Summoners!

If you’re a new player to the game, you may be wondering about all the different game modes available, particularly the alliance-based modes. In this post, we look at the purpose of Alliance Quest and how it can help you progress your account.

What is Alliance Quest?
Alliance Quest (AQ) is one of two competitive modes in Marvel Contest of Champions that alliances compete in (the other being Alliance War). In Alliance Quest, the 30 members of the alliance are divided into 3 battlegroups of 10 each, and each battlegroup works to clear the selected map to accumulate points and rewards that are shared by the alliance.

The main reason to play Alliance Quest is to progress your account by earning the numerous rank-up materials available as rewards.

What is the Play Cycle?
Alliance Quest runs on an 8-day cycle, 5 days of the AQ series followed by 3 days off. Once your alliance selects the maps you would like to play, you have 24 hours to complete the maps before the AQ day expires. At this point can you start a new set of maps. At the end of each 5-day series, Peak Milestone and Rank Rewards are distributed. All progress is then reset and every alliance starts at zero on Day 1 of the next series.

What are the different maps?
There are 7 different maps available, with Map 1 being the easiest and Map 7 being the hardest. Each map has its own set of nodes, mini bosses and a final boss. The higher level maps contain more difficult fights and require more alliance coordination, but also offer significantly better rewards.

Here are some of the key differences regarding the maps:
– Maps 1-2 do not lock your champs from questing content.
– Maps 1-4 are free to run.
– Map 5 costs Gold and Loyalty, while Maps 6 & 7 cost Gold, Battlechips and Loyalty to run. This requires your alliance to donate to the treasure to cover these map costs.

What Map Should I Play?
Maps 1-4 are for casual and beginning players who either do not have the rosters and experience yet for Maps 5-7, do not want to grind out donations, or are not looking for a more competitive experience.

Map 5 players tend to be serious players who are looking to progress their accounts and are in need of T4cc for rank-ups. Map 5 is also popular with players tired of the Map 6/7 grind but who still want decent AQ rewards. Map 5 is the last map that has backup available in every tier of the map, making it is a bit more forgiving than Map 6 and Map 7, and is the last map that can be run without set lane assignments.

Map 6 is where the difficultly and coordination really ramps up. Map 6 takes the longest of any of the AQ Maps to complete, and requires lane assignments, coordination and communication. There are some specific champion requirements, but it is not as intense as Map 7.

Map 7 can actually be completed in less time that Map 6, but it requires specific champion counters and strategies to complete effectively. Map 7 has some of the most difficult nodes in the game, and there is a responsibility for both officers and players to be coordinated and read nodes in order to successfully clear the Map.

How Does Scoring Work?
Every time you take health from an opponent in AQ, you earn points for your alliance. The more difficult the fight, the more points you score for your alliance. The points earned by every individual in the alliance accumulates over the course of the 5-day series for a final alliance score.

Why is Prestige Important?
Prestige is important because it determines the difficulty of the fights on the map. The higher your alliance’s prestige, the more difficult the fights and the more points your alliance can score.

Every alliance starts day one of the AQ series at their base prestige. This is simply the prestige of every member of the alliance averaged together. On the following days, the alliance’s AQ prestige will increase or decrease depending on whether or not the Alliance killed the final boss on each of the maps.

Because prestige directly impacts rewards available to alliances, many alliances have a minimum prestige needed to gain entry to the alliance.

What are the Rewards?
There are several different types of rewards available when playing Alliance Quest.

Map Rewards are earned daily. These are divided into Conquer Rewards, which are earned for defeating the final boss, and completion/exploration rewards earned for 100% completion of the map. These rewards and the contents of the map crystals differ based on the maps your alliance runs.

Note that while each Battlegroup has the option to run the map of its choosing, every member of the alliance shares in the rewards. For example, if BG1 runs Map 7, BG2 runs Map 6, and BG3 runs Map 5, and all three groups 100% their maps, every player in the alliance would receive 1 Map 7, 1 Map 6, and 1 Map 5 crystal, along with the completion/exploration rewards for each map. If your alliance runs the same map for all three battlegroups, and all three groups 100%, you’ll earn 3x the Map rewards that day. Map rewards are given out daily following the completion of each AQ day in the series.

Peak Milestones are given out following the conclusion of the AQ series. Much like the rank rewards in arena, you earn them by hitting the required score. Unlike arena though you do not earn them as you go, you simply get the highest level of Peak Milestone your alliance achieves during the AQ series. The Peak Milestone rewards glory (an in-game currency used to buy alliance potions and rank-up materials), and more Map crystals. The higher the milestone you hit, the better the map crystals and the more glory you receive.

The final reward for the week are the Rank Rewards. Every alliance participating in the AQ series is ranked by total points scored, and rewards are then issued several hours after the AQ series ends. These rewards escalate as scores increase, and at the top end include T5b, T2a, T4b, T4cc, and glory.

You must stay in your alliance for the entire 5 day series to be eligible for Peak Milestone and Rank Rewards.

What is expected of the player in Alliance Quest?
– Join the correct Battlegroup.
– If lanes are assigned, run your paths and bring the correct champions needed.
– If lanes are not assigned, bring at least one champion with multiple immunities, and do not double a path until all paths have been taken.
– Login and move in a timely fashion.
– Notify an alliance mate if you clear a linked node.
– Contribute to defeating the mini/bosses.
– Read all nodes and scout your paths.
– Ask all questions before you join the map for the day and begin to fight.
– Donate in a timely fashion.

What is expected of the officers in Alliance Quest?
– Assign lanes that match the roster/experience/availability of each member of the battlegroup. Put everyone in a position to succeed.
– Integrate new members of the battlegroup.
– Foster an atmosphere of teamwork and positive communication.
– Track donations to ensure fairness.
– Offer advice on lanes, difficult fights and champion selection.
– Keep the team moving.
– Provide consistent communication regarding alliance goals and expectations.
– Praise in public, address any issues privately.

What are Alliance Quest Modifiers?
AQ Modifiers were recently Beta-tested but are not currently live in the game. Once they do go live, alliances will be able to activate additional nodes on the defenders to make the fights more difficult and in turn access a separate track of additional AQ rewards.

-Dano357