Back Issues #4: Waning Moon

Once upon a time, a rogue hero took matters into his own hands, seeking to dispel evil by any means. The Collector sought to return him to The Contest... via some unlikely allies.

Introducing Back Issues #4: Waning Moon

Available 10am PT, Wednesday December 11th!

As the Contest has grown and evolved we’ve introduced many Event Quests, each with their own unique stories, and many that have expanded on the mythos of The Battlerealm and The Contest of Champions. We want to give Veteran Summoners a way to relive those moments, and newer ones that weren’t with us at the time a chance to experience the stories of the Contest that they had missed out on!

This Event Quest is available in TWO difficulties:

CLASSIC difficulty is a recreation of the original quest. While not completely 1:1, the layouts, difficulty, and dialogue are all the same as you remember. Take a stroll down memory lane and see how far you've come, or experience a quest you never got the chance to play!

VARIANT difficulty is a new spin on the quest, available for Summoners level 45 and up. This version features extreme challenge, new opponents, some minor map layout updates, and Champion Requirements that will ask you to reach deep into your roster and pick up some old favorites. This quest will test even the mightiest of Summoners, so be prepared!

The Variant Challenges!

With each Back Issue Variant Difficulty, we aim to shake up the Summoners Roster, either through implicit, or explicit Champion Requirements. This time, we’re making Summoners dig deep into their Rosters, and reviving some of your old favourites through the use of Rarity Restrictions!

Each Quest will require you to bring only certain Rarity Champions. Remember, this is permanent Content, so if you’ve lost your lower Rarity Champions over time, you’ll have time to rebuild that Roster. To assist in this, Summoners over level 45 will regain access to the “Hero Crystal” in the Misc. tab of the store, which contains 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Quest 1: 5 and 6-Star Champions Only
Quest 2: 5-Star Champions Only
Quest 3: 4-Star Champions Only
Quest 4: 3-Star Champions Only
Quest 5: 2-Star Champions Only
Quest 6: 1-Star Champions Only

New Buffs
In addition to some challenging Buffs that you’ve probably already seen around the Contest, this Variant Difficulty will introduce 4 new Buffs:

Crackling Energy:
Striking the Defender with a Contact attack puts a Passive Energy Damage over time effect on the Attacker dealing 0.5% of their max health every second for 10 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. Striking the Defender with a Non-Contact attack Removes all stacks.

Fundamentals:
The Defender has a -100% chance to use Special Attacks, instead they gain a bonus based on their Current Power:

Less than 1 Bar: Reduce all incoming Damage by 95%
1 Bar: Gain +2100 Block Penetration
2 Bars: All Attacks are Unblockable
3 Bars: All Attacks are Unblockable and Charging a Heavy Attack deals 50% of the Defender's Attack as Direct Physical Damage.

Will of Konshu:
All of Moon Knight’s passive abilities are activated, regardless of the current lunar phase.

Echo Barrier:
Defender gains an energy barrier with 15 charges. Striking the Defender, applying a Bleed effect, or applying an Armour Break effect removes a charge. The Defender is immune to all damage while the barrier has charges remaining. Charges are restored to 15 every 20 seconds.

Rewards:

Like Back Issue #3, this Quest features 6 Individual Quests over 3 Chapters, unlike Back Issues #1 and #2, which featured 9. Quest Rewards reflect this.

For completing and exploring all of the Classic quests, you earn:
Tier 2 Generic ISO x3
Tier 3 Generic ISO x16
Tier 4 Generic ISO x9
Gold x9575
Units x150
Premium Hero Crystal Shards x8000
3-Star Hero Crystal Shards x2000
Stony Core x1

For completing and exploring all of the Variant quests, you earn:
5-Star Rank 2 → 3 Gem Crystal x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal (2015/2016 Champs Only) x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Rank 4 → 5 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Awakening Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Crystal x2
Tier 5 Basic Catalyst Fragments x27000
6-Star Crystal Shards x2250
5-Star Signature Stone Crystal x42
Gold x2,100,000
Units x270

EDIT: Clarified the Collector Crystal is only available to Summoners: Level 45+

EDIT: There is a typo on the Fundamentals node that is displaying the wrong damage value for when the defender charges a Heavy Attack at 3 bars of Power. The actual damage value is 50% of the Defender's Attack. We have corrected that in this announcement and are working on getting this visual error corrected within the game as well.

Comments

onebeyondall

OMG ! 2015/2016? all my 5* mytic already max r4. There are only limited amount of 2015/2016. Kabam should do a cap on the gem we can get!
You gotta remember this quest was released in 2015 once we get to 2016 quest we will get 16/17 gem

what i mean is if i get another mystic R4 gem, it's totally useless, since all my 2015/2016 champs are already R4. that's the issue. @Kabam Miike

AshKetchum

Who do you have that I don’t?
Gamora
Spider-Man
Vision
Hulk
Scarlet Witch
Juggernaut
Ironman
Black Panther
Colossus
Vision age of ultron

P_R_I_M_E

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.

Mike, do you realize that not everyone works in a game studio and spend all his work time with MCOC in mind?
You saying that I should wait unknown amount of time to maybe get opportunity to gain a chance to get 1* champs to play V4 ?
What if that happens when I have vocation with my family? Should I cancel it other way I cannot obtain 1* ?
What if it happens when I have business trips ? Should I cancel it as well ?
That’s is a punishment for players. You forcing us to spend a few thousand units to gain 1*-2* to play a little piece of content. Those 1* not gonna boost prestige no help in act 6.
So why should we spend to get 1*? Because waiting for opportunity to get them and change our schedules to play when it happens clearly isn’t a way for most people

AshKetchum

That’s your problem, not the team’s problem. You chose not to do that and now your complaining that you have to use the catalysts to rank up champs.
So it's my problem and not the teams that I chose to not waste resources on champs that have been mostly outdated for 2-3 years compared to my better champs, and now would need them for a single event, taking resources from more worthy champs?

That literally makes zero sense. I don't see why they couldn't do 5/6, 4/5, 3/4, 2/3, 1/2 and then just 1*.

I'm sure the inevitable solution though will be deals on T4B to SELL YOU what you would need 🤦🏻‍♂️

It's not wasting resources now, when you rank them to get gems to rank up 5* for other late game content.

Skillful_star

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.
Mike, do you realize that not everyone works in a game studio and spend all his work time with MCOC in mind?
You saying that I should wait unknown amount of time to maybe get opportunity to gain a chance to get 1* champs to play V4 ?
What if that happens when I have vocation with my family? Should I cancel it other way I cannot obtain 1* ?
What if it happens when I have business trips ? Should I cancel it as well ?
That’s is a punishment for players. You forcing us to spend a few thousand units to gain 1*-2* to play a little piece of content. Those 1* not gonna boost prestige no help in act 6.
So why should we spend to get 1*? Because waiting for opportunity to get them and change our schedules to play when it happens clearly isn’t a way for most people

I have a simple solution for you, DON'T PLAY VARIANT 4. There will be more variants which don't have this type of requirement. Plus it's not like 5.2 or 6.1 where completing it will change everything in the game for you. If you don't have 1* and can't get them when it drops then don't play it.

Mr_MahaRaja

So you want end game players to waste T4B to rank up 4* just for this variant....

Seriously?

You seriously think that end game player don't even own a maxed 4*?

TKS87

So how we getting those 1 stars. I don’t have any lol
We're bringing back the Hero Crystal. It's a special Crystal with 1 and 2 Star Champions. It will live in the Store somewhere, but you can purchase them for more 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Note that this is NOT the Collector Crystal, which includes "Exclusive" 2-Star Champions.
Can you clarify if there’s a way to acquire champs that don’t require units?
Not right now, but we've run those crystals in other places in the past. They may come back in the future, but I don't know when/if that will happen.
They should be rewards for 1v1 arena, needing to buy 1* champs for 50 units is absurd. It’s getting milked for a useless champ. I’m fine with needing to use your roster but asking us to pay for 1* champs because we can’t access them is ridiculous.
You don't have to do this right now. In the future, we may have events like we have had in the past that gives access to 1-Star Champions. I don't have a timeline or a definitive answer on if that will be happening, but this is permanent Content and is not going anywhere.

Here's the main problem though; I get that it's permanent content and it's not going anywhere but if you're bringing back the 1-2 star hero crystal upon the release of the event that means you could be doing something else upon the release of the event for access to those champs too. Seems like a cheap move, you know people want to do this content right away so you're offering 50 units for the champs for it, then saying you 'may' have them available through other events in the future. 50 units is absurd to have to pay for a chance at a 1* champ. Put in special objectives, or change the 1v1 rewards for a week or two after releasing it. There are many different, better ways to let us collect the champs necessary for this.

I will say that aside from this issue though, really looking forward to this one. It's been a long time since I've brought out a full team of 2, 3 and 4 star champions. Takes me back to the good ol days.

LeNoirFaineant

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.
Mike, do you realize that not everyone works in a game studio and spend all his work time with MCOC in mind?
You saying that I should wait unknown amount of time to maybe get opportunity to gain a chance to get 1* champs to play V4 ?
What if that happens when I have vocation with my family? Should I cancel it other way I cannot obtain 1* ?
What if it happens when I have business trips ? Should I cancel it as well ?
That’s is a punishment for players. You forcing us to spend a few thousand units to gain 1*-2* to play a little piece of content. Those 1* not gonna boost prestige no help in act 6.
So why should we spend to get 1*? Because waiting for opportunity to get them and change our schedules to play when it happens clearly isn’t a way for most people

You were given the 1*s and 2*s for free... We've already had opportunities to get 1*s for free after it was made clear that there may be future content in which we would need them. 1000s of units? There are 12 1*s in the game. I doubt you need all 12. Don't think you can even get all 12 from the crystal. What you should have done is kept your champs. Now you need to spend some units, not thousands, but some, or wait. Or wait for the next variant. Kabam isn't forcing you to do anything. You made a bad decision, then doubled down on it by not acquiring 1*s for free when you had the chance. Now you are reaping what you sowed. Cheers.

LeNoirFaineant

So how we getting those 1 stars. I don’t have any lol
We're bringing back the Hero Crystal. It's a special Crystal with 1 and 2 Star Champions. It will live in the Store somewhere, but you can purchase them for more 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Note that this is NOT the Collector Crystal, which includes "Exclusive" 2-Star Champions.
Can you clarify if there’s a way to acquire champs that don’t require units?
Not right now, but we've run those crystals in other places in the past. They may come back in the future, but I don't know when/if that will happen.
They should be rewards for 1v1 arena, needing to buy 1* champs for 50 units is absurd. It’s getting milked for a useless champ. I’m fine with needing to use your roster but asking us to pay for 1* champs because we can’t access them is ridiculous.
You don't have to do this right now. In the future, we may have events like we have had in the past that gives access to 1-Star Champions. I don't have a timeline or a definitive answer on if that will be happening, but this is permanent Content and is not going anywhere.
Here's the main problem though; I get that it's permanent content and it's not going anywhere but if you're bringing back the 1-2 star hero crystal upon the release of the event that means you could be doing something else upon the release of the event for access to those champs too. Seems like a cheap move, you know people want to do this content right away so you're offering 50 units for the champs for it, then saying you 'may' have them available through other events in the future. 50 units is absurd to have to pay for a chance at a 1* champ. Put in special objectives, or change the 1v1 rewards for a week or two after releasing it. There are many different, better ways to let us collect the champs necessary for this.

I will say that aside from this issue though, really looking forward to this one. It's been a long time since I've brought out a full team of 2, 3 and 4 star champions. Takes me back to the good ol days.

They already had the 1v1 change... why didn't you recover your 1*s then? I'm fine with them doing it again, I just don't get why people still don't have 1s at this point. I sold mine and have 9.

LeNoirFaineant

ENTITLED SUMMONERS WHO SOLD THEIR 1-2* CHAMPIONS: kabam should make objectives, kabam should change 1v1, kabam should this, kabam should that, kabam, kabam, kabam... 😂

YOU SHOULD HAVE NOT SOLD YOUR CHAMPS... they always have events tailored for the use of lower rarity champs.

To be fair, this is the first even where you needed to have 1*s. But everyone who is uncollected and sold their 1*s have already had a chance to get them back for free.

Rotelly

Is the Attacker Buff for this Variant really only going to be for Moon Knight? ...nothing for Deadpool X-Force or a certain Variety of Champions? I loved how V2 focused on Several XL Champions Good and Bad for each Quest instead of just one single Champion for the whole thing, but with V3 and now what seems like V4 all the focus is going on one single champion that will have the same Buff/Buffs going for the Whole Event instead switching it up with different Buffs for Multiple Champions dotted around to promote Variety...
That's not an Attacker Buff, that's for the Moon Knight that you'll be facing off against.

@Kabam Miike does this mean you guys realize how useless and annoying an ability is that is based off the lunar cycle?

phillgreen

Can we get a breakdown of chapter rewards?

It might actually be a decent variant for those without a decent upper tier roster.

Bpn88855

Super excited for this content!! Cool that we can use all rarities. Just interesting how many 1* were released?

Nito

So you want end game players to waste T4B to rank up 4* just for this variant....

Seriously?
End game players should have enough maxed out 4*s to get through it.
I haven’t gone above R3 on a 4* in years. Why waste T4B that are useful to 5/6*?

Then skip this one and don’t do it crybaby

1kz

@Kabam Miike how much energy is needed to research option ?

Bpn88855

Guess it's possible to have 12 1*'s

nice! so i am missing hawkeye and juggernaut. vision will cover power drain and juggy not so important i hope

unknown

This content has been removed.

P_R_I_M_E

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.
Mike, do you realize that not everyone works in a game studio and spend all his work time with MCOC in mind?
You saying that I should wait unknown amount of time to maybe get opportunity to gain a chance to get 1* champs to play V4 ?
What if that happens when I have vocation with my family? Should I cancel it other way I cannot obtain 1* ?
What if it happens when I have business trips ? Should I cancel it as well ?
That’s is a punishment for players. You forcing us to spend a few thousand units to gain 1*-2* to play a little piece of content. Those 1* not gonna boost prestige no help in act 6.
So why should we spend to get 1*? Because waiting for opportunity to get them and change our schedules to play when it happens clearly isn’t a way for most people
You were given the 1*s and 2*s for free... We've already had opportunities to get 1*s for free after it was made clear that there may be future content in which we would need them. 1000s of units? There are 12 1*s in the game. I doubt you need all 12. Don't think you can even get all 12 from the crystal. What you should have done is kept your champs. Now you need to spend some units, not thousands, but some, or wait. Or wait for the next variant. Kabam isn't forcing you to do anything. You made a bad decision, then doubled down on it by not acquiring 1*s for free when you had the chance. Now you are reaping what you sowed. Cheers.

Please don’t spend your time on forum insulting people. Better learn some math. There are 12 1* champs but they said that 50 units crystal will contain 1 and 2 stars. Now count how many 2 stars there and you will see that it can take couple thousand units to get 1* you need.
As for chance to get 1*s before, not everyone plays game every single month. If there are content with requirements, there should be a way to obtain needed champs without need to constantly be on a hunt for opportunity to get those 1*

P_R_I_M_E

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.
Mike, do you realize that not everyone works in a game studio and spend all his work time with MCOC in mind?
You saying that I should wait unknown amount of time to maybe get opportunity to gain a chance to get 1* champs to play V4 ?
What if that happens when I have vocation with my family? Should I cancel it other way I cannot obtain 1* ?
What if it happens when I have business trips ? Should I cancel it as well ?
That’s is a punishment for players. You forcing us to spend a few thousand units to gain 1*-2* to play a little piece of content. Those 1* not gonna boost prestige no help in act 6.
So why should we spend to get 1*? Because waiting for opportunity to get them and change our schedules to play when it happens clearly isn’t a way for most people
I have a simple solution for you, DON'T PLAY VARIANT 4. There will be more variants which don't have this type of requirement. Plus it's not like 5.2 or 6.1 where completing it will change everything in the game for you. If you don't have 1* and can't get them when it drops then don't play it.

Wow, so smart. What should I play if all other Variants are 100% and 6.1 6.2 and 6.3 100% as well ? Probably I should just delete game.
Maybe if lots of people would do so, there will be no content with requirements that can’t be achieved

unknown

This content has been removed.

Worknprogress

Can we get a breakdown of chapter rewards?

It might actually be a decent variant for those without a decent upper tier roster.

You do realize the 1st 2 quests are the 5 and 6* quests right?

unknown

This content has been removed.

Epistriatus

So how we getting those 1 stars. I don’t have any lol
We're bringing back the Hero Crystal. It's a special Crystal with 1 and 2 Star Champions. It will live in the Store somewhere, but you can purchase them for more 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Note that this is NOT the Collector Crystal, which includes "Exclusive" 2-Star Champions.
Will there be anyway to not have to purchase these crystals? Like do quick match? I don’t like using my units on champ crystals. I buy cavaliers Cuz im a gambler sometimes (not often) but I don’t want to use my units to try and pull a 1 Star but end up with 2s. Or will the drop rate be worth it where I buy 10 crystals and actually pull a decent amount of 1 Star champs?

Thanks for responding to me Miike!
Not yet, but maybe during special events in the future. This is permanent content, and we don't want to change the 1v1 Prize permanently, but do like having it change for special events from time to time.

Right now, the only way will be the Hero Crystal, which will be available in the store for players level 45+ for 50 units.

Will these crystals be permanently available?

Worknprogress

Can we get a breakdown of chapter rewards?

It might actually be a decent variant for those without a decent upper tier roster.
You do realize the 1st 2 quests are the 5 and 6* quests right?
I have seen a few youtubers hype up people about getting this variant done without having 5* and 6* roster depth ... I can see many people getting disappointed ...

Well that was a poor decision on their part considered that until yesterday no one even knew how the requirements would be implemented and only that there would be some

unknown

This content has been removed.

JohnLocke117

Why would you even sell those poor 1*s?
Do you get 7* shards in return?? Hehehe

TheBennyX

So how we getting those 1 stars. I don’t have any lol
We're bringing back the Hero Crystal. It's a special Crystal with 1 and 2 Star Champions. It will live in the Store somewhere, but you can purchase them for more 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Note that this is NOT the Collector Crystal, which includes "Exclusive" 2-Star Champions.
Will there be anyway to not have to purchase these crystals? Like do quick match? I don’t like using my units on champ crystals. I buy cavaliers Cuz im a gambler sometimes (not often) but I don’t want to use my units to try and pull a 1 Star but end up with 2s. Or will the drop rate be worth it where I buy 10 crystals and actually pull a decent amount of 1 Star champs?

Thanks for responding to me Miike!
Not yet, but maybe during special events in the future. This is permanent content, and we don't want to change the 1v1 Prize permanently, but do like having it change for special events from time to time.

Right now, the only way will be the Hero Crystal, which will be available in the store for players level 45+ for 50 units.

Which champions will be available there? any exclusive 1 stars? what about 2s? its the ones in phcs?
For that ammount of units, nexus 1star/2star crystals would be better suited. 50 units is bad, give us nexus crystal for 50 units

O_Deadpool_O

@Kabam Miike

Seems like 1* Colossus was not updated with new Colossus abilities. Is it planned or is it a bug which is going to be fixed soon?
It is reasonable to have correct abilities if the last part will require 1* champs.

RagamugginGunner

With the * gates, this could either be really fun or a huge pain in the butt. Hoping that the crazy nodes aren't in the final two chapters for the 1* and 2* champs with the limited champ and synergy options.

RiderofHell

1* symbiote spiderman would be laughing down on us when we thought kabam was trolling us in Act 4 but little did we know he would kick our ass 😂😂😂