Back Issues #2: Mystery in the Microrealm

Once upon a time, an intrepid thief followed the trail of mysterious happenings in The Battlerealm. Little did he know this tiny curiosity would lead to some of the biggest changes in all of The Contest!

Introducing, Back Issues #2: Mystery in the Micro-Realms!

As the Contest has grown and evolved we’ve introduced many Event Quests, each with their own unique stories, and many that have expanded on the mythos of The Battlerealm and The Contest of Champions. We want to give Veteran Summoners a way to relive those moments, and newer ones that weren’t with us at the time a chance to experience the stories of the Contest that they had missed out on!

This Event Quest is available in TWO difficulties:

CLASSIC difficulty is a recreation of the original quest. While not completely 1:1, the layouts, difficulty, and dialogue are all the same as you remember. Take a stroll down memory lane and see how far you've come, or experience a quest you never got the chance to play!

VARIANT difficulty is a new spin on the quest, available for Summoners level 40 and up. This version features extreme challenge, new opponents, updated map layouts, and new combat effects for the boss fights. This quest will test even the mightiest of Summoners, so be prepared! You can find out more about the challenges you will face in Variant Difficulty in our latest Dev Diary post here: https://playcontestofchampions.com/dev-diary-added-difficulty/

The Variant Challenges!

Variant Difficulty will test not only your skills, but your knowledge of Champion abilities, immunities, resistances, and counters! Those who rely on only a few Champions will find the need to diversify.

Unlike Back Issues #1, there will not be explicit gates (like Class or Rarity), but instead we’ll be applying Global Buffs that strongly encourage the use of certain Champions. In this case, it’s XL Champions. All quests will make use of Micro-Reflect, Size Matters, and Particle Protector; effects you might remember from Evangeline Lily’s Champion Challenge last year. (But appropriately souped up.) On top of this, the new Runaway Express and Cultivating Mass Buffs will give XL Champions further advantages beyond their ability to ignore Particle Protector. Finally, Quests 1-3 through 3-3 will also feature Buffs that will benefit bringing in certain XL Champions!

Take a look at the new Buffs you’ll be combating or benefiting from:

Remember Summoners, Variant Difficulty is going to be HARD! The good news is that Back Issues are permanent content, so if you’re not able to take Variant Difficulty on right now, take all the time you need and come back to it when you feel you are better equipped!

Rewards:

For completing and mastering all of the Classic quests, you earn:

Tier 2 Basic ISO x4
Tier 3 Basic ISO x22
Tier 4 Basic ISO x6
Gold x12250
Units x225
Tier 1 Alpha Catalyst x1
Premium Hero Crystal x3
3-Star Hero Crystal x1

For completing and mastering all of the Variant quests, you earn:

5-Star Rank 2 → 3 Gem Crystal x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal (2015 Champs Only) x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Rank 4 → 5 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Awakening Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Crystal x1
Tier 5 Basic Catalyst Fragments x27000
6-Star Crystal Shards x2250
5-Star Signature Stone Crystal x48
Gold x2,100,000
Units x360

This Quest will be available starting Wednesday, April 10th at 10 am PST! Remember, this is permanent content, so you can take your time completing this throwback!

Comments

Jack_OHara

Hahahahaha no way

Keep it up Kabam. Legitimately made me laugh.

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Lufaso

Can i do variant 2 if i didn't do 100% in variant 1 ?

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Nabz034

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

IKON

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

A) There's over 200 posts and this has been discussed at length.

its a 2015 quest so we get 2015 gems

C) there are many 2015 champs that are still worthy of being ranked up. The class distinction does present a small problem though.

D) These gems are about and easy way to increase your roster depth. Champs like Ultron aren't worth using t2a to bring up to R4 anymore, but would still be worth a gem.

Nabz034

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

A) There's over 200 posts and this has been discussed at length.

its a 2015 quest so we get 2015 gems

C) there are many 2015 champs that are still worthy of being ranked up. The class distinction does present a small problem though.

D) These gems are about and easy way to increase your roster depth. Champs like Ultron aren't worth using t2a to bring up to R4 anymore, but would still be worth a gem.

Then you can use them since you like them so much...I’m sure 99% of the players would prefer to see more champs to use those gems on...

Especially since for some summoners who finished the first Variant early, they were able to use them on all champs, not just 2015. And these rank ups were never rewinded like the whole T5C fiasco was taken back.

IKON

The glitch with the 2015 Gems on first release is not relevant to the discussion about making the newly released gems 2016.

Eb0ny-O-M4w

So, are we going to get answershere about the nodes poorly worded?
Talking about "Heavy machinery" node indicating it will only interact with "Buffs", and "Supernova" node that does nothing for the Thing

57R34K_the_MERC

I'm not seeing the new back issues. Wasn't it supposed to be released 25 minutes ago?

Edit: nevermind. I'm a day behind...

ian5555

It's interesting to me that there is more outrage over the 2015 rank up gems then the what seems to be requirement to use XL champs. The XL pool really kind of blows and of my 10 6*s, 4 rank 5 5*s and over a dozen rank 4 5*s not one is XL. I'd rather not but might need to rank up Venom, Rulk or Ghulk for this unless I get lucky and pull a Thing in a few weeks when he's added to the basic.

This is worse then no 4*s in act 6 imo. Just hope I don't pull more mutant 2015 gems (x2 so far lol)

Voltolos

It's interesting to me that there is more outrage over the 2015 rank up gems then the what seems to be requirement to use XL champs. The XL pool really kind of blows and of my 10 6*s, 4 rank 5 5*s and over a dozen rank 4 5*s not one is XL. I'd rather not but might need to rank up Venom, Rulk or Ghulk for this unless I get lucky and pull a Thing in a few weeks when he's added to the basic.

This is worse then no 4*s in act 6 imo. Just hope I don't pull more mutant 2015 gems (x2 so far lol)

You dont need to use XL champs. They are just the only champs that are completely immune to glancing in this quest. Other sizes are only immune on specific attacks like specials or heavies

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Evangelionlovr

Is Variant 2 going to be as much of a shameless cash grab as Variant 1? I mean, you all know it's a joke when you have Magik Limbo damage doing 1k per tick and outside of GHulk there's no way to avoid it triggering 3/4 times you push her to a bar of power? Not to mention the starburst and degen paths. Will we have to whale our way through Variant 2.0 also? Why don't you cut out the middle man and just post the Variant rewards for 15k units now?

Voltolos

Is Variant 2 going to be as much of a shameless cash grab as Variant 1? I mean, you all know it's a joke when you have Magik Limbo damage doing 1k per tick and outside of GHulk there's no way to avoid it triggering 3/4 times you push her to a bar of power? Not to mention the starburst and degen paths. Will we have to whale our way through Variant 2.0 also? Why don't you cut out the middle man and just post the Variant rewards for 15k units now?

You can also just use AA and poison her mind

IKON

Didn't spend a dime on variant 1, doubt I'll spend a dime on variant 2.

Not a cash grab, an exercise in patience.

LeNoirFaineant

Is Variant 2 going to be as much of a shameless cash grab as Variant 1? I mean, you all know it's a joke when you have Magik Limbo damage doing 1k per tick and outside of GHulk there's no way to avoid it triggering 3/4 times you push her to a bar of power? Not to mention the starburst and degen paths. Will we have to whale our way through Variant 2.0 also? Why don't you cut out the middle man and just post the Variant rewards for 15k units now?

Variant was the first end game content added in ages. People are looking forward to Variant 2 because they enjoyed Variant 1. I hope they add more shameless cash grabs on which I will spend $0.

V1PER1987

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

its a 2015 quest so we get 2015 gems

That argument might be valid if they only put 2015 defenders in the quest.

unknown

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V1PER1987

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

its a 2015 quest so we get 2015 gems
That argument might be valid if they only put 2015 defenders in the quest.
And 2015 nodes. So this is beginner difficulty?

Just tired of the argument it’s a 2015 quest so you only get 2015 gems.

IKON

It should be 2016 champs this time around...I still have all three of my 2015 R4 rank gems, two mystic and 1 cosmic and without SW, DS, Gamora and Thor not even eligible, it’s not even worth using them on someone else. I’d rather save the gold and ISO....

@Kabam Miike think you can talk to the game team about making it 2016 gems? Almost all of the 2015 champs are still old and most have maybe 5 sentences total in there abilities while the new champs have 5-10 paragraphs.

It’s like giving someone a chance to win a car (2015 R4 Gem) that barely works and won’t help you get from point A to B (Questing) Why would I even put gas in it? (Gold/ISO)

And now the prize is to get three more?

its a 2015 quest so we get 2015 gems
That argument might be valid if they only put 2015 defenders in the quest.
And 2015 nodes. So this is beginner difficulty?
Just tired of the argument it’s a 2015 quest so you only get 2015 gems.

Well it is literally the reason its being done so...

DNA3000

Is Variant 2 going to be as much of a shameless cash grab as Variant 1? I mean, you all know it's a joke when you have Magik Limbo damage doing 1k per tick and outside of GHulk there's no way to avoid it triggering 3/4 times you push her to a bar of power? Not to mention the starburst and degen paths. Will we have to whale our way through Variant 2.0 also? Why don't you cut out the middle man and just post the Variant rewards for 15k units now?

I could whale out and spend my way past Variant, but instead I'm taking it slow, practicing against every fight so that I can do it not only without spending units, but without spending all my potions either. It has been a long time since there was permanent content that I could do that with: that was hard enough that I could practice for weeks without being able to just destroy it, but would actually still be around long enough for me to practice on. The last time I did that, it was against RoL. I do take practice runs on Labyrinth but to be honest a LoL run would take up so much time that I don't currently want to devote to it, and I can't just stick champs in there and take my time because they would be tied up.

Variant is perfect for someone who wants to work their way up without spending. If you want to get better at this game, are willing to practice at it, are willing to accept temporary failure in the process, and have the discipline to not spend, Variant is not a cash grab at all. If you're someone that believes they deserve to complete everything instantly, and if they can't do it without spending then they will just spend past the content and then complain about the fact that they were "forced" to spend past the content, then Variant is probably a thorn in your side. But that's your problem, not the game's problem. Maybe Variant isn't meant for you. Maybe its meant for the players for whom it *isn't* a cash grab. Maybe the fact that you think it is a cash grab is actually a red flag you're supposed to not ignore.

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Urkel2

Yay more content that i dont have the roster to beat..

Evangelionlovr

Is Variant 2 going to be as much of a shameless cash grab as Variant 1? I mean, you all know it's a joke when you have Magik Limbo damage doing 1k per tick and outside of GHulk there's no way to avoid it triggering 3/4 times you push her to a bar of power? Not to mention the starburst and degen paths. Will we have to whale our way through Variant 2.0 also? Why don't you cut out the middle man and just post the Variant rewards for 15k units now?
I could whale out and spend my way past Variant, but instead I'm taking it slow, practicing against every fight so that I can do it not only without spending units, but without spending all my potions either. It has been a long time since there was permanent content that I could do that with: that was hard enough that I could practice for weeks without being able to just destroy it, but would actually still be around long enough for me to practice on. The last time I did that, it was against RoL. I do take practice runs on Labyrinth but to be honest a LoL run would take up so much time that I don't currently want to devote to it, and I can't just stick champs in there and take my time because they would be tied up.

Variant is perfect for someone who wants to work their way up without spending. If you want to get better at this game, are willing to practice at it, are willing to accept temporary failure in the process, and have the discipline to not spend, Variant is not a cash grab at all. If you're someone that believes they deserve to complete everything instantly, and if they can't do it without spending then they will just spend past the content and then complain about the fact that they were "forced" to spend past the content, then Variant is probably a thorn in your side. But that's your problem, not the game's problem. Maybe Variant isn't meant for you. Maybe its meant for the players for whom it *isn't* a cash grab. Maybe the fact that you think it is a cash grab is actually a red flag you're supposed to not ignore.

There are literally parts of Variant which cannot be cleared without A: the correct 2-3 champs or B: dumping pots and revives. I am mostly talking about chapter 3, where the degen, direct damage, power gain, and punishment for buffs (**** you cosmic class) is rampant. Cosmic and Science is by far my best class: R5 Corvus duped, R4 Hype duped, R4 CaIW Duped, 6* Rhulk, R3 Quake, VTW, Wasp, Proxima, 5/50 Void etc. But the fact that I don't have a GHulk means I have to spend. It's just aggravating.

Ronildas

i expect at least 10 korgs for those 2015 gems.

SarcasticTaurus

i expect at least 10 korgs for those 2015 gems.

Korg, Domino, Iron Man IW... all with "force of will"

This way its "fun and interactive"

DroidDoes

Woo hoo, original announcement was goofed! It is in fact the two 5* basics in the rewards, same as last time, one for completion one for exploration 👍

V1PER1987

Looks like there are 2 5* crystals. Most likely just a typo in announcement.

Kabam Miike

And it begins! Remember everybody, Variant is going to be hard! Luckily, you're surrounded by Summoners that are very talented. If you have trouble, don't be afraid to come back here and ask questions. Chances are somebody here would be happy to help you find a solution.