A different perspective on the new EQ

Alright, this is going to be unpopular, but there are portions that I believe need changed.

Going to be transparent, I have a 10m roster with 50 R3 plus 7*. That’s a much different spot than a lot of the game and I recognize that influences my thoughts.

Old Format:
- it was terrible. Updates came far too slowly for new difficulties, and by the time they finally landed the rewards were already dated, and posed little to no challenge.
- Paragon Gauntlet wore out quickly. A month long content with 6 fights at 300k health took 3 minutes total. It was a waste, and as above rewards were outpaced quickly.
- Valiant Gauntlet was a revelation, but even then it just wasn’t challenging. I don’t think EQ should be the hardest content in the game, but it shouldn’t be 30 second fights and out of here.

New Format:
- Classic difficulty is fine for me. It’s just normal EQ, but with significantly increased health and attack. I sit at level 6/15 with 28k prestige, and the health pools in classic sat at 700-900k. That’s perfect in my opinion, makes the fights long enough to feel worthwhile, but not too long where it’s a slog.
- having to do a run of Classic before Elder is fine to me, but the rewards are so back loaded it does feel a bit like you did it for no reason.
- Elder difficulty is just Valiant Gauntlet, but with even more health and attack, and this is where it gets iffy for me. I still had fun, but there’s some drawbacks.
- Attack Value is WAY overtuned. 25-33k attack throughout, you literally lose 4% health minimum on a parry. More if you take a hit into the block. With health not resetting, that’s an issue
- Health creeps up a bit into the slog territory for monthly content. 900k is about what I’d expect, but 1.4m is legit Everest content health pools.
- Other than the above, it was fun. 6* are rough to use even maxed, and 7* R2 was pretty much the minimum. Mystic and Tech in particular really stretched my roster thin, which I’m now using to target weaknesses.
- There is so much potential in scaling rewards. It’ll always keep the content current, and I love that portion.

Issues I Identify:
- I’m aware my roster is more developed than most. Classic I wouldn’t touch much, but if my roster is stretched in Elder, others are going to really suffer.
- Attack needs adjusted big time. 25k should be more like 12-15k max.
- if attack not addressed swapping should heal back at least a portion of health. Even something like “70% of damage taken is healed” would increase enjoyment.

Overall/TLDR:
- So much potential is here with adaptive EQ, and should stay around.
- Recognize roster limitations and adjust some of the numbers, especially for progressing levels.
-

Comments

Klizeus

I agree.

I think the idea of an adaptive quest with adaptive rewards is great. It's just the execution is bad.

Rewards need to be tuned up.

Difficulty needs to be tuned down.

Forcing the classic run seems to annoy most, so get rid of that, or move most of the rewards to classic.

I think the criteria should be:

Classic: most players can complete this difficulty without boosts or potions. Fights should not surpass 2 minutes.

Elder: using boosts and some potions will probably be required, but fights still don't reach 5 minutes (unless there are going to be very few of them). Don't make this an Everest content. A lot of us don't like Everest content (due to difficulty and time constraints).

RhythmDevice

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2872378#Comment_2872378

I agree as well the attack definitely needs a tune down. Re:rewards, if at all minimum, the milestones were rejigged, it would be better. It’s annoying to have the feeling you did a completion run of the TB EQ without equivalent rewards. This may not be possible for them to do though the way the game currently works.

Tempest_024

I agree with most you said. I will say it was a win when they removed the need to do thronebreaker eq and we could jump right into valiant difficulty. Now it seems they added that back with classic. As far I understand, I believe they did this so we could get the lower difficulty rewards, but it's still an annoying thing to do.

TheUglyone123

The idea of the rewards and difficulty scaling with your account as you progress is great in theory, it’s just not been executed well. I agree with all the sentiment in this thread

MystG

Can somebody explain why do we have to do one run through classic difficulty?

Even TB eq had some extra rewards which was needed to unlock paragauntlet, but here classic and elder are sharing the same milestones which we will eventually get by doing the elder difficulty...

Annatar

Old Format:
- it was terrible. Updates came far too slowly for new difficulties, and by the time they finally landed the rewards were already dated, and posed little to no challenge.

Old format was great and relaxing story content and source of units for those who play casually. Not every mode should be teeth breaking, annoying long and hard. There enough modes for this already, now it ALL of them.

Annatar

I think the idea of an adaptive quest with adaptive rewards is great.

Auto-leveling is ALWAYS bad. There is no exceptions. It punish growth and destroys feeling of progression.

BowTieJohn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2872378#Comment_2872378

SidnyStorm

Agreed. Me too at 6/15 and attack rating is really terrible. I blocked one single hit from abs man and lost almost half of HP bar of r4 champion. It definitely should not work like that. But I have to admit that finally my boosts and revives doesn't worthlessly burn in stash))

My main issue is so outdated nodes. New champions' kits doesn't fit the old nodes at all. New techs don't use armour ups, cosmics have tons of buffs except fury, mystics don't nullify and so on. We build prestige with new champions but have to play with old ones which you probably don't want to rank up ever.

Regarding the classic mode, I think it was a good idea to force us play it before elder just to see what your new difficulty is look like. Of course next moth we don't need that, hope elder difficulty will be open instantly.

Also interface is awful. I don't understand what I get and when. What's wrong with good old rewards window after quest?

DrZola

Will give it a run at tier 8/15 next week but your thoughts are consistent with my initial analysis.

Seatin critique seems spot-on:

Shouldn’t have to do Classic to do Elder
Attack values overtuned
Rewards too backloaded

Overall, it looks relatively low on fun.

Dr. Zola

_Pez_

Agree completely, it is overtuned but I still generally prefer it. And yeah the rewards could be distributed better and the interface improved, think the overreaction is ridiculous though and I'm someone who usually loves calling kabam out for doing stupid things.

All the complaints about we need to rank up the top 30 prestige champs is garbage. Pretty much any rank 4 is still at this point going to be a positive change to your prestige unless you have 30 rank 4s...which isn't the case for most people, you can still rank who you want and increase prestige significantly for better rewards.

Perfect_jab

These rewards are already waaaay outdated! Finish first 4 chapters an its giving me crystals i could careless about. Im valiant, have 6 R4 7*s an bunch of R3s. The way they have the reward system is so stupid. Doing to much. The whole milestones part is dumb an makes no sense. Showing milestones an what you get in each one, but then you dont get what it shows. You get all of it at the end. Whats the point. Heres a bunch of useless stuff now , but you get all the good stuff when you finish everything.

And i said it on another post. This just lets all the stronger players grow even stronger. Everyone else trying to build up to compete with then, get blocked an restricted. Limited on our progression. For doing the same content. I dont know. Doesnt sit well with me. Someone who has 3 times as many R4s as me , will be able to rank up more R4s. But me...i have to wait an keep grinding to rank up 1.

Super_Cretu90

SidnyStorm, I agree that the defenders' attack is too high at 20-25k, but saying a single hit in your block left you with only 50% healthpool of a 7 rank 4....is impossible.

A 7* Rank 4 has a healthpool of 80-110k, depending on what character we are talking about.

I agree they should lower the attack from 20-25k to 15k, though.

SidnyStorm

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2872497#Comment_2872497

It was a hit from abs man in second form (or how is it calls?)… So not the hit exactly, but direct damage was over 40k)

BigBlueOx

good constructive feedback OP. I find the whole experience to be uninspired outside of the basic premise. The nodes are archaic and mind numbing… larger healthpools only make this more apparent. the current tuning seems targeted at consumable consumption… in a way that was not difficult but made sure to punish every dropped input, moment of lag, etc… putting another spotlight on bug after bug that has been ignored for years.

Reward structure, and accessibility and prestige chasing aside… it simply just not interesting or enjoyable.

You know, yesterday was the first time in years where I saw the value in a sale for $20… and I just couldn’t pull the trigger…

BENNYJ

I agree totally with OP, generally ok with the changes but the attack values are just too high. And the designers need to really think about the nodes - requiring a Tech champ with armour up is fine, but there simply arent enough champs that fit the requirements for the Elder quest

Wakandas_Finest

top pic is the final fight before the boss in The Crucible 2.0

Bottom is the final fight before the boss in chapter 1 of elder difficulty for the EQ.
Basically we have to do the Crucible 2.0 (Everest content BTW) every month for less rewards gotcha 🙄