Alliance Quest: New Enlistment Flow and Schedule Changes

MCOC Team · May 2021

Greetings Summoners!

In June, we’ll be introducing a major update to the way that Alliance Leaders and Officers can preview, set up, and start Alliance Quests.

Introducing a brand new set of Tools and UI updates that give you the ability to preview Alliance Quest maps 24 hours before the start of an Alliance Quest series, set modifiers for the entire week in advance, and set Alliance Quests to start automatically!

How does it work?

24 hours before the start of Alliance Quests, Alliance Leaders and Officers will have the ability to preview the map for the next series, allowing them more time to coordinate with their Alliances.

We call this the Enlistment Phase.

You’ll be able to select the Maps and Modifiers for each of the 5 days.

By tapping on the Arrow on the right side of the screen, you’ll be taken to set up for Day 2:

Here, you can Add and Configure each of the days. Tapping the Add and Configure button will bring up this screen, where you will first select a Map. You can also Preview the upcoming Map from this screen:

Tapping Continue allows you to select a Modifier

After you’ve saved one BG, editing another BG will bring up a Dialogue Box that allows you to copy this selection to multiple Battlegroups if you wish:

Then move on to the next Days!

You still have the ability to run different maps within different Battlegroups, and a shared Cost indicator at the bottom of the screen will let you know how many Tickets your Alliance Members can expect to spend.

Changing your Mind or Not Planning an Entire Series

If your Alliance is the kind that likes to make decisions on the go, don’t worry, you can still do that!

Once you’ve selected Maps and Modifiers for the days you choose, Alliance Quest will auto-start on those days. Any days that have not been configured will NOT automatically start. This can be used to skip certain days of Alliance Quests (set days 1, 2, 3, and 5, but skip 4).

You can set up or change settings for any Alliance Quest that has not started.

Time to Prepare! Temporary Changes Ahead

In preparation for these changes, we had to make an adjustment to the Alliance Quests Schedule.

There will be no Alliance Quest series from May 28 to June 2 in order to ensure the update does not interfere with active Alliance needs.

To adjust for this gap, we will be temporarily updating the Peak Milestone Rewards that can be earned in the May 20 to May 25 Alliance Quest series. Additional Glory will be added to your rewards.

More information will be provided closer to when Alliance Quest will be returning.

Starting with Full Energy and Slightly Shortening AQ

To prepare for this change, and give the system adequate time to resolve the previous day of Alliance Quest before starting a new one, we’ll be making a couple of changes.

Summoners will now start with 6 Energy, instead of 4, and Alliance Quest’s start time will be pushed back by 15 minutes.

This means that instead of starting at 12 PM PT, Quests will now run from 12:15 PM PT to 12 PM PT. We hope that this very small change will not affect Alliances negatively, and will prevent further issues from occurring.

A Set Schedule

To make all of this work, Alliance Quests will be moving to a regular schedule. This means that Day 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 will begin at 12:15 PM PT and end at 12:00 PM PT. If you start any of these Days later than 12:15 PM PT, the quest will still end at 12 PM PT.

So, for example, if you start Day 2 at 8 PM PT, Alliances will only have 16 hours to complete the Map, because Day 3 will begin at 12:15 PM PT.

We hope that you all enjoy this new addition to Alliance Quests and that the new Enlistment Flow and tools will make life a little easier on our Alliance Officers!

TyEdge · May 2021

Well done!

One question - will the glory store still run on 8-day cycles? In other words, are we operating with the same purchase limit from 5/20 to 6/5, or will purchase limits change back on 5/28 as if a new cycle had begun?

Robbrown_Catchem504 · May 2021

Yayyyy.....yyyyyyy !!!

Thanks former/present Director and kabam ...Game Team.... MCOC .... BRING IT ON!!!!! LOL

SummonerNR · May 2021

Plan is about 90% great. Needs the extra step of allowing to set (in advance) an actual different Start Time (instead of always 12pm PST, 3pm EST), and then subsequent days will also start at that same “delayed” start time. While still having FULL 24 Hours for those AQ days (at least “full days” for first 4 days)

Then only final day would be cut short, but overseas-based alliances can at least get in 4 full days at a time that is good for them. (even if Kabam is not wanting to further modify the design to increase overall allowed series time to 5 days, + 8 or 12 hours, to even allow last day to be a full day, as that would delay the Rank reward payouts by an additional 8-12 hrs).

Also, I assume there will be a way, even if all 5 days are initially “pre-enrolled” to make CHANGES during the Series, say to change the initially-preselected Modifiers or Maps, as may be desired based on previous days success/failure.
(** if for nothing else, that to “correct” a mistake by another Officer, or just modify the alliances plans mid-stream).

Crine60 · May 2021

I think the set schedule for end times of the first 4 days is a horrible change. Currently if your alliance isn't made up of members who are ready to play at 3 pm EST you can start later and have the full 24 hours you may need to complete the map. As you said in the post going forward if we need to start later we won't have the full time to complete the map.

I don't know how you think this isn't going to screw over a whole bunch of alliances. This seems to have had as little thought put into it as the arena changes. Giving 2 extra energy to start doesn't in any way come close to fixing the disadvantage you are forcing on some players. If you are unwilling to change this poorly thought out part of the update I think you need to permanently reduce AQ energy timers to no more than 30 minutes or possibly even less to allow people who may now have many hours less time to complete the maps an equal opportunity to do so.

I really don't understand all these anti player changes you are implementing as part of your supposed QOL improvements recently.

TyEdge · May 2021

Crine60 said:
I think the set schedule for end times of the first 4 days is a horrible change. Currently if your alliance isn't made up of members who are ready to play at 3 pm EST you can start later and have the full 24 hours you may need to complete the map. As you said in the post going forward if we need to start later we won't have the full time to complete the map.

I don't know how you think this isn't going to screw over a whole bunch of alliances. This seems to have had as little thought put into it as the arena changes. Giving 2 extra energy to start doesn't in any way come close to fixing the disadvantage you are forcing on some players. If you are unwilling to change this poorly thought out part of the update I think you need to permanently reduce AQ energy timers to no more than 30 minutes or possibly even less to allow people who may now have many hours less time to complete the maps an equal opportunity to do so.

I really don't understand all these anti player changes you are implementing as part of your supposed QOL improvements recently.

Can you give an example using actual time zones? In the scenario you’re detailing, they’d lose a ton of time on day 5...

GroundedWisdom · May 2021

It's impossible to accommodate to all Time Zones and still synchronize in a live group activity.

KnightZero · May 2021

TyEdge said:

Crine60 said:
I think the set schedule for end times of the first 4 days is a horrible change. Currently if your alliance isn't made up of members who are ready to play at 3 pm EST you can start later and have the full 24 hours you may need to complete the map. As you said in the post going forward if we need to start later we won't have the full time to complete the map.

I don't know how you think this isn't going to screw over a whole bunch of alliances. This seems to have had as little thought put into it as the arena changes. Giving 2 extra energy to start doesn't in any way come close to fixing the disadvantage you are forcing on some players. If you are unwilling to change this poorly thought out part of the update I think you need to permanently reduce AQ energy timers to no more than 30 minutes or possibly even less to allow people who may now have many hours less time to complete the maps an equal opportunity to do so.

I really don't understand all these anti player changes you are implementing as part of your supposed QOL improvements recently.
Can you give an example using actual time zones? In the scenario you’re detailing, they’d lose a ton of time on day 5...

Now they lose time everyday though. Like take Indian Alliances for example, they would probably start AQ around 6-7 hours at minimum after AQ starts officially since that's when people usually wake up. So they have 24 hours for the first 4 days, and reduced time for last day. Now, they have reduced time everyday.
Not to say that it isn't possible to finish in 16 hours if you have people active, but yeah.

TyEdge · May 2021

KnightZero said:

TyEdge said:

Crine60 said:
I think the set schedule for end times of the first 4 days is a horrible change. Currently if your alliance isn't made up of members who are ready to play at 3 pm EST you can start later and have the full 24 hours you may need to complete the map. As you said in the post going forward if we need to start later we won't have the full time to complete the map.

I don't know how you think this isn't going to screw over a whole bunch of alliances. This seems to have had as little thought put into it as the arena changes. Giving 2 extra energy to start doesn't in any way come close to fixing the disadvantage you are forcing on some players. If you are unwilling to change this poorly thought out part of the update I think you need to permanently reduce AQ energy timers to no more than 30 minutes or possibly even less to allow people who may now have many hours less time to complete the maps an equal opportunity to do so.

I really don't understand all these anti player changes you are implementing as part of your supposed QOL improvements recently.
Can you give an example using actual time zones? In the scenario you’re detailing, they’d lose a ton of time on day 5...
Now they lose time everyday though. Like take Indian Alliances for example, they would probably start AQ around 6-7 hours at minimum after AQ starts officially since that's when people usually wake up. So they have 24 hours for the first 4 days, and reduced time for last day. Now, they have reduced time everyday.
Not to say that it isn't possible to finish in 16 hours if you have people active, but yeah.

3pm Eastern is 12:30am in Mumbai. They have shorter timers and more energy than they did 6 months ago, and they have from wake up until bedtime for this to work. In 15 hours, you can earn 20 energy plus the 6 you start with.

KnightZero · May 2021

TyEdge said:

KnightZero said:

TyEdge said:

Crine60 said:
I think the set schedule for end times of the first 4 days is a horrible change. Currently if your alliance isn't made up of members who are ready to play at 3 pm EST you can start later and have the full 24 hours you may need to complete the map. As you said in the post going forward if we need to start later we won't have the full time to complete the map.

I don't know how you think this isn't going to screw over a whole bunch of alliances. This seems to have had as little thought put into it as the arena changes. Giving 2 extra energy to start doesn't in any way come close to fixing the disadvantage you are forcing on some players. If you are unwilling to change this poorly thought out part of the update I think you need to permanently reduce AQ energy timers to no more than 30 minutes or possibly even less to allow people who may now have many hours less time to complete the maps an equal opportunity to do so.

I really don't understand all these anti player changes you are implementing as part of your supposed QOL improvements recently.
Can you give an example using actual time zones? In the scenario you’re detailing, they’d lose a ton of time on day 5...
Now they lose time everyday though. Like take Indian Alliances for example, they would probably start AQ around 6-7 hours at minimum after AQ starts officially since that's when people usually wake up. So they have 24 hours for the first 4 days, and reduced time for last day. Now, they have reduced time everyday.
Not to say that it isn't possible to finish in 16 hours if you have people active, but yeah.
3pm Eastern is 12:30am in Mumbai. They have shorter timers and more energy than they did 6 months ago, and they have from wake up until bedtime for this to work. In 15 hours, you can earn 20 energy plus the 6 you start with.

See my last line. Didn't say it wasn't possible.
I might have.misunderstood what you wrote and assumed you were talking about the reduction in time and hence wrote my above post though.
But it is possible to do AQ in that time. I'm not disagreeing with that.

Crine60 · May 2021

GroundedWisdom said:
It's impossible to accommodate to all Time Zones and still synchronize in a live group activity.

The point is that currently alliances have the option of when to start and thus when to end AQ on days 1-4 and only take a hit on time to complete on the last day if they choose to start later than 3 pm Eastern. With the announced changes those alliances who can't start for many hours get screwed over every day. Yes it is possible to complete in less than 24 hours but why take a step backwards and force some people to do it in less time every day instead of just the last day?

TyEdge · May 2021

So instead of 4 24-hour sessions and one short session, they actually have a short session and 4 24-hour sessions. Got it.

SandPounder · May 2021

So, it’s nice that y’all plan to increase rewards/glory on the peak milestones to compensate the the cancellation of the upcoming AQ, but will you also be addressing the Glory Store as well? Like doubling the item cap or having it reset quicker?

Thryllx · May 2021

I think there also needs to be an adjustment to the length of aq, 4 days on 3 days off. Increase the cost and keep the rewards the same and start on day 2 difficulty so day 5 is the same, this will reduce the burden most alliances feel with aq as it is seen as a must do part of the game. Just a thought to make the game/life balance better

Skeletor23 · May 2021

Crine60 said:

GroundedWisdom said:
It's impossible to accommodate to all Time Zones and still synchronize in a live group activity.
The point is that currently alliances have the option of when to start and thus when to end AQ on days 1-4 and only take a hit on time to complete on the last day if they choose to start later than 3 pm Eastern. With the announced changes those alliances who can't start for many hours get screwed over every day. Yes it is possible to complete in less than 24 hours but why take a step backwards and force some people to do it in less time every day instead of just the last day?

These alliances that are getting “screwed” just need to take advantage of the auto start system that is being put in place. It doesn’t fix the fact that most those members will be waking up with full energy and the map barely started but they can technically get a full 24 hour map run time with the auto start feature.

Crine60 · May 2021

Skeletor23 said:

Crine60 said:

GroundedWisdom said:
It's impossible to accommodate to all Time Zones and still synchronize in a live group activity.
The point is that currently alliances have the option of when to start and thus when to end AQ on days 1-4 and only take a hit on time to complete on the last day if they choose to start later than 3 pm Eastern. With the announced changes those alliances who can't start for many hours get screwed over every day. Yes it is possible to complete in less than 24 hours but why take a step backwards and force some people to do it in less time every day instead of just the last day?
These alliances that are getting “screwed” just need to take advantage of the auto start system that is being put in place. It doesn’t fix the fact that most those members will be waking up with full energy and the map barely started but they can technically get a full 24 hour map run time with the auto start feature.

It isn't the start time that is the issue in those cases, it is the fixed end time regardless of when you start. As mentioned before, currently you only get hit with less than 24 hours to run a map that isn't started right away on the last day of aq, now once these changes occur any alliance that can't start playing right away on a regular basis will be constantly facing less than 24 hours to complete the map.

I'm not talking about an alliance who doesn't have an officer online at the start time so that they can then take advantage of the new scheduling feature to auto start it, I am talking about alliances with the majority of members in time zones that can't play at the new start time which leaves them with less than the full 24 hours we currently have because of the new enforced end time every day.

Giuliameij · May 2021

SummonerNR said:
Plan is about 90% great. Needs the extra step of allowing to set (in advance) an actual different Start Time (instead of always 12pm PST, 3pm EST), and then subsequent days will also start at that same “delayed” start time. While still having FULL 24 Hours for those AQ days (at least “full days” for first 4 days)

Then only final day would be cut short, but overseas-based alliances can at least get in 4 full days at a time that is good for them. (even if Kabam is not wanting to further modify the design to increase overall allowed series time to 5 days, + 8 or 12 hours, to even allow last day to be a full day, as that would delay the Rank reward payouts by an additional 8-12 hrs).

Also, I assume there will be a way, even if all 5 days are initially “pre-enrolled” to make CHANGES during the Series, say to change the initially-preselected Modifiers or Maps, as may be desired based on previous days success/failure.
(** if for nothing else, that to “correct” a mistake by another Officer, or just modify the alliances plans mid-stream).

My guess, is that with the system they are planning it is 'too hard' to program it like that. And maybe they are afraid this will cause problems which will not let the new day start. You would have to make start times for let's say every 15 minutes or every hour. That is much more load on the game.

phillgreen · May 2021

Fantastic news.

I'm at work when AQ starts here in Australia and sometimes forget to do it so being able to autostart is a great QOL change for me.

My two accounts will also be done with map3 before I leave work now that we start with 6 QE.

Good job Kabam.

dot_ditto · May 2021

I like it .. overall, very nice changes ..

Just to hop into the discussion on timezones/etc ... I've always thought the way they should do the 5x AQ maps is:

Start time:
Day 1 @whatever (ie 12:00 is fine .. ) and 24 hr max time to finish.
However, once map is 100% complete, it IMMEDIATELY ends .. and the next map starts.
Sooo .. if you finish up a map early .. you get to start the next one early.

You still only get 5 maps .. but might finish all 5 earlier than the 24x5 hrs allotted .. and each map allows only 24 hr max before auto closing like normal.

Honestly not sure how it may / may not affect others in different time zones .. however, if you're ally is cleaning up the map early .. why NOT start the next one right away ? I've never seen a reason not to.

KnightZero · May 2021

Since AQ is starting in a few hours, can we know how the Peak Milestone Rewards are being changed and about the Additional Glory being added?

TyEdge · May 2021

Thryllx said:
I think there also needs to be an adjustment to the length of aq, 4 days on 3 days off. Increase the cost and keep the rewards the same and start on day 2 difficulty so day 5 is the same, this will reduce the burden most alliances feel with aq as it is seen as a must do part of the game. Just a thought to make the game/life balance better

They won’t do this because then it’d run the same days every week. The 8-day cycle migrates through the calendar - some weekday, some weekend - and stays balanced for the long haul. I would suggest 4-2 but that’s actually a larger percentage of AQ days than 5-3.

Raichu626 · May 2021

TyEdge said:

Thryllx said:
I think there also needs to be an adjustment to the length of aq, 4 days on 3 days off. Increase the cost and keep the rewards the same and start on day 2 difficulty so day 5 is the same, this will reduce the burden most alliances feel with aq as it is seen as a must do part of the game. Just a thought to make the game/life balance better
They won’t do this because then it’d run the same days every week. The 8-day cycle migrates through the calendar - some weekday, some weekend - and stays balanced for the long haul. I would suggest 4-2 but that’s actually a larger percentage of AQ days than 5-3.

Maybe 5 on, 4 off? (Alongside a reward buff to compensate the additional day off)

KnightZero · May 2021

Umm so you buffed the milestones by putting in extra glory, but will we have extended time to collect? Because don't think we use 10k glory in that time.

TimeGenesis · May 2021

Am i d only one thinking that it should've had full energy from d start? I dont have max energy....

KnightZero · May 2021

TimeGenesis said:

Am i d only one thinking that it should've had full energy from d start? I dont have max energy....

It's from when the changes are made.

TyEdge · May 2021

KnightZero said:
Umm so you buffed the milestones by putting in extra glory, but will we have extended time to collect? Because don't think we use 10k glory in that time.

This forum will be flooded on the 25th with angry people whose glory capped out.

joebabbo · May 2021

TyEdge said:

KnightZero said:
Umm so you buffed the milestones by putting in extra glory, but will we have extended time to collect? Because don't think we use 10k glory in that time.
This forum will be flooded on the 25th with angry people whose glory capped out.

Agree, Perhaps we can finally raise the storage limits or at least extend time to collect because high scoring alliances getting 2x usual rewards might exceed storage amount. Yes we could just spend it all but kinda nice not to force people to spend resources earned when they’re not ready to.

A_NAZ · May 2021

Can we get a temporary increase on the glory cap for the week too? Otherwise I’ll need to spend quite a bit to make room for it 👀

AndyBro59 · May 2021

Is the glory limit going to be increased with the increased rewards or do we have to spend what we currently have

LordPSN · May 2021

I have a doubt. Suppose we arranged AQ to start automatically for the whole duration with pre defined Modifiers. But after day 1, if we didn't like the current Modifiers, can we change the Modifiers for day 2 or not?