Hey all. I understand the risk aversion from the group of players currently playing high tier war. I would just ask you all to give it a chance. Right now we only have it planned for one season, we don't have it penciled in for any future seasons at this time. Let's give it a try and see how it goes.
You say nobody is asking for changes to AW, but actually lots of players are asking for changes to AW. The people playing in T1 are the survivors of the current system, which is a very small part of the player base. As someone else in this thread mentioned, this might be better for lower tier alliances. If that's the case, we might end up in a future where top tiers play the existing format and lower tiers play this one. This is just an example, but nothing is set in stone yet.
So again, give it a chance and if it doesn't work, we won't bring it back. Part of trying to make the game more exciting means we have to be able to experiment now and then.
while I may understand this perspective, I feel like the dev team completely missed the mark. First of all if you want to experiment something don't take away from something that already exists. You can make a beta for this and let summoners from all tiers test out the content or maybe you can even put this content in game for everybody to test but like as an addition to what already exists. After proper testing we can say whether we enjoy it more/less than actual aw maybe? I feel like there is 0 thought towards what it means to play aw this way. Let's say we have some crazy power gain node and we always find serpent placed there. The guy with the best match up at the highest rank has to take that same fight 12 times a month? With the same boosting and all? How many resources need to be wasted for this? Cause like grey boosts are expensive. If you wanna succeed you need to boost properly and then you run out of stuff soon. If you're always using for example symb supreme you always need mystic boosts right? And maybe ps1 boost vs serpent. And that's every time you start a fight. Which, if you time out or die, may mean you have to reboost even in same war. And then again for next one and the one after that and so on all season. Because you always want the person with the most experience and best counter taking that fight. There is 0 chance a person can sustain that effort all season without spending a crazy amount of units. This is just terribly bad design. And if this is aimed towards lower tier players who are less skilled and less knowledgable about the game, do you think they will even succeed in taking down a top 10 defender in the game on a node that makes it stronger, with a crazy huge amount of health? People will give up on their fights and leave the content alone. At least with the current map there's always room for less skilled people to cover some easier fights, while some more skilled people can take care of the harder ones. And it's an actual team effort. With this design if a person is struggling they either get kicked and replaced or the alliance has 0 chances of winning. Furthermore, like it was said before, there's 0 enjoyment in the strategy aspect. Planning the map and finding the best solution to make the best result out of the challenges ahead. This is what aw means. In lower tiers they gave up on the content because it's expensive and hard. If you want people from lower tiers to go back to playing aw make it less challenging and less expensive and you will see people will come back for the rewards! I don't see these people who dropped aw because it was too hard and expensive come back to it to face 12million health serpent, enchantress, bullseye... etc.
Bro wtf are you talking about its all about engament do you thing they care for the 0.5 if the engament goes from 12% to above 30% for example yall are delusional not everything will always be like you want embrace the change or go do something else
"bro" maybe you should embrace the fact that this is supposed to be alliance war and this concept is ridiculously bad for that content. Maybe a player who doesn't care for alliance war but wants to get rewards for doing nothing appreciates this, I understand this may be the case. But the entire concept of alliance war is about thriving in the challenge of competing as a team against the opponents, using the weapons of strategy and skills. If the only thing you care about is opening crystals and collecting champions, maybe you should go embrace a trading card game or something like that
Spread them around as more points for the Defender Nodes (???) Maybe or maybe not as extra Attack Bonus, because that doesn’t help someone that needs more than 10 tries.
But, definitely, why not just remove the 50,000 Boss Kill. There is enough points for killing nodes along the way, and traveling. And the jump in other overall points is so much that doing away with these 50,000 each would be closer to original anyways (haven’t calculated, just approx visual comparing of our war history).
I understand your point but the list of flaws in this design goes on and on forever. It's just ridiculously bad. A guy running pacify mastery turned off a node by accident so he got no charges and timed out dealing 5% in 5 minutes.
This is so stupid on so many levels. Some placements have no real answer and you're bound to kill yourself until you clear. Players who don't care for the content will enjoy the change because they just think they'll get some rewards for free. If this is what Kabam was aiming for, congrats. They're right on the spot. But if that's what some people want, then why not just send crappy aw season rewards attached to mail message for free to those alliances who wanna skip the season altogether and leave the actual aw content up for those who enjoy it?
The thing I hate the most is that I am FORCED to play this bs map if I want to be able to play aw competitively the season after. And I hate it from the bottom of my heart.
I was delusional indeed, like the other guy said. My delusion was that Kabam would actually care about our feedback and do something about it.
Some people actually want this, I understand that. Not for the good reasons. But I understand they don't care about the reasons, as long as more people get involved in the "content" (do one fight individually every 2 days and call that alliance war content ok. What is the "alliance" part of this? What is the "war" aspect of this? There is no teamwork, no challenge, nothing. Just take on a single champion with a couple nodes. Some nodes are so damn easy there's 0 challenge in play. Some other nodes are so restrictive it's like you can only use 5-6 champs as attacking options. Throw there a defender that you can't possibly take with those and you're all sorted for the season).
At the same time there are also many people out there who think this change is total bs. Many people have voiced their concerns and expressed their feelings on the subject. And as a matter of fact this was not coming from just tier 1 players. All we wanted was to leave the content there for us who enjoy playing it. Leave this thing running on the side... If some people do enjoy this, implement a choice option to play this instead of regular aw. I've heard this in a vid from kt1 I think. Makes sense. Call it alliance war raids and let alliances pick if they wanna do this aw raid season or regular aw season. Adjust the rewards accordingly (the challenge of aw raid season can't compare with regular aw season). Everybody happy right? Whoever actually enjoys this gets to play this, while those who care for aw actually get to play aw, not this.
That 12,000,000 health enchantress will be a blast
On the must intercept path…
I can say she was not
They need to scale down the bs damage on enchantress and serpent. Enchantress damage back is an instant death and serpent just starts hitting ridiculous hard with all the fury’s and cull force charges
These changes don’t work. I don’t like the map or the nodes, somewhat baffling, I guess this is now another mode of the game (like Raids) which is not for me.
My thoughts coming from a casual alliance: We have a casual alliance that runs two BGs and finish gold4 every season usually hanging out in tier 4. We've actually been hanging more in tier 5 lately because I just stopped caring about winning with the new(now old) scoring system. It left no room for movement whatsoever. We could win almost every war and not move up and vice versa could lose almost every one and not move down as long as we cleared which leads me to the new map. For an alliance like ours where we have some very talented players and some big accounts that just can't put together 3 BGs the new map is fantastic. It rewards skill and roster size. The scoring difference in our two wars has been enormous leading me to believe we can actually strive towards a better season goal. I can see how this would adversely affect other alliances both top and bottom but for us it's been great.
For the record, I hate the changes. The fun is removed. What used to be a top fav game mode, no I dread and hate. 8mil hp is too many. Even with ramping up 20 charges, the fights feel like a LoL fight. Also you’ve made the 6hr war boosters irrelevant. If you have a “good” fight, you’re done in 5 annoying minutes, meaning a 6hr booster is dumb. 10 AB’s and 50 item uses? It’s obvious you’re trying to just suck resources out of us. Nobody wants to revive or heal using that many items or try a fight that many times.
GT40, Salty, LVT, SSX-1, SGA-1... good luck, half of those players ranked up many AW-only champions, now they only do one fight per war, and place one defender.
I shared this on a similar post. Figured it will better to share it on this one.
AW has followed a consistent format for years. This new version completely changes that — it doesn’t resemble what we’ve known. The identity of AW is being replaced, and not for the better, as the poll suggests. Even though the gap isn’t huge, many still prefer the old system.
That doesn’t mean the old format was perfect. It needed improvement — just not like this.
From what I’ve gathered so far, this new format is being favored mainly because it’s quick and simple. And yes, AW has had relatively low engagement compared to the active player base.
But is that due to the map format? Or are there deeper issues that needed attention instead?
Yes, the old map could feel time-consuming or complicated, but why? • Team coordination, mostly for pre-fights. And honestly, some leadership structures made it more complicated than it needed to be. I’ve seen it play out many times. • Energy limits. You couldn’t complete your path in one go unless you bought energy. But why would anyone spend units when the rewards already feel underwhelming — especially for low- to mid-level players?
I find this interesting because myself and other players thought AW was meant to be difficult, sophisticated and expensive. Maybe Kabam communicated that unknowingly or maybe we just assumed wrongly. We often talked about things to improve it. This format has reduced AW to its last atom.
Anyways, let’s take some of the principles from this new format and apply them to the old one: • The new map can be completed in one go. So instead of overhauling everything, just remove or increase energy in the original format. It’s not the fight time themselves that players complain about — it’s how energy wait times stretch out what should be a 10–15 minute task into hours alongside coordination
• As for coordination, this new map lets players bring two champs. You basically need one, with the second spot for pre-fight support (Odin, Mr. F, White Mags, etc.). Yes, in some alliances in the old format, leadership overcomplicates things — assigning mixed paths, juggling pre-fights, micromanaging fights. But that’s not Kabam’s responsibility. Let players decide how complex they want war to be. But it doesn’t mean you can provide support and boundaries. There are ways to reduce that dependency in the old format, eg: • Make pre-fights purchasable, like power boosts. • Or let players pre-select 1–2 pre-fight effects to bring into war.
Sure, this new format might get more players involved short-term — especially in lower or mid-tier alliances — but if rewards stay weak and the format doesn’t grow more engaging, the activity will drop off fast. I’m already seeing highly active players pull back. Personally, I’m not even motivated to play next season — maybe just for the rewards.
Are you planning to rotate the “Big Thing” global or node? Attack and defense tactics weren’t a bad idea in the old format. You just needed to make them more engaging and fun, not overly punishing.
And please stop catering design changes to the top 1–5 alliances because a handful say a tactic is “too easy.” If you’re hiring content creators as consultants, make sure they’re not just designing content to entertain their friends.
Let me ask: do you honestly think lower to mid-level players enjoy fighting all the “nasty” defenders and their “nasty” node interactions? You’re overloading champions with boss-node and mastery defining abilities. Then you expect these players to grind the mode that barely rewards them?
Why not use nodes to truly define the difficulty and stop baking everything into the champions themselves. I get that it’s tied to monetizing new champs. But you need to balance that with the long-term health of the game.
I’m honestly tired, this is too long. Yes, you have data. But we’ve been playing long enough to know when something isn’t working.
And lastly — the rewards. They’re outdated for most players. Maybe what AW needed to boost participation was never a format change — just a meaningful reward update.
Comments
This is so stupid on so many levels. Some placements have no real answer and you're bound to kill yourself until you clear. Players who don't care for the content will enjoy the change because they just think they'll get some rewards for free. If this is what Kabam was aiming for, congrats. They're right on the spot. But if that's what some people want, then why not just send crappy aw season rewards attached to mail message for free to those alliances who wanna skip the season altogether and leave the actual aw content up for those who enjoy it?
The thing I hate the most is that I am FORCED to play this bs map if I want to be able to play aw competitively the season after. And I hate it from the bottom of my heart.
I was delusional indeed, like the other guy said. My delusion was that Kabam would actually care about our feedback and do something about it.
Some people actually want this, I understand that. Not for the good reasons. But I understand they don't care about the reasons, as long as more people get involved in the "content" (do one fight individually every 2 days and call that alliance war content ok. What is the "alliance" part of this? What is the "war" aspect of this? There is no teamwork, no challenge, nothing. Just take on a single champion with a couple nodes. Some nodes are so damn easy there's 0 challenge in play. Some other nodes are so restrictive it's like you can only use 5-6 champs as attacking options. Throw there a defender that you can't possibly take with those and you're all sorted for the season).
At the same time there are also many people out there who think this change is total bs. Many people have voiced their concerns and expressed their feelings on the subject. And as a matter of fact this was not coming from just tier 1 players. All we wanted was to leave the content there for us who enjoy playing it. Leave this thing running on the side... If some people do enjoy this, implement a choice option to play this instead of regular aw. I've heard this in a vid from kt1 I think. Makes sense. Call it alliance war raids and let alliances pick if they wanna do this aw raid season or regular aw season. Adjust the rewards accordingly (the challenge of aw raid season can't compare with regular aw season). Everybody happy right? Whoever actually enjoys this gets to play this, while those who care for aw actually get to play aw, not this.
I can say she was not
We have a casual alliance that runs two BGs and finish gold4 every season usually hanging out in tier 4. We've actually been hanging more in tier 5 lately because I just stopped caring about winning with the new(now old) scoring system. It left no room for movement whatsoever. We could win almost every war and not move up and vice versa could lose almost every one and not move down as long as we cleared which leads me to the new map.
For an alliance like ours where we have some very talented players and some big accounts that just can't put together 3 BGs the new map is fantastic. It rewards skill and roster size. The scoring difference in our two wars has been enormous leading me to believe we can actually strive towards a better season goal. I can see how this would adversely affect other alliances both top and bottom but for us it's been great.
8mil hp is too many. Even with ramping up 20 charges, the fights feel like a LoL fight.
Also you’ve made the 6hr war boosters irrelevant. If you have a “good” fight, you’re done in 5 annoying minutes, meaning a 6hr booster is dumb.
10 AB’s and 50 item uses? It’s obvious you’re trying to just suck resources out of us. Nobody wants to revive or heal using that many items or try a fight that many times.
This change is offensive.
AW has followed a consistent format for years. This new version completely changes that — it doesn’t resemble what we’ve known. The identity of AW is being replaced, and not for the better, as the poll suggests. Even though the gap isn’t huge, many still prefer the old system.
That doesn’t mean the old format was perfect. It needed improvement — just not like this.
From what I’ve gathered so far, this new format is being favored mainly because it’s quick and simple. And yes, AW has had relatively low engagement compared to the active player base.
But is that due to the map format? Or are there deeper issues that needed attention instead?
Yes, the old map could feel time-consuming or complicated, but why?
• Team coordination, mostly for pre-fights. And honestly, some leadership structures made it more complicated than it needed to be. I’ve seen it play out many times.
• Energy limits. You couldn’t complete your path in one go unless you bought energy. But why would anyone spend units when the rewards already feel underwhelming — especially for low- to mid-level players?
I find this interesting because myself and other players thought AW was meant to be difficult, sophisticated and expensive. Maybe Kabam communicated that unknowingly or maybe we just assumed wrongly. We often talked about things to improve it. This format has reduced AW to its last atom.
Anyways, let’s take some of the principles from this new format and apply them to the old one:
• The new map can be completed in one go. So instead of overhauling everything, just remove or increase energy in the original format.
It’s not the fight time themselves that players complain about — it’s how energy wait times stretch out what should be a 10–15 minute task into hours alongside coordination
• As for coordination, this new map lets players bring two champs. You basically need one, with the second spot for pre-fight support (Odin, Mr. F, White Mags, etc.). Yes, in some alliances in the old format, leadership overcomplicates things — assigning mixed paths, juggling pre-fights, micromanaging fights. But that’s not Kabam’s responsibility. Let players decide how complex they want war to be. But it doesn’t mean you can provide support and boundaries. There are ways to reduce that dependency in the old format, eg:
• Make pre-fights purchasable, like power boosts.
• Or let players pre-select 1–2 pre-fight effects to bring into war.
Sure, this new format might get more players involved short-term — especially in lower or mid-tier alliances — but if rewards stay weak and the format doesn’t grow more engaging, the activity will drop off fast. I’m already seeing highly active players pull back. Personally, I’m not even motivated to play next season — maybe just for the rewards.
Are you planning to rotate the “Big Thing” global or node?
Attack and defense tactics weren’t a bad idea in the old format. You just needed to make them more engaging and fun, not overly punishing.
And please stop catering design changes to the top 1–5 alliances because a handful say a tactic is “too easy.” If you’re hiring content creators as consultants, make sure they’re not just designing content to entertain their friends.
Let me ask: do you honestly think lower to mid-level players enjoy fighting all the “nasty” defenders and their “nasty” node interactions? You’re overloading champions with boss-node and mastery defining abilities. Then you expect these players to grind the mode that barely rewards them?
Why not use nodes to truly define the difficulty and stop baking everything into the champions themselves. I get that it’s tied to monetizing new champs. But you need to balance that with the long-term health of the game.
I’m honestly tired, this is too long. Yes, you have data. But we’ve been playing long enough to know when something isn’t working.
And lastly — the rewards. They’re outdated for most players. Maybe what AW needed to boost participation was never a format change — just a meaningful reward update.
Thanks for reading.