Battle of Asteria Has a Serious Progression and Reward Design Problem

I want to raise an issue with Battle of Asteria because, unless I'm misunderstanding how the event works, its progression system is extremely counterintuitive and may actually punish players for participating.

There are two major problems: individual progression and alliance qualification.

1. Alliance Challenge becomes harder to unlock every event

The Alliance Challenge requires 15 alliance members to complete an individual difficulty before the alliance can participate.

However, individual difficulty progression is saved between events, and previously completed difficulties become unavailable until the seasonal reset.

Here's the problem:

Suppose 10 alliance members complete Difficulty 1 during an event. They contribute toward the 15-member requirement, but the alliance doesn't reach 15, so the Alliance Challenge remains locked.

During the next event, those same 10 players can no longer complete Difficulty 1. They're now progressing through Difficulty 2.

If players must complete a new difficulty to qualify again, those 10 members now face a substantially harder requirement just to contribute toward the same 15-member unlock.

And if they complete Difficulty 2 but the alliance still doesn't reach 15, they'll potentially face Difficulty 3 next time.

In other words, an alliance can repeatedly fail to unlock the cooperative portion of the event while its members make that unlock progressively harder to achieve.

That makes absolutely no sense for a recurring alliance event.

My own experience supports this interpretation:

• I completed Difficulty 1 during a previous event and am currently progressing through Difficulty 2.
• Our Alliance Challenge counter is sitting at just 1/15 on day two.
• When I checked the completion list, I wasn't included.
• The only listed player was someone who had completed Difficulty 1 during this event.

This strongly suggests previous completions don't count and that players must complete another difficulty during each new event to qualify.

If that's how it works, it's a serious design flaw. If it isn't, the game needs to explain the qualification requirements much more clearly.

2. Individual progression prevents players from replaying completed content

The second problem is the inability to replay previously completed difficulties.

The event rules explicitly state that completed progress is saved between occurrences and that completed difficulties are no longer available.

For example, I've reached an Elite encounter that I currently cannot beat. When the next event starts, I'll resume at my saved progress rather than being able to replay the earlier stages.

That removes the opportunity to farm previously completed content for affinity-related currency.

Affinity progression is already a long-term investment, and Battle of Asteria initially looked like a promising way to earn more immortal gifts.

Instead, the event forces players into increasingly difficult content while removing access to content they've already demonstrated they can complete.

The reward description says end-of-event rewards depend on the highest level achieved in the last challenged difficulty. However, it isn't clear whether a saved checkpoint continues to provide its reward in future occurrences without additional progress.

If rewards require new clears, players who hit a difficulty wall may receive little or no recurring benefit until they become significantly stronger.

Even worse, players who advance into a higher difficulty but cannot reach the equivalent reward milestone may receive fewer rewards than they previously earned at the end of the lower difficulty.

3. Elite stages make these progression walls even more significant

Every fifth stage is an Elite encounter and substantially harder than the ordinary stages between them.

This means players can be capable of clearing several regular stages but remain blocked by one Elite encounter, unable to reach the next reward milestone.

The difficulty spikes themselves aren't necessarily the problem. The problem is combining them with permanent progression, restricted replayability, and potentially reduced recurring rewards.

Suggested fixes

1. Make completed difficulties count toward Alliance Challenge qualification every event.

If a player has already completed Difficulty 1, they should qualify for the Difficulty 1 alliance unlock in future events. They shouldn't need to complete Difficulty 2, then Difficulty 3, and so on just to contribute again.

Alternatively, let players replay a previously completed difficulty specifically to qualify for the Alliance Challenge.

2. Allow players to replay completed individual difficulties for recurring rewards.

These could be reduced rewards compared with first-time completion rewards. Players would still have an incentive to progress while retaining a meaningful reason to participate when they reach their current limit.

3. Never reduce recurring rewards simply because a player advances into a harder difficulty.

The highest previously achieved reward tier should serve as a minimum. Advancing should never leave a player worse off.

4. Make alliance qualification requirements explicit.

The game should clearly explain whether qualification requires a new difficulty completion, a new stage completion, or simply participation by someone who has previously completed the required difficulty.

5. Consider preserving alliance qualification progress within a season.

If 10 members qualify during one event, those contributions could carry forward instead of forcing the alliance to start over each occurrence. This would make the event far more accessible to smaller and less active alliances.

Final thoughts

I understand that higher difficulties are supposed to encourage players to strengthen their immortals and improve their formations.

But progression should reward players, not make it progressively harder for them to participate in the same event.

An alliance shouldn't be punished because 14 members completed a difficulty instead of 15. Those 14 players shouldn't potentially face a harder qualification requirement the next time simply because their alliance fell one member short.

And individual players shouldn't lose access to meaningful recurring rewards just because they've reached a difficulty they cannot currently overcome.

Battle of Asteria has the potential to be a great event for affinity progression and alliance cooperation, but the current design appears to work against both goals.

I'd appreciate clarification from the developers on exactly how recurring individual rewards and Alliance Challenge qualification work, and whether changes are planned to address these issues.