Why make side quest dependent on Alliance contribution?

So I’m confused. I hope I’m wrong but let me see how this works. The side quest with the bounty targets is something we’ve done multiple times and most of us know how it works. Before this month, if we had this event we were able to claim 4 per week max from the solo event. Explain to me why the bounty targets to do a SOLO side quest is based on alliance contribution? Oh and also if your alliance is dead and does nothing, you can buy the bounties from the store for cash because why not lol

Comments

Mqc19

because game engagement is shrinking and they are trying to come up w creative ways to gets players to still contribute. The company continues to miss the mark.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

Bounties are a part of the Alliance Super Season Event.
The My Little Symbiote Incursions, which is this months Side Quest launches this upcoming Wednesday.

Cdub5071

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887630#Comment_2887630

If they would just make something simple and fun. They just keep doubling down on time consuming, and confusing.

DrZola

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887639#Comment_2887639

Communication, communication, communication…

While I dislike the idea of actual entry being locked behind alliance milestones, the fact that a significant number of veteran and non-Noob players (and not just those complaining on forums) are scratching their heads about how the event works should be reason enough to try to figure out a better monthly “explainer” than what we have currently.

Dr. Zola

Coolbum67

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/405193/why-make-side-quest-dependent-on-alliance-contribution

I think they only way to complete the epic front page ones is from paying…

Chuck_Finley

Crow9074

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887639#Comment_2887639

So, does this mean a bounties or Incursion side quest won't appear for abit after these?

Nothing against your team or the people who do enjoy them. Personally, I just don't enjoy Incursions or the bounties. Incursions there are to many popup selection screens between fights and the length of them.

Bounties I think it's just the feeling of a fetch quest in other games? If that makes since. You do this to get an item. That you need for the next step. Do the next step for the next item. Do it again. Then repeat from the beginning multiple times.

I'm hoping some of these new types of side quests coming up are more experimental. The idle fighter wasn't the funnest of modes but it was great to see new ideas and a possibility of mixed generes in the Contest. (Poker, Idle fighter, etc.)

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887661#Comment_2887661

I have loudly been saying that Bounties will be a part of the Alliance Super Season since August.
I understand you don't want to watch the livestream, but that is where the majority of our initial announcements live - and many people post recaps of everything covered there, including on the forums.

All of this has been communicated many times in many places.

Coolbum67

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887735#Comment_2887735

buddy it’s not that people don’t want to watch the livestream, can’t believe you even said that.. some people have jobs and can’t watch the D*** thing, I’m one of those people.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887739#Comment_2887739

"- and many people post recaps of everything covered there, including on the forums."

Everything is always blasted in multiple places. There's a whole announcement thread about the upcoming October side quest.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887719#Comment_2887719

The November side quest is a new format that we haven't tried before.

There's another Saga Incursion run coming up in December.
This will likely be the last Bounties event of this year.

Usagicassidy

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887735#Comment_2887735

You guys literally made an announcement post for Wednesday that said NEW CONTENT DAY AND OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS, yet dropped new content without including it in the post, saying that it was part of the Alliance Super Season (which feels like a bygone era at this point), without mentioning that your intended side quest (the incursions) launches next week so that alleviates all these people thinking that this is the side quest and mad that it's alliance locked.

You can say it's been clearly communicated - but when there's so much collective confusion among the player base in a way I rarely see, you've gotta acknowledge that it wasn't done very well. (Plus this all happening in the middle of the cure thing who's execution and communication was messy, to say the least)

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

For the Hunger & Cure Event, we did:

1) A full walkthrough via in-game mail
2) An explainer video on social
3) A Livestream breakdown
4) A Full walkthrough with flow charts on the Website

The event boils down to this:
1) Do fights, claim solo objective for the Solo Event.
2) Take the cure if you want it - ignore it if you don't.
3) Claim the peak milestone on the side you chose after the Event ends.

I'm not sure what more we could have done for this Event, honestly, but at this point, I'm going to advise the team to stop getting creative with Events and just keep things as simple and vanilla as possible.

I agree that Bounties feel a bit more confusing than they need to be, but at the end of the day, the Bounty Target essentially just acts as a path key with a fun visual.

Usagicassidy

I just added The Cure only as an aside because people had a lot of collective confusion as well.

I read, and watched, everything you mentioned. I 'get it.' The event itself is confusing enough that sometimes even obvious stuff is getting lost by people, like the amount of people not understanding that they're seeing PEAK rewards. Or general confusion when half the people got a certain email and the other half didn't.

My main point was about the Bounties cause that's the thing ive seen the most confusion from people, without a lot of clarification or documentation from the team.

Cdub5071

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887772#Comment_2887772

We have asked countless times about not making side event complicated. I have played this game for 10 + years. This is beyond ridiculous. If you need a :

1) A full walkthrough via in-game mail

2) An explainer video on social

3) A Livestream breakdown

4) A Full walkthrough with flow charts on the Website

in hope that people understand what to do, than you have already missed the mark. Its a side event.

Simple and Vanilla would be a paradise at this point.

DrZola

@Kabam (Osaurus) Rex A pretty clear indicator of effective communication is whether the message gets received accurately.

That’s always a two-way street, but this isn’t just friends chatting about something. You and the team want me to play something you’ve made (and, if I am so inclined, to spend money on that something).

The more I have to triangulate sources of information, the more time it takes me. I (and I think others) don’t always have that time to hunt down info across sources. As awesome as the game can be, it’s still a leisure activity for me.

Forums (or something in writing like it) works better for me because it’s a static format and I usually don’t have to filter out banter to get to the info. It’s there where I left it, I can reread it, and I can pick up where I left off. For several reasons, forums have felt like a colossal mess lately.

You guys have put out a lot of content and in my honest opinion and lot of great stuff lately. That’s genuinely not the issue. I understand that it can feel frustrating to have players who never seem to be happy with anything. Speaking for myself, that’s not the case—it’s not perfect, but there’s plenty good in MCoC.

Going back to my original point: communication is two-way, yes, but the onus is always going to be on the team to explain clearly and simply how to access what you want us to access. You make the content—not us. Figuring out what you want us to do this month has felt way harder than it seems like it should, which makes leisure seem more like work.

Perhaps the confusion is because there’s so much concurrent content. Perhaps it’s because some of us are too dumb and/or stubborn to watch the stream. Perhaps things just need to be streamlined more.

I don’t have a perfect answer for you, and I know you all are trying. If I had to suggest one thing, I’d suggest going with the same, simple infographic or diagram across every channel. For example: Cat Murdock boils things down so clearly—she’s probably a great place to start.

It’s a long post, but I hope it helps.

Dr. Zola

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

@DrZola long posts are good, it gave me an idea 🙂

Cdub5071

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887834#Comment_2887834

you had a good idea when you said you would tell the team to keep it simple. People do not want to have to figure out how to play side quests.

DrZola

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887834#Comment_2887834

One more thing that comes to mind…

The terms “game economy” and the “rewards economy” are often used around here.

It’s fair, I think, to also consider “attention economy”—to wit, what’s being asked of the players versus what’s to be gained by them, especially in terms of attention investment by them.

Video game players like to do things to get things. Even though folks clamor for free stuff, it would be a stupid and boring game if we always got something for nothing.

Attention to the game itself is one thing, but having to devote too much attention to corollary stuff (that is, doing things that don’t directly get you things) puts the attention economy out of balance.

Just a random musing that I believe helps to explain some of the frustration.

Dr. Zola

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887843#Comment_2887843

I agree with everything you just said.

Coolbum67

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887745#Comment_2887745

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2887820#Comment_2887820

I think you just said it perfectly!