MARVEL Puzzle Quest: Alliance vs Alliance
Having been in the works for quite some time alongside our other developments for MARVEL Puzzle Quest, our newest and biggest feature, Alliance vs Alliance, is finally ready for the spotlight! Today, we’re diving into its mechanics and everything you need to know as we march toward its planned October release.
We’ll start by giving you a quick overview of what AvA is, our design aspirations, and then give you a full breakdown of the AvA system.
Alliance vs Alliance Overview
Alliance vs Alliance is a new competitive mode where Alliances go head-to-head over Domains during 6-week Operations, working together to defend their own Fronts while attacking and capturing those held by their opponents in Offensives. AvA is built around strategy, coordination, and how your Alliance uses its collective roster in both offense and defense.
Over the course of an Operation, Alliances will face multiple opponents and shifting territorial control as players climb the leaderboards to earn individual and Alliance rewards.
Now that you’ve got a high level overview, let’s talk a little bit about its game design and what players can expect from the new feature.
We’ll go into all the details of AvA in the Walkthrough below, but this is AvA in a nutshell:
- AvA is played as a 6-week Operation
- During an Operation, Alliances face off in Offensives (matches) where they attempt to take over a Domain by taking control of Fronts
- An Offensive is a series of Engagements (rounds) where players assign characters to defend their Fronts, while their opponents attempt to attack and take them
- There are both individual rewards and an Alliance leaderboard
- The top placed Alliance at the end of the Operation chooses an Operational Condition (a buff or restriction) for the next Operation as part of their rewards
Game Design
Alliance vs Alliance was built around the idea of giving Alliances a more meaningful way to play together, compete, and strategize beyond the existing MPQ experience. With that foundation in mind, we wanted to take a moment to explain some of the thinking behind the feature before getting into the full system breakdown.
Why AvA?
Some kind of Alliance vs Alliance feature has been requested and mulled over for a while in MPQ, and we felt that a true communal feature was really missing from the game. Combine that with a need in MPQ for new content and things to do, AvA made the most sense to us as the focus for a new feature.
What are our design intentions with AvA?
We want to give more space for a new type of combat strategy around team composition with wave-based PVP battles that requires strategic thinking and coordination in both offensive and defensive roles.
Another key goal is to change the dynamics of the game’s meta by removing the concept of time slices, not having rewards attached to speed, and giving players agency into how they want to play.
AvA should also have a very distinct and more dynamic feeling, with the winning Alliance getting to shape the next Operation with their own choice of Conditions.
Even though this system is aimed more generally at mid-to-late game players, we wanted to leave it open with enough space for just about any player at any level to engage, no matter the star level they’re able to contribute at.
What do we want to see come out of AvA?
Ultimately, we would love to see more community engagement and coordination between members of an Alliance to strategize taking on other Alliances. The goal is to create a space for friendly competition with a leaderboard and competition for top spots that doesn’t prioritize speed.
Walkthrough
Note: There are some numbers or finer details of AvA that may change between now and release based on testing and feedback, but this is the system as it stands now, and we don’t expect the broad strokes to change.
Operations
At the core of an AvA event are Operations, the six-week competitive cycles where all AvA activity takes place. Throughout an Operation, Alliances are matched against one another across a series of Offensives, competing for territory, earning points, and climbing the Alliance leaderboard before the Operation comes to a close.
Operations run for 6-weeks broken into:
- A 24-hour initial opt-in phase for Alliance Commanders
- 8 Offensives (rounds) where Alliances are paired against each other
- A 36-hour Blessing Phase where the winning Alliance chooses the Operational Condition for the next Operation
- A 36-hour Cooldown Phase
Joining/Leaving an Operation
Alliances of 10+ players may join an Operation in the opt-in phase. Alliances may join mid Operation and will be included in the following Offensives, but will lose out on any prior scoring opportunities from previous Offensives.
Commanders may opt-out of an Operation at any time and they will not be matched in the next Offensive. As well, Alliances that have opted-in but took no actions at all will be opted out automatically.
Offensives
An Offensive is a round where one Alliance is matched against another to take control of a Domain. Each offensive is broken into a short matchmaking phase followed by 3 battle phases where players battle over each of the Fronts in the Domain.
An Offensive is won by whichever Alliance controls the most Fronts at the end of the Offensive.
Each Offensive is broken into:
- A 2-hour matchmaking lock-in phase
- 3 matches played out as:
- A 12-hour Mobilisation Phase where defenders are placed at Objectives to protect Fronts
- A 24-hour Engagement Phase where each Alliance attacks the opponent’s Objectives
Battle for Territory
Domain
AvA is a battle for territory within a Domain, with each representing an area where two Alliances compete for control across 11 areas called Fronts.
The simple breakdown of a Domain is a chunk of a map that contains Fronts. Inside the Fronts are Objectives where the battles actually take place.
Fronts
Each Domain has 11 Fronts that correspond to different rarities. These represent the maximum rarity character that can attack or defend the Objectives inside that Front. At the beginning of each Offensive, each Alliance begins with control of 5 Fronts each with an 11th Front that unlocks later on in an Engagement.
A Front has been captured when all 5 of its Objectives have been taken, at which time the attacking team may immediately start placing defenders if they win an Objective.
- Each Domain has 11 Fronts that correspond to rarities:
- 4x 1→2 Star Fronts
- 2x 3 Star Fronts
- 2x 4 Star Fronts
- 2x 5 Star Fronts
- 1x 6-Star Front
Objectives
Objectives are the 5 individual pins contained inside each Front to be defended or attacked.
- They can have up to 9 characters placed to defend them during the Mobilisation Phase
- An Objective has fallen when all defending characters have been downed by the Attacking team
Mobilisation Phase
During the Mobilisation Phase, Alliances assign up to 9 characters to defend each Objective in preparation for the wave-based battles their opponents will face during the Engagement Phase.
- Characters are placed to defend Objectives during the Mobilisation Phase or once control of the Front has changed
- Defending characters cannot be altered or healed outside of these times
Resolve
Resolve determines how many different Objectives a character can be assigned to defend during an Offensive. A character with no Resolve remaining can’t be placed on another Objective until it resets at the end of the Offensive.
- Each character has an amount of Resolve that can be spent to place them as Defenders on Objectives
- Example: If a character has a total of 3 Resolve, they can be sent out to defend 3 different Objectives
Engagement Phase
During the Engagement Phase, Alliances attack opposing Objectives, battling through the defending characters placed during Mobilisation in an effort to capture Fronts and gain control of the Domain.
- Anyone from the Attacking Alliance may enter and attempt to take an Objective
- All other players in the Alliances are locked out of the Objective until the Attacking player either takes the Objective or is defeated in the attempt
- Objectives will also be unlocked if a player has not either won or been defeated in a battle they have started within 30 minutes
Morale
Morale determines how many battles a player can start during the Engagement Phase. Each battle uses one Morale, which gradually restores over time up to a maximum of three.
- Each player in an Alliance has Morale that is spent each time they start a Battle to attempt to take an Objective
- Each player begins an AvA Operation with 3
- Morale is restored at a rate of 1 Morale every 12 hours to a maximum cap of 3
Scoring
Points in AvA are earned at 3 different times: at the end of Combat, Engagement, and Offensive.
Combat Scoring
Alliances receive points at the end of every Battle whether the attacking player has lost or won.
- Attacking Alliance receives:
- 100pts for each 1% of the total combined health of all characters defending an Objective taken
Engagement Scoring
At the end of each 24hr Engagement, Alliances receive points for:
- Fronts controlled
- Total remaining Morale across all players in the Alliance
- 250pts per Defending character remaining on Objectives
- 1000pts per Objective controlled by the Alliance
- 5000pts per Front controlled by your Alliance
See Appendix below for a full breakdown of points.
Offensive Scoring
At the end of each Offensive, the Alliance controlling the most Fronts receives 100,000pts.
Minimum Interaction Threshold
For an Alliance to receive points or receive an Elo ranking, they need a minimum of 20 actions, consisting of assigning defenders and attacking Objectives. An Alliance that has met this threshold will be listed in green on the Leaderboards.
Alliance Leaderboards
A live leaderboard is maintained throughout the entire Operation with running scores all the way until the end of the Operation. Alliances are separated into Tiers.
Rewards
Personal rewards are received at the end of each Engagement, with Alliance rewards at the end of each Operation based on Alliance Leaderboard placement.
See Appendix below for a breakdown of rewards.
Operational Conditions
At the end of an Operation, the top-ranked Alliance earns the right to select an Operational Condition, which will apply to all AvA matches for the duration of the next Operation.
Operational Conditions are chosen by Alliance Commanders on behalf of the top ranked Alliance. Commanders will select:
- One of 3 random Affiliations from a list
- One of 3 random mechanical conditions
Example:
The top ranked Alliance could choose an Affiliation from:
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Mutant
- Dark Avengers
And a mechanical condition from:
- Each match creates a locked tile
- Immune to Stun
- Cannot be sent away
The Alliance chooses:
Mutants are Immune to Stun
Matchmaking
Elo Rating
AvA uses a typical Elo Rating system for matchmaking. Elo is a numerical rating system used to represent an Alliance’s competitive standing and help match Alliances against opponents of similar levels.
- At the beginning of the very first AvA Operation, each Alliance entering AvA will begin with a rating of 1500
- Any Alliance entering AvA for the first time after this point is given an Elo rating based on the average of other Alliances of similar power
- Elo is only received once an Alliance has met the Minimum Interaction Threshold for the first time in an Operation
Player AvA Beta
To help make sure AvA launches as solidly as possible, we’ll be running a Closed Beta ahead of its full release.
AvA gives us the opportunity to build and stress-test things we’ve been working on for running Betas in general, so we hope that it will be the beginning of something we can use as an ongoing Beta program for MPQ’s updates and content releases moving forward.
As such, this initial AvA Beta will be a closed Beta, and relatively limited in terms of player numbers, so we can make sure the infrastructure holds up, and we can maintain the Beta focus on the single feature.
We will have more details about a wider Beta program in future.
FAQ
Note: We will continue to add to this FAQ section.
Will there be time slices in AvA?
No. AvA will not use time slices.
Are Alliances opted-in by default?
No. Alliance Commanders must actively opt-in to an Operation.
What if someone leaves an Alliance?
If a player leaves an Alliance, they will not receive Engagement Rewards or Operation Rewards.
If they assigned characters to defense, those characters will remain in those spots but can be removed as normal by Alliance Commanders.
What if someone joins an Alliance after an AvA Operation has started?
If they join during the Opt-In Phase, they will be able to play as normal.
If they join while an Offensive is already in progress, they will not be able to play until the next Offensive begins.
Appendix
Front Scoring
At the end of each Engagement, Alliances receive points based on the number of Fronts they control.
- 1 Front: 10,000
- 2 Fronts: 15,000
- 3 Fronts: 23,000
- 4 Fronts: 35,000
- 5 Fronts: 44,000
- 6 Fronts: 55,000
- 7 Fronts: 69,000
- 8 Fronts: 83,000
- 9 Fronts: 91,000
- 10 Fronts: 96,000
- 11 Fronts: 101,000
Remaining Morale Scoring
Alliances also receive points at the end of an Engagement based on the total Morale remaining across all Alliance members.
Morale 1–10
- 1 — 1,000
- 2 — 1,300
- 3 — 1,690
- 4 — 2,200
- 5 — 2,860
- 6 — 3,720
- 7 — 4,840
- 8 — 6,290
- 9 — 8,180
- 10 — 10,600
Morale 11–20
- 11 — 11,870
- 12 — 13,290
- 13 — 14,880
- 14 — 16,670
- 15 — 18,670
- 16 — 20,910
- 17 — 23,420
- 18 — 26,230
- 19 — 29,380
- 20 — 32,910
Morale 21–30
- 21 — 34,230
- 22 — 35,600
- 23 — 37,020
- 24 — 38,500
- 25 — 40,040
- 26 — 41,640
- 27 — 43,310
- 28 — 45,040
- 29 — 46,840
- 30 — 48,710
Morale 31–40
- 31 — 50,660
- 32 — 52,180
- 33 — 53,750
- 34 — 55,360
- 35 — 57,020
- 36 — 58,730
- 37 — 60,490
- 38 — 62,300
- 39 — 64,170
- 40 — 66,100
Morale 41–50
- 41 — 67,420
- 42 — 67,420
- 43 — 68,770
- 44 — 71,550
- 45 — 72,980
- 46 — 74,440
- 47 — 75,930
- 48 — 77,450
- 49 — 79,000
- 50 — 80,580
Morale 51–60
- 51 — 82,190
- 52 — 83,830
- 53 — 85,510
- 54 — 87,220
- 55 — 88,960
- 56 — 90,740
- 57 — 92,550
- 58 — 94,400
- 59 — 96,290
- 60 — 98,220
Alliance Reward Tiers
Alliance leaderboard placement at the end of an Operation determines the Alliance Reward Tier.
- Rank 1: Tier 1
- Ranks 2–10: Tier 2
- Ranks 11–50: Tier 3
- Ranks 51–100: Tier 4
- Ranks 101–200: Tier 5
- Ranks 201–500: Tier 6
- Ranks 501–1,000: Tier 7
- Ranks 1,001–2,000: Tier 8
- Ranks 2,001–5,000: Tier 9
- Ranks 5,001–10,000: Tier 10
- Ranks 10,001+: Tier 11
Personal Rewards (Per Engagement)
Personal rewards are earned at the end of each Engagement based on Morale used, Resolve used, and the Fronts controlled by your Alliance.
Morale Used
- 3–5: 6,000 ISO-8
- 6–10: 10,000 ISO-8
- 11+: 15,000 ISO-8
Resolve Used
- 3–5: 6,000 Red ISO-8
- 6–10: 10,000 Red ISO-8
- 11+: 15,000 Red ISO-8
Fronts Controlled
- 1★ / 2★: 1 Elite Token
- 3★: 20 Favorite 3★ Shards
- 4★: 15 Favorite 4★ Shards
- 5★: 10 Favorite 5★ Shards
- 6★: 20 Random 6★ Shards
Alliance Rewards (Per Operation)
At the end of each Operation, players receive rewards based on their Alliance’s final Reward Tier.
Tier 1
- Choice of Operational Condition
- Winner’s Costume
- 1-Star Infinity Stone of the season in which the AvA season began
- 500 Random 6-Star Shards
- 10 Random 5-Star Covers
- 10 Random 4-Star Covers
- 20 CP
- 100,000 ISO-8
- 100,000 Red ISO-8
- 1 Roster Slot Token
Tier 2
- 500 Random 6-Star Shards
- 10 Random 5-Star Covers
- 10 Random 4-Star Covers
- 20 CP
- 100,000 ISO-8
- 100,000 Red ISO-8
- 1 Roster Slot Token
Tier 3
- 10 Random 5-Star Covers
- 10 Random 4-Star Covers
- 20 CP
- 100,000 ISO-8
- 100,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 4
- 5 Random 5-Star Covers
- 5 Random 4-Star Covers
- 10 CP
- 50,000 ISO-8
- 50,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 5
- 3 Random 5-Star Covers
- 3 Random 4-Star Covers
- 10 CP
- 50,000 ISO-8
- 50,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 6
- 3 Random 4-Star Covers
- 5 CP
- 25,000 ISO-8
- 25,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 7
- 3 Random 4-Star Covers
- 2 CP
- 20,000 ISO-8
- 20,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 8
- 5 Random 3-Star Covers
- 1 CP
- 10,000 ISO-8
- 10,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 9
- 3 Random 3-Star Covers
- 1 CP
- 10,000 ISO-8
- 10,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 10
- 5 Random 2-Star Covers
- 5 Random 1-Star Covers
- 10,000 ISO-8
- 10,000 Red ISO-8
Tier 11
- 5 Random 1-Star Covers
- 10,000 ISO-8
- 10,000 Red ISO-8