Dev Diary: Cavalier Difficulty in 2021 and Beyond - New Buffs for February!

Summoners!

Everybody's favourite Balance Designer and sick beast of a gamer, Kabam John, has taken some time to jot down some thoughts on Cavalier Difficulty, what we've seen so far, and what's to come in the future! There's also a sneak peek at the new Buffs coming in the Cavalier Difficulty Event quest in February!

Read the post here!

Comments

indicquid

@Worknprogress Who you used for that mole man in tech quest? He keeps shrugging off my heal blok and armur brayks

I actually got pass him using Red Skull, SP1 which stunned then a heavy for the healblock

unknown

This content has been removed.

Onmix

I have absolutely no difficulty doing anything lol
Why is it always about difficulty? A node can be easy and still not be a well designed one.
I can clear the chapter no problem. For one, I run resonate lol

That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they switched a node that was fast for another one that is not fast and is much more complicated under the concept of making it faster. They wanted to reduce the time it takes us to clear it. They didn’t.

There’s no need for this node or it’s complexity. The past one worked much better.
How is it complicated?

A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it.

🤦🏻‍♂️

It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about.

Again. Removing disstrack was a good move. But that doesn’t mean ALL of science class can do the node now. Which was your claim...
Example. Red Hulk can’t do it UNLESS you are running resonate. That DOES NOT make for an easier node.
Doing the node with the weakness on does not mean you CAN do it. Since the precept is to do it “faster”

Now. To your reply. It’s very simple...
“A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it”
My answer to that is:
“Inflict a debuff”
DONE. Can you really not see how that is VASTLY less complicated than what the node is today ?
If not then you’re purposely being contrary. It’s pretty clear.

“It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about”
When they advocate a “faster clear” yes. I absolutely complain about it. Because it just doesn’t make for a faster clear.

Jaded

This is a mix master Korg situation again. After just one day of experience, people are flipping out.

Korg doesn't even show on mix master node anymore because he gets soloed every time. Similarly, you will find a counter in your roster to get through stuff.

Kabam, please keep changing things to spice stuff up... thumbs up!

There’s a ton of people that would straight up avoid that fight in war. Doesn’t help them if they don’t learn it, but I wouldn’t suggest that even a good counter for korg is a good counter for mix master/korg. Meaning the right counters are limited. Sort of the opposite of what kabam has been trying to implement recently.

RiderofHell

Skrull going 15 secs of unblockable is freaking overkill. With how bugged this game already is you decided it was good idea to make it 15 secs 😡😡😡

Sbkrueb

Anyone else notice CAPIW with skill synergy doesnt get furies when purifying the poisons in 1.1??

xNig

I have absolutely no difficulty doing anything lol
Why is it always about difficulty? A node can be easy and still not be a well designed one.
I can clear the chapter no problem. For one, I run resonate lol

That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they switched a node that was fast for another one that is not fast and is much more complicated under the concept of making it faster. They wanted to reduce the time it takes us to clear it. They didn’t.

There’s no need for this node or it’s complexity. The past one worked much better.
How is it complicated?

A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it.

🤦🏻‍♂️

It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about.
Again. Removing disstrack was a good move. But that doesn’t mean ALL of science class can do the node now. Which was your claim...
Example. Red Hulk can’t do it UNLESS you are running resonate. That DOES NOT make for an easier node.
Doing the node with the weakness on does not mean you CAN do it. Since the precept is to do it “faster”

Now. To your reply. It’s very simple...
“A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it”
My answer to that is:
“Inflict a debuff”
DONE. Can you really not see how that is VASTLY less complicated than what the node is today ?
If not then you’re purposely being contrary. It’s pretty clear.

“It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about”
When they advocate a “faster clear” yes. I absolutely complain about it. Because it just doesn’t make for a faster clear.

Red Hulk can’t do it? Just parry MLM while the stun is on and he deals normal damage.

How many more champs will be included in your “answer”? Off the top of my head, that’s just Abom and HT, which isn’t much. So.... are you just mad that you can’t use your HT? Lol

With regards to “faster clear”, I found myself ramping up faster in the tech/mutant/skill/cosmic nodes compared to before. Science was slower, which is why I proposed to increase the poison proc chance to 30-40%.

I’ve not done mystic yet since I’m contemplating whether to get the exploration deal.

So yeah, with regards to tech/mutant/skill/cosmic, Kabam definitely hit the mark on them. To me, it seems that you’re just complaining for the sake of it due to the nodes changing.

Kibi

So can we agree that this was half success, half horrible fail..

The skill and mutant chapter are just trash. other ones are manageable to same.

Ironman3000

I really, really hate the 4* "challenge". Most haven't ranked 4* champs in 3 years and now we have to spend t4c (which are needed to rank 5* and 6* champs) to get 10% of a t5cc. If there were rank-up gems, or ever t4cc instead of sig stones in the milestones it'd be much better for everyone. Having to r5 a 4* just feels awful.

DNA3000

There are players here who believe that they all have the same characters and the same abilities. Not because you passed it easily does it mean that others complete it the same way, be consistent
And there are players who believe that just because they are Cavalier they should be able to completely explore the EQ. Goes both ways.
That's what a cavalier is for, right? Because in addition to the crystals it has no other benefits.
Kabam has said it in the past. Cavalier EQ was not supposed to be easily explorable by new Cavs. Completion was made for new Cavs. Those who are farther into story will have an easier time exploring, but it should still be difficult for people still on 6.2, 6.3, or 6.4 to explore. However, the previous iterations of CEQ and nodes haven't really lived up to the community's vision of CEQ. At least this is now a step closer to that vision.
I’m sure they never mentioned anything like that anywhere if so you should add links to prove it. Don’t just make such claims.

You seem to be going after everyone here who’s complaining about the changes. Maybe you have a good roster and don’t have the need to complain.

This forum post is so folks can voice both pros and cons to these changes.

Don’t try to make claims or dictate what one could or could not clear in the game based on their progression. Gates in the game are for that reason we don’t need you !
They did.

Among other places, in the actual announcement for Cavalier difficulty itself: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/219562/event-quest-rewards-update-and-cavalier-difficulty

"As a reminder: The new Cavalier Event Quest difficulty will be available to those that have achieved the Cavalier title, but that does not mean that once you reach the Cavalier title, exploring, or even completing it will be a breeze.

We are building an easy path in each Quest so that any Cavalier player can attempt to obtain the completion rewards without a super-wide roster. The completion rewards will help you develop your roster, helping you rank up your 5-Stars Champions up to Rank 5.

Once your roster is more expansive and your skills sharper, you’ll be able to challenge yourself by attempting the exploration. Exploring the Cavalier difficulty would require either a fair amount of skill, a wide range of ranked-up Champions, or a lot of power!"

(emphasis mine)

Also:

"The rewards distribution for Cavalier Difficulty is drastically different from other Event Quest difficulties. There are no Act Completion rewards. Instead, the rewards for Chapter completion and exploration are the focus.

This way, Summoners that cannot complete or explore the entire Event Quest should focus on exploring only one chapter at a time. We’ve also placed many rewards on paths, so those who are having trouble with the increased difficulty can target and strive for the rewards they need most.

Exploration is still where the best Rewards will be found, and Summoners should focus on exploring one Chapter, over Completing the entire Event Quest, if they find the Quest too difficult."

(emphasis mine again)

Cavalier difficulty tier was intended to be something that most Cavalier players could probably complete, but would take either significant skill or significantly wide roster or both to explore, and the explicit intent was for lower Cavalier players to be able to do some of it, while working their way up to eventually doing all of it.

Pulyaman

Anyone else facing issue with the science one? I started today and parry with caiw is not removing the weakness. I have tech and science on my team and I have tried multiple parries, he does not remove the weakness though he does purify the poisons.

rp91

Kabam in your quest for inclusion of more champs in cavalier difficulty you just made this content stupid.. it was logical and simple earlier but now it makes no sense at all don’t know when the requisite champs will get furries and when will we end those fights this is complete nonsensical. Why do you have to do spoil something which was good ??? This new change won’t create any fans for the game and make the ones already playing frustrated due to some stupid nodes.. this ain’t acceptable.

Bendy

Just done the 4 star challenge and most troublesome nodes for me this is only easy path due to the challenge i wanted out of the way. The skill node i think it be better if bleeds were added so then more champs be viable without parry medium light medium, the mutant really annoyed me especially mainly sasquach as his regen was healing more than i could damage as unstoppables from specials (not keeon on getting hits in this phase), and mystic easy path didnt really have many buffs to nullify but the unstoppable hard to nullify when stun immune so annoying on fights with no buffs, all subject to change my opinion when i go through 100% but those where my main struggles but it was more challenging which got me to enjoy the 4 star challenge.

Notsavage19

Kabam in your quest for inclusion of more champs in cavalier difficulty you just made this content stupid.. it was logical and simple earlier but now it makes no sense at all don’t know when the requisite champs will get furries and when will we end those fights this is complete nonsensical. Why do you have to do spoil something which was good ??? This new change won’t create any fans for the game and make the ones already playing frustrated due to some stupid nodes.. this ain’t acceptable.

You do realize that now more champions can do the Science and Cosmic quest, right?

Kibi

Kabam in your quest for inclusion of more champs in cavalier difficulty you just made this content stupid.. it was logical and simple earlier but now it makes no sense at all don’t know when the requisite champs will get furries and when will we end those fights this is complete nonsensical. Why do you have to do spoil something which was good ??? This new change won’t create any fans for the game and make the ones already playing frustrated due to some stupid nodes.. this ain’t acceptable.
You do realize that now more champions can do the Science and Cosmic quest, right?

so 2 out of 6 were made better and 4 were made worse....

Kibi

There are players here who believe that they all have the same characters and the same abilities. Not because you passed it easily does it mean that others complete it the same way, be consistent
And there are players who believe that just because they are Cavalier they should be able to completely explore the EQ. Goes both ways.
That's what a cavalier is for, right? Because in addition to the crystals it has no other benefits.
Kabam has said it in the past. Cavalier EQ was not supposed to be easily explorable by new Cavs. Completion was made for new Cavs. Those who are farther into story will have an easier time exploring, but it should still be difficult for people still on 6.2, 6.3, or 6.4 to explore. However, the previous iterations of CEQ and nodes haven't really lived up to the community's vision of CEQ. At least this is now a step closer to that vision.
I’m sure they never mentioned anything like that anywhere if so you should add links to prove it. Don’t just make such claims.

You seem to be going after everyone here who’s complaining about the changes. Maybe you have a good roster and don’t have the need to complain.

This forum post is so folks can voice both pros and cons to these changes.

Don’t try to make claims or dictate what one could or could not clear in the game based on their progression. Gates in the game are for that reason we don’t need you !
They did.
Among other places, in the actual announcement for Cavalier difficulty itself: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/219562/event-quest-rewards-update-and-cavalier-difficulty

"As a reminder: The new Cavalier Event Quest difficulty will be available to those that have achieved the Cavalier title, but that does not mean that once you reach the Cavalier title, exploring, or even completing it will be a breeze.

We are building an easy path in each Quest so that any Cavalier player can attempt to obtain the completion rewards without a super-wide roster. The completion rewards will help you develop your roster, helping you rank up your 5-Stars Champions up to Rank 5.

Once your roster is more expansive and your skills sharper, you’ll be able to challenge yourself by attempting the exploration. Exploring the Cavalier difficulty would require either a fair amount of skill, a wide range of ranked-up Champions, or a lot of power!"

(emphasis mine)

Also:

"The rewards distribution for Cavalier Difficulty is drastically different from other Event Quest difficulties. There are no Act Completion rewards. Instead, the rewards for Chapter completion and exploration are the focus.

This way, Summoners that cannot complete or explore the entire Event Quest should focus on exploring only one chapter at a time. We’ve also placed many rewards on paths, so those who are having trouble with the increased difficulty can target and strive for the rewards they need most.

Exploration is still where the best Rewards will be found, and Summoners should focus on exploring one Chapter, over Completing the entire Event Quest, if they find the Quest too difficult."

(emphasis mine again)

Cavalier difficulty tier was intended to be something that most Cavalier players could probably complete, but would take either significant skill or significantly wide roster or both to explore, and the explicit intent was for lower Cavalier players to be able to do some of it, while working their way up to eventually doing all of it.

ok that's cool but they just made it more difficult, as i had previously said, without increasing the rewards.

Notsavage19

Kabam in your quest for inclusion of more champs in cavalier difficulty you just made this content stupid.. it was logical and simple earlier but now it makes no sense at all don’t know when the requisite champs will get furries and when will we end those fights this is complete nonsensical. Why do you have to do spoil something which was good ??? This new change won’t create any fans for the game and make the ones already playing frustrated due to some stupid nodes.. this ain’t acceptable.
You do realize that now more champions can do the Science and Cosmic quest, right?
so 2 out of 6 were made better and 4 were made worse....

How was Tech made worse? Lots of Tech champions have access to Heal Block/Armor Break. Only the Mystic and Skill ones are arguably more difficult. Even then they weren't "made worse". Reverting the current Science node to Diss Track would be an example of a "worse" change.

Notsavage19

There are players here who believe that they all have the same characters and the same abilities. Not because you passed it easily does it mean that others complete it the same way, be consistent
And there are players who believe that just because they are Cavalier they should be able to completely explore the EQ. Goes both ways.
That's what a cavalier is for, right? Because in addition to the crystals it has no other benefits.
Kabam has said it in the past. Cavalier EQ was not supposed to be easily explorable by new Cavs. Completion was made for new Cavs. Those who are farther into story will have an easier time exploring, but it should still be difficult for people still on 6.2, 6.3, or 6.4 to explore. However, the previous iterations of CEQ and nodes haven't really lived up to the community's vision of CEQ. At least this is now a step closer to that vision.
I’m sure they never mentioned anything like that anywhere if so you should add links to prove it. Don’t just make such claims.

You seem to be going after everyone here who’s complaining about the changes. Maybe you have a good roster and don’t have the need to complain.

This forum post is so folks can voice both pros and cons to these changes.

Don’t try to make claims or dictate what one could or could not clear in the game based on their progression. Gates in the game are for that reason we don’t need you !
They did.
Among other places, in the actual announcement for Cavalier difficulty itself: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/219562/event-quest-rewards-update-and-cavalier-difficulty

"As a reminder: The new Cavalier Event Quest difficulty will be available to those that have achieved the Cavalier title, but that does not mean that once you reach the Cavalier title, exploring, or even completing it will be a breeze.

We are building an easy path in each Quest so that any Cavalier player can attempt to obtain the completion rewards without a super-wide roster. The completion rewards will help you develop your roster, helping you rank up your 5-Stars Champions up to Rank 5.

Once your roster is more expansive and your skills sharper, you’ll be able to challenge yourself by attempting the exploration. Exploring the Cavalier difficulty would require either a fair amount of skill, a wide range of ranked-up Champions, or a lot of power!"

(emphasis mine)

Also:

"The rewards distribution for Cavalier Difficulty is drastically different from other Event Quest difficulties. There are no Act Completion rewards. Instead, the rewards for Chapter completion and exploration are the focus.

This way, Summoners that cannot complete or explore the entire Event Quest should focus on exploring only one chapter at a time. We’ve also placed many rewards on paths, so those who are having trouble with the increased difficulty can target and strive for the rewards they need most.

Exploration is still where the best Rewards will be found, and Summoners should focus on exploring one Chapter, over Completing the entire Event Quest, if they find the Quest too difficult."

(emphasis mine again)

Cavalier difficulty tier was intended to be something that most Cavalier players could probably complete, but would take either significant skill or significantly wide roster or both to explore, and the explicit intent was for lower Cavalier players to be able to do some of it, while working their way up to eventually doing all of it.
ok that's cool but they just made it more difficult, as i had previously said, without increasing the rewards.

But what if this iteration is the intended difficulty and the previous one was just too easy for the rewards given, meaning that this difficulty is properly scaled with the rewards?

Thekiller8967

The mystic node is just absolutely terrible. Just scrap it and bring the old one back please

rp91

You do realize that now more champions can do the Science and Cosmic quest, right?

I like the previous cosmic mode and the skill is basically worse from we do we get all those shock dealers, in skill bleed is the basic skill function this is not acceptable at all.

Polygon

Seriously though, where are the 4* rank up gems? This 4* challenge is one of the worst, but at least give the rank up gem.

I’ve got so many t5b and t2a expiring in overflow that I can’t even afford to use the iso/t4cc on 4*’s

Onmix

I have absolutely no difficulty doing anything lol
Why is it always about difficulty? A node can be easy and still not be a well designed one.
I can clear the chapter no problem. For one, I run resonate lol

That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they switched a node that was fast for another one that is not fast and is much more complicated under the concept of making it faster. They wanted to reduce the time it takes us to clear it. They didn’t.

There’s no need for this node or it’s complexity. The past one worked much better.
How is it complicated?

A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it.

🤦🏻‍♂️

It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about.
Again. Removing disstrack was a good move. But that doesn’t mean ALL of science class can do the node now. Which was your claim...
Example. Red Hulk can’t do it UNLESS you are running resonate. That DOES NOT make for an easier node.
Doing the node with the weakness on does not mean you CAN do it. Since the precept is to do it “faster”

Now. To your reply. It’s very simple...
“A. Use a science champ that can inflict a non-damaging debuff.
B. If not poison immune, parry/dex to remove it”
My answer to that is:
“Inflict a debuff”
DONE. Can you really not see how that is VASTLY less complicated than what the node is today ?
If not then you’re purposely being contrary. It’s pretty clear.

“It seems that anything that is remotely an inconvenience is complained about”
When they advocate a “faster clear” yes. I absolutely complain about it. Because it just doesn’t make for a faster clear.
Red Hulk can’t do it? Just parry MLM while the stun is on and he deals normal damage.

How many more champs will be included in your “answer”? Off the top of my head, that’s just Abom and HT, which isn’t much. So.... are you just mad that you can’t use your HT? Lol

With regards to “faster clear”, I found myself ramping up faster in the tech/mutant/skill/cosmic nodes compared to before. Science was slower, which is why I proposed to increase the poison proc chance to 30-40%.

I’ve not done mystic yet since I’m contemplating whether to get the exploration deal.

So yeah, with regards to tech/mutant/skill/cosmic, Kabam definitely hit the mark on them. To me, it seems that you’re just complaining for the sake of it due to the nodes changing.

Oh right, of course. Parry.
Because that is WAY less complicated and efficient lol certainly faster...

I was clearly only talking about science. Never complained about any other class.
If you couldn’t be bothered to read that, then that’s your fault.
But hey. Feel free to keep droning on instead of actually reading.

Increasing the poison is a good idea. I still think the node forcing us to depend on the AI is not good.
So, if we can get an increased chance of Posion and add a better way to remove it (like simply dashing back or maybe hitting the opponent or it’s block, idk) so that we don’t depend on the opponent.

Notsavage19

Yeah you broke something that didn’t need fixing. The new cav EQ is garbage. Thanks for nothing.

No one tried to "fix" anything. They're doing this to give some variance.

rp91

Yeah you broke something that didn’t need fixing. The new cav EQ is garbage. Thanks for nothing.
No one tried to "fix" anything. They're doing this to give some variance.

that variance is unnecessary and such a waste kabam always spoiling which is fine

rp91

Which champs are you using for the skill based exploration..

unknown

This content has been removed.

Notsavage19

Yeah you broke something that didn’t need fixing. The new cav EQ is garbage. Thanks for nothing.
No one tried to "fix" anything. They're doing this to give some variance.
that variance is unnecessary and such a waste kabam always spoiling which is fine

How is it unnecessary? I'd rather face new nodes every month than the same, old nodes that haven't changed at all.

Change is a broken bone but redundancy is killer.

rp91

Yeah you broke something that didn’t need fixing. The new cav EQ is garbage. Thanks for nothing.
No one tried to "fix" anything. They're doing this to give some variance.
that variance is unnecessary and such a waste kabam always spoiling which is fine
How is it unnecessary? I'd rather face new nodes every month than the same, old nodes that haven't changed at all.

Change is a broken bone but redundancy is killer.

Change is good but this type of change sucks these changes are not good not everyone has ranked up every champ to r5 or r4 the current rank ups are in line with the previous cavalier questing but these changes completely nullifies those rank ups and gotta do again which ain’t that easy for us unlike the top tier players so that’s what kabam should keep in mind before changing too much not about the top 1% but the rest (at least 50%)

H_B0MB

The fights with the new nodes generally take longer than before. Difficulty-wise it’s not a huge jump up. However, the rewards definitely seem more lackluster now. Double the amount of sig stones at least and I’m sure it’ll ease some tensions.

Good reward are what always drive players to find excitement in the content. If it feels like the pay out is so-so then you’re just driving more & more players into burnout territory and eventual retirement. To put it in terms you understand...you’ll have less people spending money on your game if you don’t stop being so stingy with Cav EQ rewards. ; )

xNig

Just a bunch of people resisting changes. Happens everywhere in everything.