Presenting Essentia
Greetings Summoners!
Over the years, The Contest has grown richer, deeper, and more complex - with new modes, new challenges, and new ways to earn & spend your hard-fought rewards. This evolution has also created something we’ve all felt… too many different currencies.
From Loyalty, Glory, to Trophy Tokens & Artifacts… and even newer event currencies… each served a purpose at the time - yet they also made it harder to understand your total progress and long-term goals. That’s about to change.
We’re introducing a new unified reward currency, ESSENTIA, to simplify how you earn rewards across multiple modes - alongside a new unified store.
Essentia combines the value of several existing currencies into one, allowing all players to see their total rewards more clearly while enjoying the same access to valuable items. You’ll still be able to earn and spend engagement based Currencies at familiar rates, just in a single streamlined system.
This change is guided by three key principles:
- Clarity - one clear value across all modes.
- Fairness - every player keeps their existing Reward value.
- Flexibility - earn Essentia however you enjoy playing, and spend it all in the same store.
How It Works
Each major game mode will now contribute to your monthly Essentia earnings based on your effort and engagement level.
Modes requiring higher coordination, skill, or time investment contribute proportionally more, without forcing you into one playstyle. No matter what you play, your Essentia is worth the same everywhere.
To start, Essentia will be replacing Glory, Battlegrounds Tokens, and Incursion Artifacts.
At launch, and for many months after, there will be a Trade-In bundle in the store where you can exchange your old currency for Essentia. Essentia has a cap of 100,000 - so players with a large stash of engagement Currency now will be utilizing this trade-in for a while.
To maintain fairness, we thoughtfully matched the total value from all existing currencies, so that one Essentia equals the same reward power you have today. Players will see the same value, just with less fragmentation and more choice. The current supply of engagement based Currency you see in the various stores today will be maintained under the new unified store.
Radiance will remain as the competitive currency, given to those with high participation in competitive modes, and Essentia as the engagement currency, being rewarded according to the level of your engagement on the main modes. Mysterium is our legacy, Wild-Card currency, giving the necessary level of flexibility to maintain the economy of the game's health. Alongside the Essentia update, the Mysterium store will also be receiving a facelift and will look very different from what you see now.
The majority of the items currently in the Mysterium Store will be moved to Side Quest rewards, and the Mysterium Store will become the home for legacy items used for lower rarity Champions, alongside being a home for limited Items (such as Saga Chase trade-ins, etc). This swap will happen in April, however in March, both the old and new Mysterium Store will be active to ease the transition.
We’re doing all of this so we can simplify rewards by allowing players to track just one currency instead of juggling three or four, giving the freedom of choice to earn Essentia your way and spend it where it matters most to you. This creates a fair economy where your effort still defines your rewards, and every Essentia carries consistent value. It's also about future-proofing, as Essentia and Mysterium will work together to accommodate new modes without the need for additional currencies, making it easier for us to keep everything updated. Ultimately, this is about building a stronger foundation for the future of rewards - one that truly rewards play.
What’s Next
The Essentia rollout will arrive alongside broader updates, such as rewards channels in Alliance modes and new items in the new store. Our goal is to make the transition smooth, with clear in-game communication when current currencies begin converting to Essentia.
The focus will always remain on maintaining balance, transparency, and player value, alongside keeping the same purchase power and item supplies you have now.
This is the next big step in simplifying the Contest’s reward ecosystem - one we’ve been planning and testing for months. We’re excited for you to experience a cleaner, more cohesive way to earn, spend, and progress. We want to clean up a bloated system, reducing clutter and confusion.
As always, we’ll be watching closely, listening to your feedback, and making adjustments as we move forward together.
