Ascension Scares Me and I Hope They Delay It

Getting right to the point, I feel like Kabam is pushing Ascension way too early and I also fear that it will be undoubtedly unhealthy for the game. First of all, we are just barely getting into rank five seven stars. So far only the biggest spenders, and I mean biggest, have rank fives. I imagine for a larger majority of endgame players, rank fives wont be something they have until the end of the year or at least half way through 2026. So then I am confused as to why they are pushing ascension all of a sudden. It feels rushed.

Additionally, I dislike the way they are handling the new ascension system. Let me just say this, balancing the game with ascension is a bad idea. The approach Kabam is taking where they plan to make less relevant champs ascendable is inherently flawed. One of the biggest issues is that those won't be the only ascendable champs. New champs will also be ascendable. And like why would you ever want to ascend older champs when new champs are so much better? I don't care what buff they're giving to Emma Frost, she won't be able to match a new champ like Pavitr. So I think the ascension meta will heavily focus on new champs. Which undoubtedly means that the people who benefit the most from it will be heavy spenders who can get those sig 200 new champs and dupe them multiple times from crystals.

I really liked six star ascension, because the currency for that ascension was universal. Any six star could be brought up to a relevant level for the time, the dust was very obtainable from playing content and it helped bridge the gap between seven stars and six stars for a while. This new system I feel won't bridge the gap but add to it.

Wanting to make older champs relevant isn't a bad thing, but using ascension as a solution for that is just stupid. It's so much more complicated than just buffing old champions or, and I know this will scare some people, nerfing new ones.

This entire ascension system I feel like requires so much nuance and an intricate understanding of the game, its metas and champions in order to be successful. And I don't think anyone would disagree with me if I said Kabam is not able to meet those standards. I have no faith in them to be able to implement this to be blunt. Thats not harsh, its just true. Their track record shows that they just are not able to handle big shifts like this one.

Someone could probably make my point much more eloquently, I have just been kind of ranting a bit in this post, but I think my point is clear.

Ascension scares me and I don't want it introduced so early.

Comments

ahmynuts

hungryhungrybbq

6 star ascension and 7 star have two different purposes

6 star ascension was to ease the transition to 7

7 star ascension is to replace the introduction of a new rarity (8 stars)

its an attempt at breaking the tradition of how the game progresses

And if it promotes the buffing of older champs.. I'm all for it

I personally hate the dynamic where everyone plays the same damn champs across the player base (for the most part I do not participate, but more recently I finally did make a couple "meta rat" rank ups simply to simply advance a little further in BGs, but on the whole, I enjoy playing different champs than most people

TotemCorruption

Another thing to add: when Kabam was selling champs like Dark Phoenix and Torch last year for 40k units or $800, it sure would've been nice to know that there was going to be an ascension system arriving that they were not going to be a part of. People who bought these champs likely believed that they were going to be viable for at least 3 years until 8 stars came out and reached 8R2 or 8R3, as opposed to only a year or so when all the new champs will be 20-40% more powerful than the old champs not lucky enough to be on the ascension list.

But basically the common denominator is that you simply cannot trust Kabam when it comes to champ investments.

I will wait and see how things play out this spring, as there are still plenty of details that have not been communicated. But if things are as bad as we fear, then F2P and/or quitting are certainly on the table for me.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

I think we're being a bit too scared of something that's ultimately going to just make our Champions more powerful, and build upon investments we have already made.

Hungryhungrybbq has a pretty simple breakdown above.

GroundedWisdom

I'm not sure how you decided it's too early.

Herbal_Taxman

There’s a simple way to ensure that people don’t worry unnecessarily, which is to be a lot more forthcoming about how the system will work, how available the materials will/won’t be, etc. But when we are given incomplete information and told “just wait for the next stream…” Sorry, people are going to assume the changes are bad because you don’t seem to want to communicate about them

The initial pool sends a strong message that Kabam wants to reset the meta without explicitly nerfing the powerful champs we’ve chased and invested in for years. I mean, most of the champs in the base pool are worth r3 at best. Most I would consider r2 champs. That’s the best signal we have as to what is going on. And unless you’re a huge fan of older, mid champs, the changes don’t seem great. So yeah, many of us will assume the worst until we are shown otherwise.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926625#Comment_2926625

When I invested in Dark Phoenix, I expected for new counters to be released eventually. And I expected her to become obsolete when 8R2s or 8R3s came out eventually.

But I did not expect an ascension system to be released less than a year later when a bunch of other champs get huge rankup increases but other champs like Dark Phoenix do not. That is basically a shadownerf.

And maybe she will be ascendable in the future, but there certainly is no info on that.

So yes, I think it's rational to be upset or apprehensive about ascension. There is very little trust among a sizable portion of the players when it comes to champ investments right now, in light of SW, daunted, ascension, etc.

I know for me, it certainly will factor into my financial decisionmaking at this point. Not that I expected a permanent return on my investments, but I did expect something better than this…

Yukzii_II

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926615#Comment_2926615

I don't really see how this is replacing 8 stars, wide accessibility of rank 5s nevermind rank 6s is still years to come, I would've thought it'd be a 7* end of life thing instead of in the middle of the process. I don't really have a problem with it though I like ascension.

JESUSCHRIST

OP is too easily scared

7* ascension is actually late to the party

Bcos getting 1,200 titan shards from using 20,000 titan shards is a HUGE problem that needs to be solved ASAP

Gamer

personally. R5 most end game should be getting one in the next 2 months bye banguet 2026 people be having at least 10. Without being super whale because whales would of course has 30 bye the end of the year.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926615#Comment_2926615

I agree that the repeated use of the same champs is problematic, I just don't think this ascension will fix it. Of course I could be wrong, but I feel like the older ascendable champs likely won't be able to keep up with newer champs just because of the abundant power creep in the game.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926616#Comment_2926616

That's a valid point that I did not even consider. Personally never whaled out for those champs but I can see how frustrating it would be to have them left behind.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926625#Comment_2926625

I mean I am not against making our champions powerful, its just the way they are being made powerful and the pool of champs deemed "worthy" of being powerful that worries me. As for building upon investments we have already made, most of the champs I have ranked I feel won't be ascendable or at the very least not ascendable for a long time. It feels more like an attempt to reset the meta than to try and solve it.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926628#Comment_2926628

Well Ascension inherently feels like something designed for maxed champs. However we are nowhere near maxed seven stars being common or even widely accessible.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926629#Comment_2926629

The lack of communication is definitely an issue. Honestly Kabam has lost any good faith they've had with the community which makes it difficulty to trust them with big changes like this.

Kyusushui

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926645#Comment_2926645

I agree the max champ dupes needed to be adressed much much earlier. However, I just don't know if this ascension was the right solution.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926784#Comment_2926784

There has been consistent, monthly communication about the Ascension feature ever since it was first announced 3 months ago. From power scaling details and early insights, to the current class-by-class reveals of the launch pool. The info has been rolled out steadily & consistently to avoid information overload, and released as the finer details were locked in to ensure accuracy.

Right now, the only remaining unknowns are the final pieces of the Launch Pool (which are actively being revealed) and the exact method for directly acquiring those base pool Champions - which will come with some other fun news. Everything else - including how Ascension power levels stack up against unascended Rank 4 & 5 Champions - has already been shared.

Patience is fair, but calling this a communication issue doesn't really line up with what's been delivered so far.

unknown

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EdisonLaw

Meta rat detected

Fireatwill

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2926809#Comment_2926809

This is a wild thing to say, and if someone wasn't scared before, maybe they should be after reading this. This statement displays one of three things. One is that you have given us most of what you have planned, and haven't planned the rest. Two would be that you're deliberately leaving out the most important aspects of how players will interface with the game system, because you know the player base will not appreciate them. Option three is that ironically enough, this post saying there is no communication problem, is a product of the communication problem. Obviously our champions don't get stronger without us paying for them to with time or money. I'll go ahead and trust that you're not shamelessly sloganeering by saying they'll just get more powerful, and that can only mean you're saying 7 star ascension will be essentially free and easy.

We still don't know the two most crucial aspects of how ascension will affect us.

One of the most important aspects is how many times we will have to pull a specific champion from a crystal to ascend them after the initial ascension. Will every ascension rank require manually pulling the champion again or an item on par with an awakening gem (ascension gem)? If so this will be far more restrictive than anything we've seen before.

2. This is a question of intent. Is this system ultimately designed to allow strict control over what amounts to rank ups in an effort to control design space?

Hypothetically, if you only have to pull the ascension material once for all ascension ranks per champion, then I might agree that it would be somewhat fair to say they'll just get more powerful. If the system is used to control design space via rank ups then it will be the beginning of the end. You can tell us every detail down to the color of the dust, and it will still feel like you have told us nothing if the most important elements of the game system, how'll we'll interface with it, and how you intend to wield it are still unknown.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

@Fireatwill When we revealed Ascension early, we made it very clear that revealing features at an earlier cadence than normal meant that we would need to drip out information at a slower pace until the feature is ready for release - this includes the finer details such as cost and the exact acquisition from every source.

Ultimately, we felt it was best to give you a peek at what's to come and provide information along the way, rather than dropping an overwhelming novel on a brand-new feature right before release.