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

Drake

The answer is to make AW heals and revives free and crank up the number of times a node can be defended for points. Diversity caused a lot of the current problems. While we don't just want to see 10 Korgs, Dominos, Dooms, and Annihilii every war, they put in a mechanic to encourage diversity in a lazy way. Keeping it as a tie breaker for top tiers is fine, but actual diversity needs to be encouraged by rotating node buffs that specifically target individual defenders.

For example, take a node that gives +100% attack and health, +75% health and psychic thorns normally. Any champ placed there gets those bonuses. But, if you place Bishop, Red Hulk or Ultron, the node increases those champs health by another 100% and adds heal block on contact. The actual node details would need to be worked out, but you get the idea.

Chimpyboy

tactics are inherently flawed. You can't promote diversity when you, by definition, have a tactic that isolates a sub-set of champs and give them some kind of advantage. That's actually the opposite of promoting diversity.

Stellar

Congratulations to Kabam, @Kabam Miike !

If your aim was to demoralized your customers playing this free-2-play game, even willing to pay from time to time, you hit the mark, right in the middle !

Ans as if it was not enough, @Kabam Miike just deleted tons of comments that could have help with all this mess around the poor design of the new AW map !
Yes deleted ! Not transferred to another thread, but purely and simply deleted, as if all the remarks, complaints, suggestions were so stupid they didn’t even need Kabam’s attention ! 👍

MSL

Well kabam you guys can play aw by yourselves we are not greedy for any rewards

LordTenzen

I would just re post somewhere else. The guidelines were clearly stated and I think a lot of people posted unsure of whether or not it was gonna get deleted but did anyways just in case. I got a message for mine but I think they get the point so I'm not really worried anymore. I know Kabam will fix it. This happens every so often (probably more than less). But it just sucks that the new stuff didn't really work out as hoped.

Worknprogress

They stated flat out what sort of posts they wanted in that thread and people still went in there **** about every thing else they felt like.

Revenge_of_the_Nerfs

In addition to a lot of the specific node complaints above, I will say that the overall cumulative effect of having so many difficult node/defender combinations is a problem for mental load and quality of life.

Exploring (or even clearing) the map will require an insane level of planning by leadership, not only assigning paths but also assigning miniboss and boss encounters. Those assignments may have to change every day based on the defenders that get placed, particularly for alliances with players that don’t have all the possible counters for all the possible node/defender combinations on their path. AQ exacerbates the problem, because some of those paths are already super specific. I guess the top alliance dole out assignments like that. But we aren’t all willing/able to make that sort of time investment.

Also because node 23 and various miniboss fights require such specific counters, it puts a ton of pressure on whoever was assigned those fights. They may need to boost to the gills and use 15 items to clear a choke point so they don’t let down the alliance. Help from other allies may not be available because they had to bring extremely specific counters for their own assigned fights.

There should be a balance between something casual and something intensely competitive. Top alliances may need this sort of headache to keep competition fresh. P4 and below really don’t. For alliances outside the top 200 I think the balance has been shifted waaaaay to much in favor of intensity.

LordTenzen

"There should be a balance between something casual and something intensely competitive. Top alliances may need this sort of headache to keep competition fresh. P4 and below really don’t. For alliances outside the top 200 I think the balance has been shifted waaaaay to much in favor of intensity."

Yes.

unknown

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Stellar

even for alliances in P2-P1 ! we can't afford to spend money in this game just to stay in P2-P1.
Your skill and knowledge of the game should be the first thing needed to help people go and stay in platinum.

Money should only be take into account if you're not skill enough for the whole season or if you want to go against master alliances where all the spenders are.
But with this new AW design, the risk is either to have to spend more just to keep your place in the leaderboard (not everyone can afford that) or demoralized whole alliances of good players from even going to war.

Stellar

The only intelligent thing Kabam had to do was to acknowledge all the post, transfer those not belonging to the thread into this one, saying they will take all this into account after a review.

By simply deleting the posts they are just saying : "your will/idea/comment are not even worth our attention !"

As usual Kabam's communication is one of the poorest in all the free to play games. Too bad as their will to show us their roadmap was a great idea.

Worknprogress

Or people could ya know, follow basic instructions

unknown

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Stellar

Of course... so if some of your customers don't follow exactly your rules, you just punish them without even trying to understand if what they say or do could be interesting ?

I bet you don't have many customers

Capn_Dante

Looks like you are still kabsms, customer... You even still care enough and are dedicated enough about the game to be posting on their forums... Guess him deleting the posts did not have the outcome you predicted

nelsonroa

the new war map is perfect! the previous one was explored very easily .. kabam, don't listen to those fools who just want everything comfortable .. a and I'm grade 2 haha

Sensei_Maat

Lol.

The instructions were plain and simpleZ
Not exactly hard to follow.
They said
“Post only useful information”
Even gave the criteria in which information would be considered useful.

Then they said “all other posts will be deleted”
They literally said here are the guidelines, follow them or this will happen.

Where is the issue?
I used to run a cafe.
I would tell my customers to line up to the left to order.
If they lined up to the right they would not be served.
There were big signs saying “order here”
If the customer decided to line up under the “collect here” sign, thats not my fault they stand there and never get served.
If they choose to walk out because they were waiting and never got served what can i do.....

Stellar

i don't think people want everything comfortable, but something that is challenging, fun and where you can do a full season (12 wars) without having to use every units you earn (with versus or by buying an odin) in order to finish a map.

We have the labyrinth or the Abyss if we want to spend units on. Even Act 6 if you don't want to wait for its nerf

unknown

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Wiredawg1

Ok @Kabam Miike you deleted my post in other thread on aw nodes stating it wasn’t about aw nodes....tho it actually is....so I put it here

You guys have said you nerfing pain points in act 6....which 99% of these are IN FACT THE NODES....so why not wait till you nerf act 6 before you add more act 6 nodes to aw or bring out cavalier difficulty....cause all you going to have to do is nerf aw and cavalier difficulty....

Start thinking logically instead of solo on cash. As an end game player myself yes we want new content. But we want content that works fight, is bug free and is fun. That’s not the case here

Stellar

and did you refuse to take order from those customers or did you tell them that you will take their order if they go to the left ? even if they already were warned by the sign "order here"...

I bet you talked to them to explain (again) and finally took their order when they went on the left

Yes there were instructions from Kabam and yes, as always, you will find people that will not, consciously or not, follow them to the letter. but as these people are Kabam's customer, the minimum would have been to transfer the comments in this thread instead of simply deleting them.
Kabam is notorious for its lack of communication notably when they silently nerf some champions like Archangel neurotoxin stun, Drax ability to counter Mordo.
They make changes without warning and communicate only if someone notice the change. something that inevitably arrive.
That lack of communication participate and even initiate the frustration of a lot of people in this game. and it's sad because when Kabam take time to explain things before acting, the roadmap for example, people are simply happy.
summoners were worried about the futur of MCOC with the Book 2 => Kabam listen and give us the road map for the rest of the year
Kabam changes some mini boss in AQ but made Hyperion a little bit too powerful => they listen, communicate check their data and act accordingly

Worknprogress

People who had their posts deleted are free to get in the right line (post in this thread) and have their order taken.

BHD

Isn't the problem in NODE, not in the development system?
Apparently this AW feels untested.
Or are you doing a field test with your customer's unit?
Either way, it doesn't feel good to the customer.

Sensei_Maat

but kabam said they would delete them.
and they also commented to say "WE DELETED MANY POSTS"
its really not hard to follow simple instructions.
if you can't follow simple instructions then there is no helping you.

there really is no helping stupid.

Sensei_Maat

i am not going to write down their order and then pick them up and carry them over to the correct line and process it there.
they are going to have to go over there and restate their order from the start.

just as it is up to you to go to the correct thread and retype your comment. not expect kabam to move it for you.

don't go around life expecting others to fix your mistakes.
fix your own mistakes and look after yourself.
#stopbeingentitled

gohard123

Don’t know why people are assuming Kabam didn’t think of node interactions. Cold turkey + Hazard Shift is the typical counter to the counter. Very reminiscent of Act 6. Oh you brought a poison immune that has fury as a counter to sinister? Here is EMP mod so you still take damage

Thecurler

Of course they knew what the interactions and pain points would be.
I find it peculiar that so many hold the belief a multi million dollar company don't understand their own game.

gohard123

They have said previously that they do no want us to 100% the map. It is not a surprise

Seraphion

If they would actuly do something usefull with the attacker tactic I could see it would promote diversity.

They plan to buff them in the future. Like why not make them usefull in the first place. They were scared that the map would be too easy and ppl dont buy enough boosts and heals I bet 😅

Seraphion

I agree. But that would not be good for an other reason.

Do you know how much time it costs to plan out a defense and the attack each time? It would be a nightmare for every alliance that takes War somewhat serious.

I could see officers and leaders buring out from that very fast