Early Look: New Alliance Wars Maps - Discussion Thread

Hey Everybody!

We've got another Early Look for you all! This time, we're introducing brand new Maps for all Tiers of Alliance Wars!

We recently ran a Beta for Alliance Wars that featured a number of different Updates to the Mode, and our Beta Players offered us a wealth of feedback. We’ve parsed the data and feedback that we collected, and want to give you all a glimpse into our plans moving forward.

In our Beta, we updated the map and also introduced a new feature called “Defense Tactics”. The Map update introduced a new layout and new Buffs, while Defense Tactics allowed Alliance Leadership to choose a Global Buff to apply to the Map, which allows for Defenses to be more customizable and setup in a more meaningful way.

The feedback we received was that these two major changes together were quite jarring, and that it was too much all at once. We agree with this sentiment so we have decided to stagger the release of the Map update and the release of Defense Tactics (currently scheduled for Season 11).

Read all about the upcoming map changes in the Early Look here!

Comments

RogerRabs

Flipping heck, too much complaining. Be glad rewards are getting better for season 11.
What would be a good idea is to bring the new maps out a few wars before season 10 starts so everyone can adjust a bit first

Sorry, hard to get excited for an unknown rewards update that’s coming 2 months from now. And that we won’t actually get for 3 months.

GroundedWisdom

Stating there’s not an intended change in difficulty is a fallacy. Introducing a new map with the current nodes/buffs would be an unintended increase in difficulty as alliances would need to adjust for new paths and time allocation. By adding a new map with new nodes is indeed an intended increase in difficulty.

Kabam, please listen to the player base and implement an increase in AW rewards. You could increase individual war rewards and war crystals for season 10, and increase season rewards in season 11.
Agreed.

I am also still wondering why Kabam won't even release their intended increase to war rewards, even if it is just coming in Season 11. I'm sure just seeing what rewards will come in Season 11 will go someway to satisfying the player base.

Historically, they don't announce things like that until close to the release.

hungryhungrybbq

Kabam, please listen to the player base and implement an increase in AW rewards. You could increase individual war rewards and war crystals for season 10, and increase season rewards in season 11.

Great idea.

Ultra8529

Stating there’s not an intended change in difficulty is a fallacy. Introducing a new map with the current nodes/buffs would be an unintended increase in difficulty as alliances would need to adjust for new paths and time allocation. By adding a new map with new nodes is indeed an intended increase in difficulty.

Kabam, please listen to the player base and implement an increase in AW rewards. You could increase individual war rewards and war crystals for season 10, and increase season rewards in season 11.
Agreed.

I am also still wondering why Kabam won't even release their intended increase to war rewards, even if it is just coming in Season 11. I'm sure just seeing what rewards will come in Season 11 will go someway to satisfying the player base.
Historically, they don't announce things like that until close to the release.

Because this is how it was done in the past is rarely a good answer to calls for change, improvement and increased transparency.

Bidzy7

I like the idea of the new map, creates more freedom and should help reduces some of the stress that current AW map creates due to very restrictive options when taking paths and where you can move to from those paths.
However the lack of buff to rewards and yet the increase in difficulty in terms of some of the node combinations etc really gives me no incentive to even play season 10.
In all honesty everyone is better off focusing more on AQ for next season and not even trying very hard for AW.

SiriusBreak

I like the idea of the new map, creates more freedom and should help reduces some of the stress that current AW map creates due to very restrictive options when taking paths and where you can move to from those paths.
However the lack of buff to rewards and yet the increase in difficulty in terms of some of the node combinations etc really gives me no incentive to even play season 10.
In all honesty everyone is better off focusing more on AQ for next season and not even trying very hard for AW.

That is the growing consensus. AQ over AW. AW as it currently stands is slowly becoming less useful. I do agree that the new map offers some interesting possibilities. However, beyond the node difficulty increase, the energy requirements have also been increased. In turn, requiring players to be more invested time wise. More investment should come with a better return. It's as simple as that. As it's ONLY the Map changing, our war rewards for the run at it should increase with it. I get why they'd want to wait until S11 with the release of Defense Tactics to rework the Season rewards though. Meeting us in the middle would be a nice compromise.

GroundedWisdom

Stating there’s not an intended change in difficulty is a fallacy. Introducing a new map with the current nodes/buffs would be an unintended increase in difficulty as alliances would need to adjust for new paths and time allocation. By adding a new map with new nodes is indeed an intended increase in difficulty.

Kabam, please listen to the player base and implement an increase in AW rewards. You could increase individual war rewards and war crystals for season 10, and increase season rewards in season 11.
Agreed.

I am also still wondering why Kabam won't even release their intended increase to war rewards, even if it is just coming in Season 11. I'm sure just seeing what rewards will come in Season 11 will go someway to satisfying the player base.
Historically, they don't announce things like that until close to the release.
Because this is how it was done in the past is rarely a good answer to calls for change, improvement and increased transparency.

I think you're confusing transparency with total disclosure of everything. There's a difference. Transparency is not releasing info prematurely and telling people what they want to know when they want to know it. Lol. That's a Trial.

Ultra8529

Stating there’s not an intended change in difficulty is a fallacy. Introducing a new map with the current nodes/buffs would be an unintended increase in difficulty as alliances would need to adjust for new paths and time allocation. By adding a new map with new nodes is indeed an intended increase in difficulty.

Kabam, please listen to the player base and implement an increase in AW rewards. You could increase individual war rewards and war crystals for season 10, and increase season rewards in season 11.
Agreed.

I am also still wondering why Kabam won't even release their intended increase to war rewards, even if it is just coming in Season 11. I'm sure just seeing what rewards will come in Season 11 will go someway to satisfying the player base.
Historically, they don't announce things like that until close to the release.
Because this is how it was done in the past is rarely a good answer to calls for change, improvement and increased transparency.
I think you're confusing transparency with total disclosure of everything. There's a difference. Transparency is not releasing info prematurely and telling people what they want to know when they want to know it. Lol. That's a Trial.

Transparency is knowing what people want to know and then disclosing that.

Disclosing half the information while retaining the actually important other half is just pointless.

Sadal

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.

Sadal

And now all top tier alliances have an advantage over everyone else, which you posted you didn't want in the original post

Kabam Miike

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.

That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.

Sadal

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.
That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.

Actually we hit teir 3 every season and face platinum 1 and 2 alliances regularly and weren't invited, so another lie. Also your post said "new map" not "new map mechanic" or anything about defense tactics which were posted almost a year ago and everyone got to participate in... the only new thin was the map layout... this response is you covering yourselves which it doesn't one bit

Sadal

My alliance is a top 700 alliance war rated and top 100 alliance rating and has been since season 2

Kabam Miike

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.
That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.
Actually we hit teir 3 every season and face platinum 1 and 2 alliances regularly and weren't invited, so another lie. Also your post said "new map" not "new map mechanic" or anything about defense tactics which were posted almost a year ago and everyone got to participate in... the only new thin was the map layout... this response is you covering yourselves which it doesn't one bit

We did have to pull the list of Alliances at a given time, which would mean that Alliances bounce in and out of the top may not have made it in. We will have an Off Season for Alliances to practice as well before the Season Starts, but I get where you're coming from.

Sadal

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.
That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.
Actually we hit teir 3 every season and face platinum 1 and 2 alliances regularly and weren't invited, so another lie. Also your post said "new map" not "new map mechanic" or anything about defense tactics which were posted almost a year ago and everyone got to participate in... the only new thin was the map layout... this response is you covering yourselves which it doesn't one bit
We did have to pull the list of Alliances at a given time, which would mean that Alliances bounce in and out of the top may not have made it in. We will have an Off Season for Alliances to practice as well before the Season Starts, but I get where you're coming from.

We have never dropped below the top 800 since season 2.... so that logic doesn't hold up

Greywarden

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.
That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.

Seems like this season the only thing matching alliances against each other is prestige and nothing else. Quick responses here but how about the other threads where everyone is questioning how wars are being matched in the first place.

9 seasons in and it still isn’t right. Instead of focusing on making the map more difficult you should really take a look at match making. My group has faced all REAL top 10 masters alliance this season solely because we’re a top 20 aq alliance yet there are other alliances in tier 1 with low prestige facing gold opponents but they’re getting master rewards.

Care to respond before I eventually get banned?

unknown

This content has been removed.

Ultra8529

This is such [REMOVED PROFANITY] @Kabam Miike nice transparency.... you posted a beta saying only top 800 alliances can beta test this because these changes will only affect teir 1 to 3 alliance maps... now its everyone after the beta?!? That's not transparent at all.. it's a straight up lie.
That Beta is for Defence Tactics, which is what will only affect High Tier Alliances. The Map update was part of that, but is not what we were testing. Alliance Wars are matched based on a number of factors, and unless you are facing a top Alliance (in which case, your Alliance would have been part of the Beta), neither side has an advantage.
Seems like this season the only thing matching alliances against each other is prestige and nothing else. Quick responses here but how about the other threads where everyone is questioning how wars are being matched in the first place.

9 seasons in and it still isn’t right. Instead of focusing on making the map more difficult you should really take a look at match making. My group has faced all REAL top 10 masters alliance this season solely because we’re a top 20 aq alliance yet there are other alliances in tier 1 with low prestige facing gold opponents but they’re getting master rewards.

Care to respond before I eventually get banned?

it is really worrying to me how the game team is handling this.

Greywarden

anything? guess this will just go the route of any other thread 1000's of people want answers on...

Cat_Murdock

I see a lot of talk about difficulty and rewards, but my biggest concern looking at the map is how the paths and nodes are set up. It looks like nine people need to join and move all right at the beginning to finish the first section together, before the whole group is able to proceed. This is seems like it's very inflexible with having people in different time zones or specific schedules. As the map is now, you can send people down paths like 1, 7, 9 etc and they will be able to finish the path pretty unencumbered by waiting for other people. You can stagger people in, get the middle sections done later perhaps if need be. Someone can't get in til a long time later? Great send them down 5.

But with this new linked system, everyone needs to move together at the same time if you want to go at a good pace. Each three path pod needs to complete for their mini, then all three of those minis need to be down to get the next set of minis. If you're Ina very organized, very active alliance maybe that won't be a problem for you. But if you're in an Alliance that needs to balance multiple time zones or work around specific schedules (which many many groups do) it looks to me like this is going to be a problem.

@Kabam Miike @Kabam Lyra

Arknight

Kabam, are you removing defender remaining points in this new map.
It’s not fair when some weak alliances or the alliances who doesn’t want to win war, leaves a ton of nodes for their opponents resulting in an advantage to some alliances. There have been many instances where some top alliances tank during offseason so they can get a weak matchup during Aw season which results a ton of defender remaining points. If you look into your data you will find a lot of alliances are doing this and getting a benefit from it and you have done absolutely nothing to stop this cheating.

Ezekiel2014

Recently spent units and boosts to get my War victory crystal so I could pull a 3star arena boost. Totally worth it!

LeNoirFaineant

Did they announce how long the offseason will be. Hopefully we have time to get used to the new map.

Kabam Miike

Did they announce how long the offseason will be. Hopefully we have time to get used to the new map.

Announcement coming tomorrow.

Arknight

Mike, can you reply to my message above ? I am sure you have read it

DanielYork

The rewards for AW were already not worth the effort, it’s why so many alliances are shifting to an AQ focus. This will only divide that further.

SiriusBreak

The rewards for AW were already not worth the effort, it’s why so many alliances are shifting to an AQ focus. This will only divide that further.

Exactly. No increase to the rewards in AW will only further decrease the desire to play it competitively for most. To maintain the balance, an update/boost is NECESSARY at this point. Long overdue as it is, let alone having a new Map being introduced. I still say, up just the war rewards, and save the Season boost for the introduction of Defense Tactics. However, seeing as how Defense Tactics is only for T5+ why make the rest wait? Whole of it just makes no sense in my eyes.

unknown

This content has been removed.

LeNoirFaineant

So we have an extra week of offseason in order to allow time to get used to the new map, but the first week is the old map... That doesn't make a lot of sense. It's the normal two weeks with the new map and an extra week of the old map thrown in. Why run the old map at all?

Patchie93

Cause they have to wait for the update for the new map. And many alliances who run map 6 AQ need wars for the loyalty to help afford it