the map when they changed the layout. The class lanes are pretty stupid imo. I see myself using items now due to the block penetration these champs now have, and resistance. Seems those two attributes were buffed quite a lot if feels. R3 g2099 took 140 hits to knock out a longshot lol.
Our alliance has a range of player skills. The less skilled were fine doing the old Map 5, but with more difficult defenders now they are having to use more items. We are going to drop that BG back to Map 4.
Not much point pushing for a higher reward rank for an extra 200 glory when you are spending way more glory on items.
We play to have fun and do AQ with our friends. When it’s no longer fun what’s the point of playing???
Yeah, this has fractured our group. Many of us have been playing together since 2017 or 2018 and 3 officers plus other members are going to various other maps. Not a single person is choosing map 7/8 either.
I want to first apologize for the late response. It's been a very busy time here, and while we haven't been able to reply, we have been keeping up.
The team has been actively discussing your feedback, especially around the Dual Class nodes. We don't have anything to share at this time, or know what/if action is required, but wanted you to know that your feedback has not been ignored. We will update you all if there is news to share.
What about map 5? Most of the complaints here apply to map 5 as well. The enemies are newer and much harder with less good options to fight them and still handle other enemies on other paths, the nodes are harder, you buffed the attack and health boosts on the enemies and they aren't throwing specials easily which is killing us with degen mods because they hide behind block until you try to heavy and then they attack you and you eat a combo or special.
You said you were making things easier to encourage people to go to higher maps but you made it harder instead and have stopped aq potion compensation as well which makes it even worse. Many people both here and in my alliance have said the same things about map 5.
The devs are aware that there are, to admittedly a lesser degree, analogous difficulty complaints about Map 5.
I'm taking the far right on Map 5 with a low alt: I'm aware the defender difficulty has gone up ... a bit.
Our alliance has a range of player skills. The less skilled were fine doing the old Map 5, but with more difficult defenders now they are having to use more items. We are going to drop that BG back to Map 4.
Not much point pushing for a higher reward rank for an extra 200 glory when you are spending way more glory on items.
We play to have fun and do AQ with our friends. When it’s no longer fun what’s the point of playing???
That's the main problem. Going backwards in progression is an extemely negative experience in this game.
Just in case it hasn’t been mentioned (I couldn’t see it further up through the messages) but I have been using peni parker (R4 5*) and R2 6* mysterio combo for the power snack/poison tech/skill path. Along with Kingpin for phase 1 and phase 3. Both those techs do not have armour and are poison immune. Have only tended to use items when parry or dex failed (or I failed 🤣). It’s a good combo and fun to use mysterio again
Just in case it hasn’t been mentioned (I couldn’t see it further up through the messages) but I have been using peni parker (R4 5*) and R2 6* mysterio combo for the power snack/poison tech/skill path. Along with Kingpin for phase 1 and phase 3. Both those techs do not have armour and are poison immune. Have only tended to use items when parry or dex failed (or I failed 🤣). It’s a good combo and fun to use mysterio again
My current Map 6 team is 5/65 Overseer, 5/65 Negative, and R3 Aegon. I ramp the hell out of Aegon on path 1 in stage 1 and he becomes my backup for stage two because he can then shrug the poison. I use Overseer in general for the **** path in stage 2, especially when iBom shows up (Overseer heals off of iBoms debuffs which is hilarious). Mr. Negative is there for the Ebony Maw mini, who seems to have taken up residence on the mini nodes and refuses to leave his Airbnb.
Just in case it hasn’t been mentioned (I couldn’t see it further up through the messages) but I have been using peni parker (R4 5*) and R2 6* mysterio combo for the power snack/poison tech/skill path. Along with Kingpin for phase 1 and phase 3. Both those techs do not have armour and are poison immune. Have only tended to use items when parry or dex failed (or I failed 🤣). It’s a good combo and fun to use mysterio again
My current Map 6 team is 5/65 Overseer, 5/65 Negative, and R3 Aegon. I ramp the hell out of Aegon on path 1 in stage 1 and he becomes my backup for stage two because he can then shrug the poison. I use Overseer in general for the **** path in stage 2, especially when iBom shows up (Overseer heals off of iBoms debuffs which is hilarious). Mr. Negative is there for the Ebony Maw mini, who seems to have taken up residence on the mini nodes and refuses to leave his Airbnb.
Right, that ibom is the toughest fight, Especially if he buttons up and won’t throw the sp1. The sp2 into the block is pretty terrible into my R4 peni. Or worse, dexing to bait specials and he refuses all until SP3
I think a big problem is what I’ll call the War Games Hypothesis. If anyone remembers that nearly 40-year old movie, the only way to win is not to play.
Due to the glory store being structured the way it is, the reality of the game is that the most efficient decision is the hardest AQ you can effectively complete itemless. Once you’re buying any potions, you’re losing more than the marginal glory you gain for finishing your lane.
It’s a poor setup but I don’t have a clear solution.
I like it, even with class specific nodes. 6 paths in section 1 and 2 which allows enough back up to stay healed and ready for section 3. I’ve gone two weeks with 0 items we run 6/6/5
I think a big problem is what I’ll call the War Games Hypothesis. If anyone remembers that nearly 40-year old movie, the only way to win is not to play.
Due to the glory store being structured the way it is, the reality of the game is that the most efficient decision is the hardest AQ you can effectively complete itemless. Once you’re buying any potions, you’re losing more than the marginal glory you gain for finishing your lane.
It’s a poor setup but I don’t have a clear solution.
That's kind of always been the most efficient strategy for everything in general, and I don't think it is inherently a problem. That's independent from whether the difficulty is set correctly. In fact, as the compensation potions have demonstrated, if it is too easy to burn items to do content, this can mask problems with the content until the costs change.
It should be as difficult as it is supposed to be and no more, not easy enough to overpower with items that it doesn't matter if it is more difficult than it is supposed to be.
I think a big problem is what I’ll call the War Games Hypothesis. If anyone remembers that nearly 40-year old movie, the only way to win is not to play.
Due to the glory store being structured the way it is, the reality of the game is that the most efficient decision is the hardest AQ you can effectively complete itemless. Once you’re buying any potions, you’re losing more than the marginal glory you gain for finishing your lane.
It’s a poor setup but I don’t have a clear solution.
That's kind of always been the most efficient strategy for everything in general, and I don't think it is inherently a problem. That's independent from whether the difficulty is set correctly. In fact, as the compensation potions have demonstrated, if it is too easy to burn items to do content, this can mask problems with the content until the costs change.
It should be as difficult as it is supposed to be and no more, not easy enough to overpower with items that it doesn't matter if it is more difficult than it is supposed to be.
Here’s where I have to disagree - putting aside compensation, because we’re talking about a post-comp world, the cost of potions has remained largely static while the cost of materials has decreased significantly.
In season 9, I was paying 2850 for 3 buys of t5b. That number is now 1050, I believe.
Before, buying potions to help the group made sense and didn’t really cut your ability to gain resources. Because potion cost remains high but rankup resources are abundant, the rational decision now is to screw your teammates, especially on day 5 when it doesn’t affect your baseline score for future days.
Item use is capped anyway for AQ. It’d be better if potions were affordable. It’s a little reminiscent of the very old war system where you were better off not playing and not dying than trying and failing (albeit for different reasons)
I want to first apologize for the late response. It's been a very busy time here, and while we haven't been able to reply, we have been keeping up.
The team has been actively discussing your feedback, especially around the Dual Class nodes. We don't have anything to share at this time, or know what/if action is required, but wanted you to know that your feedback has not been ignored. We will update you all if there is news to share.
What about map 5? Most of the complaints here apply to map 5 as well. The enemies are newer and much harder with less good options to fight them and still handle other enemies on other paths, the nodes are harder, you buffed the attack and health boosts on the enemies and they aren't throwing specials easily which is killing us with degen mods because they hide behind block until you try to heavy and then they attack you and you eat a combo or special.
You said you were making things easier to encourage people to go to higher maps but you made it harder instead and have stopped aq potion compensation as well which makes it even worse. Many people both here and in my alliance have said the same things about map 5.
The devs are aware that there are, to admittedly a lesser degree, analogous difficulty complaints about Map 5.
I'm taking the far right on Map 5 with a low alt: I'm aware the defender difficulty has gone up ... a bit.
Since you have direct contact with Kabam do you know the reasoning behind their patently absurd claim here on the forums that they had to increase the node difficulty to compensate for how much easier it would be since they stopped hiding the enemies' identities and that it would basically balance out? Everyone who put literally 2 seconds of thought into that premise would know that removing the hidden enemies didn't make it an iota easier because after a short time of a new map being released you can find the enemies with a simple Google search so all it was was an annoyance but not a difficulty factor (maybe for new players at very low maps but I'm doubt map 4/5/6+ players don't know to Google game info). It obviously didn't balance out anything, all it was was a straight difficulty increase as far as the nodes and identities went.
I want to first apologize for the late response. It's been a very busy time here, and while we haven't been able to reply, we have been keeping up.
The team has been actively discussing your feedback, especially around the Dual Class nodes. We don't have anything to share at this time, or know what/if action is required, but wanted you to know that your feedback has not been ignored. We will update you all if there is news to share.
What about map 5? Most of the complaints here apply to map 5 as well. The enemies are newer and much harder with less good options to fight them and still handle other enemies on other paths, the nodes are harder, you buffed the attack and health boosts on the enemies and they aren't throwing specials easily which is killing us with degen mods because they hide behind block until you try to heavy and then they attack you and you eat a combo or special.
You said you were making things easier to encourage people to go to higher maps but you made it harder instead and have stopped aq potion compensation as well which makes it even worse. Many people both here and in my alliance have said the same things about map 5.
The devs are aware that there are, to admittedly a lesser degree, analogous difficulty complaints about Map 5.
I'm taking the far right on Map 5 with a low alt: I'm aware the defender difficulty has gone up ... a bit.
Since you have direct contact with Kabam do you know the reasoning behind their patently absurd claim here on the forums that they had to increase the node difficulty to compensate for how much easier it would be since they stopped hiding the enemies' identities and that it would basically balance out? Everyone who put literally 2 seconds of thought into that premise would know that removing the hidden enemies didn't make it an iota easier because after a short time of a new map being released you can find the enemies with a simple Google search so all it was was an annoyance but not a difficulty factor (maybe for new players at very low maps but I'm doubt map 4/5/6+ players don't know to Google game info). It obviously didn't balance out anything, all it was was a straight difficulty increase as far as the nodes and identities went.
I don't recall Kabam making that case here on the forums. Do you have a link to this post?
It plays like a tightrope, specifically the skill/tech/poison/power snack. You can’t bring champs immune to nullify without the attack penalty and/or poison. Almost all the meaningful power control is poisonable, though g99 has been solid for me. I really need hood to ensure a shrug from kingpin or else I’m screwed.
Even KP is not always perfect. Mine is a 6*R3 Sig200 so you are very fast at 8 Debuffs and then? Your buff is shrugged off...
We calculated everything and are going down from 86666 to 66655 - so we will get bc and the break even point is 3 level 4 potions. If a player needs more than 3 of these potions he'll get more from playing lower maps.
There are 4 kind of changes, which kabam should consider, and everyone (even Kabam) is happy:
1st: Make the potions and revives you can buy in the glory store for AQ cheaper. Because they aren't usable for AW this should be no problem. And people are more likely to play higher maps.
2nd: Remove class restrictions
3rd: Remove really annoying nodes.
4rd: Make the defender more aggressive. Dancing around 40 seconds and the defenders is not throwing SPs is not fun.
Just in case it hasn’t been mentioned (I couldn’t see it further up through the messages) but I have been using peni parker (R4 5*) and R2 6* mysterio combo for the power snack/poison tech/skill path. Along with Kingpin for phase 1 and phase 3. Both those techs do not have armour and are poison immune. Have only tended to use items when parry or dex failed (or I failed 🤣). It’s a good combo and fun to use mysterio again
Not a bad solution but not everyone has those specific champs. Also, there should be more that 3-4 options.
Here’s a fun note - our alliance had been in the 750-850 range and climbed to 700 this week running map 6. In other words, instead of “preparing players for map 7,” players are dropping back to lower maps.
And what happened when we finished AQ? (Keep in mind that war rewards dropped during this cycle). I think 7 players left and 6 players left for lower maps. I was one of them, and I’m gonna hang in the Line chat like a lot of former members do, but after 4.5 years in one group, it’s a shame.
Oh, and keep in mind that this change is what you see while compensation is still coming in. Many of us claim the comp as it expires from the stash, which means we have a few weeks left and aren’t willing to bother with it.
I understand not wanting to make rash or impulsive decisions when planning went into the changes that were made, but there are a things that’d go SO far if Kabam even picked one of them
Just for the power snack line in phase 2: Make it power snack 1, not 2 Remove the class restrictions Reduce PIs and HP pools (140,000?!) Choose champs that don’t glance or who are better handled while throwing SP2 to let summoners play into the power snack.
Looks like the 4th round of AQ is starting again with no changes to make it more playable, with all the same issues, and Kabam are still ‘looking into it’.
I get the impression that they are saying to us that we have to play it as it is, change to an lower Map, or retire from the game. It’s been about 22 days since this thread started, which gives me little hope that any change will occur in the near future.
Looks like the 4th round of AQ is starting again with no changes to make it more playable, with all the same issues, and Kabam are still ‘looking into it’.
I get the impression that they are saying to us that we have to play it as it is, change to an lower Map, or retire from the game. It’s been about 22 days since this thread started, which gives me little hope that any change will occur in the near future.
Yeah, based on the one and only reply from Miike there’s very little reason to think they’re looking into it at all. I think you’re right.
Path 1 is the worst. I think we can all agree to this. And in a few minutes the worst variant for this path in section 1 and 2 will start. I'm kind a pre-annoyed. I already know that it will piss me off...
My 5-year old alliance just folded due in part to these issues. We ran 88866 and 88886, but cutting off free items brought us to an irreconcilable breaking point.
Do we keep running Map 8? It’s much better designed and for the boss-killer type players it takes fewer items. It’s fun! But it does cost some items. And it does cost tickets.
Or do we run all Map 6? Bad design with unreasonably tricky paths. Costs more items than Map 8 for the boss-killer type players because they have rough paths (e.g., skill/tech) and are very limited on roster construction if they want to bring a miniboss counter too. And really not fun.
We couldn’t figure things out so about 5 players retired to AQ/AW-optional alliances or quit altogether, and the rest split between a couple of Map 7/8 and Map 6 alliances.
It was a shame. We’ve been together for a long time but our style of mixing casual gameplay with a few challenging days just doesn’t work with these maps. (And … off the topic of this thread … AW was a factor too … AW has gotten too complicated for us, I think.)
Lane 2 is Stellar Atomics - cosmic/science only Flux dispersal - dispersal charges reduces damage by 5% each stack unless struck by heavy
was fighting fine until i fought that Tigra with Cosmic Ghost Rider after a lot (and i mean a lot) of heavy attacks, her flux dispersal is still maxed at 20
Can someone from kabam explain the reasoning for having the node where Spiderman gets a buff? Most of the paths can't even take advantage of it, not only because of the dual class nodes, but also because Spiderman is a 2015 champ with next to no abilities who can't really compete with these new champs map 6 has with like 10 page long lists of abilities. But mostly because of the dual class restrictions
Comments
You said you were making things easier to encourage people to go to higher maps but you made it harder instead and have stopped aq potion compensation as well which makes it even worse. Many people both here and in my alliance have said the same things about map 5.
Not much point pushing for a higher reward rank for an extra 200 glory when you are spending way more glory on items.
We play to have fun and do AQ with our friends. When it’s no longer fun what’s the point of playing???
I'm taking the far right on Map 5 with a low alt: I'm aware the defender difficulty has gone up ... a bit.
Due to the glory store being structured the way it is, the reality of the game is that the most efficient decision is the hardest AQ you can effectively complete itemless. Once you’re buying any potions, you’re losing more than the marginal glory you gain for finishing your lane.
It’s a poor setup but I don’t have a clear solution.
It should be as difficult as it is supposed to be and no more, not easy enough to overpower with items that it doesn't matter if it is more difficult than it is supposed to be.
In season 9, I was paying 2850 for 3 buys of t5b. That number is now 1050, I believe.
Before, buying potions to help the group made sense and didn’t really cut your ability to gain resources. Because potion cost remains high but rankup resources are abundant, the rational decision now is to screw your teammates, especially on day 5 when it doesn’t affect your baseline score for future days.
Item use is capped anyway for AQ. It’d be better if potions were affordable. It’s a little reminiscent of the very old war system where you were better off not playing and not dying than trying and failing (albeit for different reasons)
There are 4 kind of changes, which kabam should consider, and everyone (even Kabam) is happy:
1st: Make the potions and revives you can buy in the glory store for AQ cheaper. Because they aren't usable for AW this should be no problem. And people are more likely to play higher maps.
2nd: Remove class restrictions
3rd: Remove really annoying nodes.
4rd: Make the defender more aggressive. Dancing around 40 seconds and the defenders is not throwing SPs is not fun.
And what happened when we finished AQ? (Keep in mind that war rewards dropped during this cycle). I think 7 players left and 6 players left for lower maps. I was one of them, and I’m gonna hang in the Line chat like a lot of former members do, but after 4.5 years in one group, it’s a shame.
I understand not wanting to make rash or impulsive decisions when planning went into the changes that were made, but there are a things that’d go SO far if Kabam even picked one of them
Just for the power snack line in phase 2:
Make it power snack 1, not 2
Remove the class restrictions
Reduce PIs and HP pools (140,000?!)
Choose champs that don’t glance or who are better handled while throwing SP2 to let summoners play into the power snack.
I get the impression that they are saying to us that we have to play it as it is, change to an lower Map, or retire from the game. It’s been about 22 days since this thread started, which gives me little hope that any change will occur in the near future.
And in a few minutes the worst variant for this path in section 1 and 2 will start. I'm kind a pre-annoyed. I already know that it will piss me off...
Do we keep running Map 8? It’s much better designed and for the boss-killer type players it takes fewer items. It’s fun! But it does cost some items. And it does cost tickets.
Or do we run all Map 6? Bad design with unreasonably tricky paths. Costs more items than Map 8 for the boss-killer type players because they have rough paths (e.g., skill/tech) and are very limited on roster construction if they want to bring a miniboss counter too. And really not fun.
We couldn’t figure things out so about 5 players retired to AQ/AW-optional alliances or quit altogether, and the rest split between a couple of Map 7/8 and Map 6 alliances.
It was a shame. We’ve been together for a long time but our style of mixing casual gameplay with a few challenging days just doesn’t work with these maps. (And … off the topic of this thread … AW was a factor too … AW has gotten too complicated for us, I think.)
Lane 2 is
Stellar Atomics - cosmic/science only
Flux dispersal - dispersal charges reduces damage by 5% each stack unless struck by heavy
was fighting fine until i fought that Tigra with Cosmic Ghost Rider
after a lot (and i mean a lot) of heavy attacks, her flux dispersal is still maxed at 20
is it due to CGR match up?