Opinion: Big Changes Needed in Alliance Coliseum

Let me start by saying I play all game modes and usually end up liking them. But, I cannot get on board with Alliance Coliseum in its current format.

Five podiums to level to three in three days. Ain't nobody got time for that. Last cycle, I grinded it out and got my podiums to level three. This cycle, I leveled two podiums to level three by hand and said forget this, and spent units to level the rest. I hated doing that. The grind is crazy long and this has quickly become my LEAST favorite game mode. Blah blah, I'm a working guy with three kids, make it stop. Is this the sentiment you want towards your shiny new game mode?

Enough rant. Solutions:

1) Reduce the number of podiums to three in three days or increase it to five in five days. Asking us to do this five times in three days is antagonizing.

2) Revamp the podium leveling system, or just remove it altogether. Most alliances hit level three on the podium and then stop. Reduce the experience between levels. Reward those who do grind it out by giving them higher level podiums instead of asking for 30 bars to hop from level two to three.

3) Let us boost. I can't think of a good reason we shouldn't be able to.

That's really it. Doing those things would increase the enjoyment of this game mode, at least for me. I don't really have time to grind this out in its current format (nor do I want to), and I really don't like splashing my hard-earned units just to keep with the alliance curve.

Anyways, toodleooooooooooo.

Comments

BringPopcorn

You don't really need to do all 5 podiums, that is more of a choice. Reached 4.5 mill with 4 podiums myself and didn't play the last one.

Typhoon

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2939229#Comment_2939229

Didn't consider that approach TBH, but feel that my talking points still apply in general.

Bodeytr31

yea but not everyone will be able to accomplish that depending their roster size. Should just be longer time frames, regardless of how many podiums still grindy.

horrendous_too

My whole issue with it is doing better doesn't actually lessen the grind in any way. Now I am not someone getting 25 bars or anything like that. But there also is absolutely no benefit to doing so. If you are MSD or Karate mike o saurus and you go in and get 30 bars first run…you still have to do the same fight 15 more times to make that run worth something.

JESUSCHRIST

Seriously I would quit this game the moment I get married

Ain't nobody got time for mobile game after marrying my beautiful girlfriend

BringPopcorn

I am not in favor of this system for a simple reason. They are monetizing "skipping" the play. Selling champs, rank up materials, ascensions, relics everything else is fine with me. Selling a "Skip" button is not the right approach for a game like this

TheDrunkenClam115

I approve👏

Typhoon

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2939239#Comment_2939239

See you on the honeymoon ;)

GroundedWisdom

My issue is the cost of upgrading. I had a few spare Units, so I bought some tokens. I spent 600 Units and upgraded all one level, and one two levels. It's too much, if I'm being honest.

JESUSCHRIST

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2939261#Comment_2939261

I want to go on the Disney Adventure cruise ship for my future honeymoon

See you on the ship 🥳

Ercarret

Yeah, I largely agree. The thing with the grind is that it can be manageable with a fairly vanilla boss/node setup if you've just got the time, but as we saw last time Alliance Coliseum was around, a hard boss or a particularly nasty set of nodes can really turn it into a slog. The focus on grind over performance (or at least one locked-in performance and then a lot of grind) just makes the mode so vulnerable to frustration whenever Kabam tries to up the challenge in any meaningful way.

It feels like the Solo Coliseum fights are often more interesting since you have the time to experiment your way through them in a way that you can't in Alliance Coliseum. When I tried to experiment with Adam Warlock during the second day, I did really well and locked him in on one of the podiums (despite him having no relevant tags), only to discover the next day that he fit all three tags on the last podium. By that time I had luckily already cleared the solo event so it didn't matter, but it was nonetheless really annoying. I know that Kabam has said that they'll show the tags on even the locked podiums ahead of time in future ACs, which is a good thing even if I'm not sure if it's enough.

Mint9aer0

Alliance coloseum is shite. I have no other vocabulary than that to summarise it. Solo coloseum is fun. Both mode formats are so similar too it makes no sense

Ansh_A

My suggestion on how this mode can be made better while not chaning much:

1. Event should last 7 days - Monday to Sunday

2. Change the tags from each day to each podium. Make sure tags are shown on day 1 itself for each podium. You can keep upgrading podiums over the 7 days but the tags for that podium are locked. I dont really care if Kabam chooses to lock podiums and open a new one each day or open all on day one.

3. It would be nice to have one podium be a free-for-all. You automatically get the three tag multiplier but for the other four podiums you are restricted to specific tagged champs to get the high score. This also means that the podium has a cap on points so that you arent getting all your points from thr free for all and walking away with the top prize.

4. The podium upgrade process needs to change. When you dont have a counter left, you are forced to complete 1-2 bar clears for 10-20 points when you need 120 and then 300 points just to level up a podium. That is ridiculous! For Kate Bishop, i did it only because my 6r5 Juggy had no favourable tags and could do 5 health bar clearances easily per match. I just used him on all lagging podiums to level up. I cant expect that to be the case in each alliance coliseum. Dont have ideas here to make it less grindy.

Also, while the top prize is nice, it isnt commensurate with effort. They need to add some prizes for achieving a podium upgrade, fight or need to have a process of getting prizes at each step of the ladder as you get points instead of only a top prize. I understand that the prize ladder may change as a result but otherwise the mode will remain unpopular.

Herbal_Taxman

spending units on this content is such a bad idea.

Ramping podiums with Onslaught was the move this week. I used him on medium, easily took all five podiums to level 3. One sp2 with 20 degens and you could rip off 20-25 bars without hardly paying attention.

Typhoon

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2939419#Comment_2939419

really a fan of your items #1 and especially #3 - great input

Jras

It feels somewhat unnecessary grindy given the short time frame for the event, and it made it difficult for some in my alliance to contribute more and level up podiums.

That being said, the grind and repetitive nature at least for me allowed for some experimenting with champs I rarely use and also “learning”, both for playing the particular node set but also the defender as such, and the next time I meet Kate in some form of content I will be a little less worried as the timing of dexing both sp1 and sp2 is in place, so that was for me a little satisfying.

Ansh_A

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2939425#Comment_2939425

Thanks, ya i think #3 will at least address the participation. People right now are choosing not to play at all because of the grind and difficulty. If there is a no tag podium, people will at least finish that podium to help the alliance. If they address the prizes by giving prizes at each point milestone instead of just the top prize, it will make the mode more attractive in general.

JESUSCHRIST

Big whales needed to upgrade fellow alliance mates' podiums

You pump the money, we put in the effort

(Satire, sarcasm)