Alliance War Season 19: Updates to Path Identities and New Nodes! [ June 30]

Summoners,

After his defeat at the hands of the Summoner and Carina, the Grandmaster has been an elder without a calling. Despite the problems and conflicts that the Grandmaster and The Collector have caused, they are still Carina’s family, and she loves them very much.

Instead of banishing them to a far off land, she’s worked with her council to create a plan to keep the two of them busy, and out of trouble.

The Universal Gamesman

Carina knows that a game with changing rulesets and unpredictable pieces is the perfect distraction to keep En Dwi Gast out of trouble. Under her supervision, The Grandmaster will transform Alliance Wars into his tournament, where he seeks the strongest Alliances every season to crown as his victors!

Recreating the Battlefield

The Grandmaster has never been shy about wanting to mould the Contest to his vision, and making sure his presence is noticed. He’ll be starting with the Maps on which you fight.

So first, we’re going to take a look at the new Nodes, Path Identities, and Layouts of the Grandmaster’s New Maps. All Map Changes will take effect on June 24th!

New Maps

First, we've got 2 Brand New Maps! One for Alliances playing on Easy and Normal, and one for Alliances playing on Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert. If you'd like to take a closer look, we've attached the High-Resolution versions of these maps to this post.

These new more simplified Maps eliminate Portals and bring the entire Battlegroup back together and key points throughout the Map.

Easy and Normal:

Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert:

New Local Nodes

The Grandmaster has crafted the following nodes for Alliances on the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, or Expert Maps.

Path Identities

If you like to plan ahead, the Grandmaster is happy to provide you with a list of all buffs on all nodes across the Maps. There are lots to look at, so we've attached the lists of Nodes in the next post.

Matchmaking Updates

The Grandmaster wants to ensure that his tournament stays as competitive as possible. To do so, he is updating the parameters of Matchmaking. Matchmaking will now emphasize your Alliance's War Rating above all else. This will ensure that Alliances vying for the crown will be competing against other top Alliances.

This will be a big adjustment for a lot of Alliances. Currently, many Alliances are either have an inflated War Rating or a Deflated War rating due to the current system. To expedite the process of Alliances finding their "true" War Rating, we will be reducing every Alliance's War Rating by 50%. This will affect every Alliance in-game and will accelerate the rate at which Alliance's find their true position faster because of the concentrated War Ratings of all Alliances.

The Change to Matchmaking and the War Rating reduction will occur on July 8th.

What's Next?

There's still so much to reveal about Season 19 and beyond. Next week, we'll cover:
- Reward Changes
- Defense Tactics and Attack Tactics
- Alliance War Solo Events

Remember, Alliance Wars Season 19 Starts on July 7th, and there will be no war starting on July 5th!

Stay tuned for more information on everything else about Season 19!

Comments

Championcritic

I don't like "ebb and flow-knockdown", "ebb and flow-intercept", "window of opportunity-stun". Those 3 look WAY too annoying, especially when combined with flow tactics if the tactics system stays the same which might deter people from joining AW. The rest i can live with for now.

Championcritic

I have a question to kabam, will "strike counter-combat power rate" eventually reach the negatives? if so it will definitely cause problems like you attack, you lose power, and you will never be able to activate a special so you are forever power locked.

joke1004

Is there anything wrong with the node numbers on the map?
Lane numbers in the announcement don't add up with the map lanes...

Championcritic

I don't like "ebb and flow-knockdown", "ebb and flow-intercept", "window of opportunity-stun". Those 3 look WAY too annoying, especially when combined with flow tactics if the tactics system stays the same which might deter people from joining AW. The rest i can live with for now.

the 90% damage reduction from the 2 ebb and flows i mentioned might be a bit too much over the top.

Deadpool87

so much to read through but eb and flow intercept reads awful. I guess its made for ghost to fight but I can see that node being a pain
Does incoming damage include DOT and passives like plasma? Also, Hazard shift sounds like a pain, incinerate and poison immune? Mephisto comes to mind. Iceman, red hulk and BWCV depending on her curse. Anyone else?

Human torch, Night Thrasher, Annihulus, Havok, Sunspot, Vulture awakened and Emma in diamond form are all immune to incinerate. Which in turn should make them immune to the poison since they never receive the incinerate debuff.

Ultimatheory

Looks interesting. If anything AW sorely needed a refresh. Defense tactics are still a big factor in how this plays out though.

Championcritic

so much to read through but eb and flow intercept reads awful. I guess its made for ghost to fight but I can see that node being a pain
Does incoming damage include DOT and passives like plasma? Also, Hazard shift sounds like a pain, incinerate and poison immune? Mephisto comes to mind. Iceman, red hulk and BWCV depending on her curse. Anyone else?
Human torch, Night Thrasher, Annihulus, Havok, Sunspot, Vulture awakened and Emma in diamond form are all immune to incinerate. Which in turn should make them immune to the poison since they never receive the incinerate debuff.

That's not how it works, it sounds like there is a timer that will change the debuff(incinerate or poison) that can be inflicted.

GroundedWisdom

Haha see the hype for the “road map” dying 😂. Leave it in the hands of kabam and it’ll always look the same.

To be fair, we should wait to see what they look like practically. I'm just concerned for Matchmaking issues, but I'm willing to stay open minded.

Jaded

Haha see the hype for the “road map” dying 😂. Leave it in the hands of kabam and it’ll always look the same.
To be fair, we should wait to see what they look like practically. I'm just concerned for Matchmaking issues, but I'm willing to stay open minded.

I as well am open minded and hope for the best. Unfortunately first glance there are still big issues to address, while potentially making more issues with this released information.

Pulyaman

so much to read through but eb and flow intercept reads awful. I guess its made for ghost to fight but I can see that node being a pain
Does incoming damage include DOT and passives like plasma? Also, Hazard shift sounds like a pain, incinerate and poison immune? Mephisto comes to mind. Iceman, red hulk and BWCV depending on her curse. Anyone else?
Human torch, Night Thrasher, Annihulus, Havok, Sunspot, Vulture awakened and Emma in diamond form are all immune to incinerate. Which in turn should make them immune to the poison since they never receive the incinerate debuff.

The node is like shifting immunities. First its incinerate, then it is poison and again it is incinerate. Emma frost is straight up bad because she has horrible damage in diamond form without synergies and will not be good in attack.The others won't work because of the poison. CAIW with max sig and skill synergy could work. But you lose out on the damage from the kinetic charges

Championcritic

Is it me or does tier 2 in the new map require ALOT more steps to explore? If I'm right, does this not make the map more annoying?

WikiLeaks

@Kabam Miike

A lot of people complain about shell alliances.. and tanking etc. I'm happy to share my ideas with your team directly and fix these issues once and for all.

mum_m2

The only way to solve it really is to freeze War Rating altogether in the off, or not allow a change of a marginal amount outside of Seasons. No more than 10 perhaps, on either side.

Not sure if you understood what I said but that's exactly what they do in tiers 1-5. They prohibit any alliance from getting an increase or decrease in war rating in the off season to prevent alliances from tanking

unknown

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Onmix

How do the links interact?
What are they?
Do we have to take some fights linked?
Is there a hidden lane?
On the Easy and Normal Maps:
Nodes 13 and 14 Link to 19, 15 and 16 link to 20, 17 and 18 link to 21, 38 and 39 link to 44, 40 and 41 link to 45, and 42 and 43 link to 46. Finally, 48, 51, and 52 Link to the Boss.

On the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert Maps:
Nodes 10,11,12 link to 19, Nodes 13,14,15 link to 20, Nodes 16,17,18 link to 21, 36,37,38 link to 45, 39,40,41 link to 46, 42,43,44 link to 47, and 49,52,53 Link to the Boss.

You do not have to take any fights linked this time.

There is no hidden path anymore, but Nodes 19,20,21,45,46,47 are hidden.

Terrible change on those hidden nodes.
Why go back on this ?

Gregdagr8

So now you need 3 people per bg to run the scouter lens masteries? Or 9 people total in the alliance. Those are VERY expensive masteries. Please reconsider that choice.

joke1004

@Kabam Miike there is definitely something wrong with the node numbers on the expert map.
The main boss for example is numbered "52", while it should be 54.
Additionally, the lanes and some shared lane minis are way off.

Gregdagr8

THANK YOU for making matchmaking fair again!!! Couldn't be more happy about that.

Championcritic

@Kabam Miike there is definitely something wrong with the node numbers on the expert map.
The main boss for example is numbered "52", while it should be 54.
Additionally, the lanes and some shared lane minis are way off.

They changed the way the final diamond looks like so I guess they changed the boss node number accordingly

Ultimatheory

@Kabam Miike there is definitely something wrong with the node numbers on the expert map.
The main boss for example is numbered "52", while it should be 54.
Additionally, the lanes and some shared lane minis are way off.

Yeah it looks like map node numbers are off and should be labeled the same as they are now. The table with the new node descriptions looks like it lines up with the current map though.

GroundedWisdom

The only way to solve it really is to freeze War Rating altogether in the off, or not allow a change of a marginal amount outside of Seasons. No more than 10 perhaps, on either side.
Not sure if you understood what I said but that's exactly what they do in tiers 1-5. They prohibit any alliance from getting an increase or decrease in war rating in the off season to prevent alliances from tanking

I understood what you said. There are more Tiers than just 1-5. Tanking occurs in lower Tiers. There are also Alliances that drop down to lower ones to peck off weaker Alliances, and those Matches are not fair for those they come up against. Which is why I proposed they either freeze it completely, all Tiers, or not allow an increase or a decrease of more than 10 War Rating Points. If that occurs, the most people will vary is 60 WRP and lose the Shards.

Panchulon21

Lmao they did such a great job with yesterday’s announcement and now this fiasco. They just want us using up as many items as possible?

I hope the rewards really reflect these changes Cuz the challenger and expert map are definitely a s**t show. Didn’t they say we shouldn’t be relying on 2-3 champions to clear certain areas? The swapping of incinerate and posion only a few champs come to mind with this lol. Having to intercept to deal damage is cool and all but all these champs with auto block.

Aye kabam aye.

Kabam Miike

@Kabam Miike there is definitely something wrong with the node numbers on the expert map.
The main boss for example is numbered "52", while it should be 54.
Additionally, the lanes and some shared lane minis are way off.

Something is up. Getting that looked into right now

KnightZero

so much to read through but eb and flow intercept reads awful. I guess its made for ghost to fight but I can see that node being a pain
Does incoming damage include DOT and passives like plasma? Also, Hazard shift sounds like a pain, incinerate and poison immune? Mephisto comes to mind. Iceman, red hulk and BWCV depending on her curse. Anyone else?
It’s alternating technically only need 1 immunity if played right

How? Every 7 seconds you're taking damage.

Pulyaman

Lmao they did such a great job with yesterday’s announcement and now this fiasco. They just want us using up as many items as possible?

I hope the rewards really reflect these changes Cuz the challenger and expert map are definitely a s**t show. Didn’t they say we shouldn’t be relying on 2-3 champions to clear certain areas? The swapping of incinerate and posion only a few champs come to mind with this lol. Having to intercept to deal damage is cool and all but all these champs with auto block.

Aye kabam aye.

Its going to be Nova, Rhino and Thor ragnarok there. I have not played in that tier for some time, so more don't come to mind. Nick fury is the usual counter. Lets see, we will know better after we play the maps for 2 weeks

joke1004

Hidden minis are a bit excessive considering you have to plan for so many possible champ combinations.

bdawg923

How do the links interact?
What are they?
Do we have to take some fights linked?
Is there a hidden lane?
On the Easy and Normal Maps:
Nodes 13 and 14 Link to 19, 15 and 16 link to 20, 17 and 18 link to 21, 38 and 39 link to 44, 40 and 41 link to 45, and 42 and 43 link to 46. Finally, 48, 51, and 52 Link to the Boss.

On the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert Maps:
Nodes 10,11,12 link to 19, Nodes 13,14,15 link to 20, Nodes 16,17,18 link to 21, 36,37,38 link to 45, 39,40,41 link to 46, 42,43,44 link to 47, and 49,52,53 Link to the Boss.

You do not have to take any fights linked this time.

There is no hidden path anymore, but Nodes 19,20,21,45,46,47 are hidden.

Can you explain why you arbitrarily make some people's path harder?

unknown

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-sixate-

Sorry, but this sounds no better. I won't be playing AW any time soon. Thanks Kabam!

PirateJon

I really don’t like the incept nodes. The window is too small especially for defenders like like nova, rhino, Thor R