Rewards Aren't Rewarding: Only Spending Matters
I've been meaning to make this post for a while but I kept putting it off. Then this morning I heard about the so called "buff" to the radiance store and I thought, "Hey, maybe the rewards have been meaningfully updated..." How naive I was, the change to the radiance store, I won't even use the word update because that implies improvement, is frankly insulting. However, before I start ranting I feel like I should give some context. As the title says, rewards aren't rewarding.
It's as simple as it sounds. The rewards we earn in game through various modes, simply don't provide anywhere near the amount of value they should, compared to the effort they take. This is true for most game modes with only a few exceptions. Let's just go over some of them briefly:
Battlegrounds: I don't need to say too much about this. The BG rewards are simply not worth it for the absolute hell that game mode puts you through. Most players I know don't even push to 200 points for that 30k radiance anymore, because Radiance is trash.
Alliance War: This one is a huge one. AW is possibly the most demanding game mode. It takes thirty people, coordination, planning defense, handling some of the most difficult fights in the game, and weeks of consistent playing all so that you can get like 1 T7B per season. If you're in a platinum alliance you get 40k-150k Radiance per season and 8-10k seven stars.
The shards are absurd. 5-10k shards for an entire season of war is just so unworth it. I know you can also use those tokens for the loyalty seven star crystals but if you're playing AW at a platinum level, you probably already have all those champs.
The radiance sounds nice, until you realize the radiance store is absolute dog doo-doo. 150k won't even get you two T7B. You need to play at least two seasons of AW just for 1 single R4. If you want R5s, you're delusional, stop playing AW and start spending money.
AW needs such a huge overhaul for its rewards, I can't believe its been allowed to rot away like this and no one says anything.
AQ: AQ is like four different game modes nowadays and I think the rewards vary. Raids rewards are trash and outdated. Rampant Evolution and Regular AQ have decent rewards. Colosseum has great rewards. I'll lump in Apex Colosseum here as well and just say that Colosseum is probably the most rewarding game mode.
Monthly EQ: This also has good rewards. Especially after the recent update. It's solid.
Towers: Now a lot of people say towers rewards are trash and I've been a low key towers defenders. The rewards during the climb are underwhelming but I think the idea is that towers will be a steady stream of essentia/radiance. Which I think is good, or would be good if the RADIANCE STORE WASNT DOG DOO DOO. I am no longer a towers defender. That mode is so grindy, it's so roster/account dependent, and so lacking in skill expression and the rewards you get for it I no longer think are all that worth it.
So as you may have noticed I do not think highly of many game modes' rewards. And I play them all competitively at a high level because I hate myself. The issue is also pretty evident, Radiance.
Radiance was meant to be a premium currency used to sell the highest level of rewards to skilled players who competed in these modes. The whole purpose of the radiance store was that it would get consistent updates to reflect the game's economy.
But that's not what Radiance is today. Today Radiance is something you horde, and spend once every month or so when the units reset. That store is so trash and what does Kabam do?
120k radiance for 20 premium grace crystals.
It's absurd. I don't think the people in charge of balancing the radiance store have ever opened MCOC much less played it.
Beyond just Radiance, there's a deeper issue where there isn't much that would excite endgame players.
Seven star shards are basically just 600 Titan shards for most players.
Titans are fun to open one day every three months when the pool resets.
Crystal openings just don't feel fun, especially when max sig seven stars and titans give no value.
Ascension isn't all that exciting if you're not spending money because not only is it difficult to obtain, you also have no agency over who to ascend and the base pool of ascension champs is mostly garbage. Most of my ascended champs are r1 and untouched and they will remain that way.
Even r5s aren't as exciting because they never got a chance to be the highest level in the game. Ascension level 2 took over that role and ascension level 2 is only available to spenders unless you're like super lucky.
The game just feels unrewarding. And before anyone says "oh well they have to consider the game economy..." the July 4th sales start in less than 2 days. Look at those and then tell me with a straight face Kabam gives any sh**ts about game economy.
It's so blatant nowadays. MCOC is no longer a game about pushing and playing to improve your account and develop your roster. It's a game about spending money and in between all the spending money you can play a couple of game modes if you feel like it.
I say this as someone who has spent money on the game. The rewards you get from sales vs actually playing the game are unbelievably insane. You could play the game every day for 4 months at a high level and compete in every mode and you probably still won't have an account as big as someone who logs in only one day during that 4 month period, and just buys all of the sales offers.
The game is centered around these events like Banquet, Cyber Monday, Spring Cleaning, July 4th and the myriad of other sales we get every year. And what's even worse, it's not just giving advantages to spenders by giving them stuff early, it's giving exclusive valuable rewards for money.
Level 2 ascensions, new champ ascensions, exclusive champs (who often are OP) like Dark Phoenix, Heart of Fire Champs, Cap Brit, etc., these are all some of the most meta relevant rewards in the game and there is no in game way to earn them. 99% of the time the only way to get these is by spending money.
I'm just so over it. I'm going to stop typing now.
