Another one bites the dust (Thanks Ascension)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDGhPhVL1TU

Self plugging this again also:
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/412240/pricing-breakdown-and-a-couple-ascension-suggestions#latest

Comments

SirGamesBond

Gigis spooky!!

ShuGokis

Glad he got out when he did.

ToniXD_16

So this is Bero and now Andy in the same month there goes half the BGs playtime lmao

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936342#Comment_2936342

💀💀💀

HungaryHippo

Game sentiment has been on the down swing for ages, it's to be expected. T1 alliances are bleeding players. Some retiring and others taking a step back in activity and spending.

Greed always destroys everything.

Finalfuryk

Kabam: We heard you and will not be bringing 8 Stars into the game and instead introduce ascension for seven stars similar to the way you can ascend six stars.

Community: Hurray

Monkey's Paw Curls

TheUglyone123

Wild stuff man…wish Andy the best of luck 🙌🏼

Anotherconcernplayer

So when you think about it, the game sentiment have been extremely low since 2025, there was just a little faulty blip of rally during the Banquet event, where Kabam need to reel in more and bigger fishes.

Ascension plan start back at the Brawl, thing were always bad, we (or maybe just me) were fool in thinking thing were going to be better.

But since the Banquet over and Kabam done with their fishing quarter quoter, they back to their old self.

Kabam keep wondering why players say that they are disconnected with their own game, but anyone that think Essentiar store with the original 5 Battleground reroll per WEEK, haven't got a clue what they are doing.

Honestly, in any other job, if a team doing something that disconnected with their own product, would have gotten fired on the spot, it is not a "rocky launch", it is a massive failure from the complete incompetence of the workers.

ThePredator1001

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936342#Comment_2936342

is Beroman quitting? When I looked at his YouTube page it looks like he’s still making content.

ShuGokis

Someone told me he was going after this bg season.

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936367#Comment_2936367

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936367#Comment_2936367

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936370#Comment_2936370

He made a community post fully detailing it. Hes leaving as soon as the exclusive twitch drops start

FreddyKane

The base problem for a lot of long term players is simply not wanting to collect and hunt anymore. They just want to play the game. Sadly, because of the MCOC model it is likely impossible to be able to play at the highest level without focusing on collection and acquisition. Kabam has also been making a lot of changes to gameplay that are not even worthwhile to try. The BGs scoring change tests the next two seasons are good examples. They already have a format that would be universally accepted (omega pools); logically it makes no sense to move away from that if the goal is player satisfaction. This is a format small roster - big roster players would enjoy.

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936375#Comment_2936375

If they just released ascension in a semi similar way to 6* ascension it would have been fine.

Maybe they could have done t3 dust and the class tokens and leave out the champ tokens.

We really didnt need the champ tokens and those are the biggest issue

FreddyKane

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936377#Comment_2936377

I would agree but ascension was introduced to stop the need for 8 stars with more acquisition and monetary spend. Personally I think the best course of action would have simply been to add another 5 levels to 7 stars.

ShuGokis

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936377#Comment_2936377

I agree with you on this, make t3 dust leave the class tokens in but remove the champ tokens. No one wants to be chasing champions at random again.

my reason is same as Andrew. When i first heard of 7 star ascension i wanted to go for a certain champion then i found out it was purely rng on if I got him or not. I did not get him come the day it went live. I pulled Howard twice..

ghTrain

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936380#Comment_2936380

I feel like in time we'll get a store with all the champs ascension mats for hunting down specific ones, or a way to trade ones we don't need. Ever play that Star Wars gacha game? You needed to collect 100s of shards of each hero to rank them up and earn them, feels like that a little to me know.

ShuGokis

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936384#Comment_2936384

Sadly i did play that yeah. Same with strike force. Not enjoyable at all. If your idea of getting a store to trade in or hunt down specific ones happen I highly doubt it will be anytime soon.

Raganator

Simultaneously pushing people to quitting, while also pushing more people to stop spending. Not a good recipe for success. My relationship with the game really shifted when I stopped spending - in a good way. I understand Andy's perspective as a spender who tries to compete at the highest level. I would also feel disenfranchised. Personally, since I did stop spending, I basically completely ignored the ascension rollout. My crystals and boxes game me about the least wanted champs and that really sucks. I imagine that feels really awful if you support the game financially. Asking people to chase a **** system (including the whole "2026 champs won't be ascendable for non-spenders, but also cost spenders a **** ton of money) doesn't seem all that wise.

In my opinion, Kabam decided that they would rather lose moderate spenders to chase higher revenue. And at this point, I'm so far behind from being competitve, that even reintroducing "fun" offers for moderate spenders, I wouldn't go back to spending.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936375#Comment_2936375

This is kind of the problem for most people active in the community discussions.

Unless you work at Kabam, you really have no idea about the details.

So instead of saying, Kabam is going to make everyone quit, each person has to focus on their own happiness and say, like Andrew, I don't want to keep playing this game with the current changes.

But of course that's hard. This game is an addiction, and many players don't have a good personal foundation like Andrew (married, good job, social life, etc) to give themselves the freedom to not play a game they no longer enjoy.

I mean, I have a strong support network in my life (family, career, play guitar in a weekend band), and I have had two failed attempts to quit this game very recently.

It's definitely difficult, and I have in the past made it sound like it was easy, but that was dumb of me and I really do feel bad for making those comments.

ChiefGoat

finally! No more andy the ruff videos being recommended to me by YouTube and having to see that goofy looking dog

ShuGokis

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936405#Comment_2936405

Could have just pressed one of these buttons.

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936405#Comment_2936405

You can just right click on the video and tell youtube to not recommend the channel anymore.

Warren_pain

If your gonna do something just do it......

WednesdayLength

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936357#Comment_2936357

Criticising the roll out and decisions behind it is valid but let's not lie. They never said it would be the same as 6star ascension and always said this is an alternate path to 8 stars.

TikkaMasala

Seems awfully quiet from Kabam. Not sure if they’re preparing any further response to this or just ignoring us. Feels like we’ve been completely mislead on a lot of critical issues with the game right now.

But TBH I’m almost hoping the game just crashes out. Eleven years putting so much time into this game is way too much. I’ve had some fun, but if I could do it over, I wish I’d have deleted the game in December 2014 after Christmas instead of playing

Finalfuryk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936425#Comment_2936425

Called a joke my guy.

BringPopcorn

Maybe content creators in or outside the CCP finally realized that they are being used as pawns. They are nothing else than an alternate source of information or advertisement. They are allowed their opinions of course; but when it really matters in the design or improvement of the game their input is meaningless.

Kabam is misusing the CCP, they could be a tool like a focus group to steer the ship in the right direction; but nah why do that? They know better and as soon as the content creators call them out they concede to a middle ground and leave the playerbase with the sense of compromise.

If they had asked any engaged player, any CCP member an opinion on the ascension program or the essentia changes in detail, there is not a single player, content creator or CCP member who would have said "What a great idea

Finalfuryk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936457#Comment_2936457

It's so weird. We know people on staff are engaged with the game in a very deep level. Any player who thoughtfully thinks about the game can point out many obvious flaws with the move. It would be one thing if there was actual disagreement but I don't see anyone who thinks this anything other than a huge miss.

Beta3000

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936464#Comment_2936464

This guy thinks the game is awesome and you should buy everything Kabam sells because all the champions and deals are amazing.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936464#Comment_2936464

They are really not, you can't sell you product if you don't pretend you consume it.

If by any chance they actually do, I would like to present a challenge to Kabam, get as many employees who play the game, make an alliance and try to play the game as an engage player. Let's see if they actually enjoy it I am talking full engagement with participation in all events, and game modes.