Illusion Battlefield, how to improve it!

Illusion Battlefield is an amazing game mode in Infinity Kingdom.

It pins 2 alliances, from different servers, against one another in a one-hour-long battle.

In this article, we will see the good, the bad, and how to improve IB!

(This covers the actual mechanics and what would be a nice addition)

The Good!

Generated Troops

One of the best aspects of IB is the auto-generated troops. Indeed, during IB you are actually not using your own troops. You are able to select the amount of each troop you allocate yourself for the upcoming battles. That amount depends on your training ground capacity.

This allows players to come into IB with a full training ground no matter the situation they are in.

Healing troops

Another great mechanic in IB is the healing cost. It only costs you speedups saving you on a ton of RSS much needed for upgrades.

It also simplifies the whole healing process in the heat of battle.

Player’s relocation / Teleportation

Limiting how a player can move around the map forces each alliance to make a good strategy for their team. It forces everyone to be careful when and where they relocate.

Without this, IB would be a teleportation fest.

The Map and Objectives

Overall, the map is well designed and well split for fairness regardless of the side you start from. The objectives also make the whole battle about a lot more than just killing each other’s troops.

The Bad :/

Registration

It’s normal to have a set of times where each alliance can register. Otherwise, we would end up with a lot of different IB times and worse matchmaking.

However, the registration process needs some improvements. It’s currently extremely binding and even stressful at times.

Having only one day to register, having to re-do it every two weeks, having only R6 able to modify the team, and also locking everyone in the alliance for the whole weekend makes it a tedious process.

Recommendation:

Registration window

I think the IB registration should be open for the whole week prior to IB weekend.

This would allow everyone to double-check if they have been entered and would also give more time in general.

New registration

I think your last IB registration should be by default the team/time for the upcoming IB weekend. R6 could then modify that as needed.

Allowing members to confirm their participation directly in the IB tab could also improve the process.

R6/R5

Like the in-game chat rooms, it would be amazing if R6 could nominate at least 1 R5 to help with the registration process! Small change, amazing value to alliance leaders/officers.

IB Mail survey/poll.

Currently, it’s possible to send in-game alliance surveys/polls.

So using that mechanic, one can title the poll to make an in-game vote on who can/wants to play in the upcoming IB.

The problem here is how complicated it is to then go select the players in the IB tab.

It would make a lot more sense and make things super user-friendly if we could send a survey/poll directly from the IB tab.

The result of that survey could then show an X or a ✔ beside the player’s name when doing the registration!

Lack of Leaderboard/Ranking

IB is here to have fun and battle it out with other alliances from other servers. But in the end, it’s a game mode that lets alliances prove themselves against the best out there.

It’s a game mode made with competition in mind.

But without a leaderboard or a ranking system, it slowly becomes duller and duller weekend after weekend. Alliances don’t really have anything to show for or thrive for.

Without a good ranking, IB will slowly become another event you just play for fun and rewards once every two weeks, nothing more.

The potential is here! The hype is here! Let’s make it happen!

(See the next section on what we need here~)

How to improve IB

IB Multiple teams per alliance!

An alliance can house 150 players, IB only lets 40 players play and 20 subs.

I think each alliance should be able to make 2 different IB teams.

Of course, a player would only be able to play in one of the teams and the matchmaking would separate their ranking.

This would allow for more players to enjoy IB, would also allow each alliance to accommodate more members without having to send them to different alliances.

The naming could be:

(Alliance name)+desired added name.

Or simply

Alliance name1 / Alliance name2

Make a leaderboard/ranking based on performance!

IB currently has a grading system for matchmaking, however, we really need a ranking system as well.

As explained above, without one IB will slowly become dull.

Having a way to measure each alliance will increase the competition tenfold.

How to do one

I would separate each KvK season in a different ranking ladder and simply grade each IB match based on a few aspects.

Win/lose

Pts earned/Pts the enemy earned

Participation rate

IB Store!

IB has been in need of a store for months now.

Winning IB currently rewards you with the same generic rewards.

Also, almost every other cross-server event is added even after IB has had a store from the start (Throne of the Supreme, KvK). Why is IB still without one?

On top of the current reward for participating/winning in IB, each player in the alliance should earn a set of IB Currency, usable in an IB Store.

The Store could have speedups, Philo stone, Skins, and Immortal shards!

Would be even more amazing if it could include IB exclusive content as well.

IB gambling

Just like Throne of the Supreme, it would be fun to have a gambling system for IB.

It would allow each alliance to see how many players are looking at their match.

It could also provide everyone participating some kind of reward.

IB post-match ranking/stats

Showing a few more entries would help see how many players are participating in IB.

Troops healed and/or amount of speedups used.

The number of rallies set and joined.

The number of Garrisons joined.

The number of relocations canceled.

IB Tournament

This is the BEST thing IK can and should currently focus on (with KvK improvements).

We need an IB tournament. This would speed up the growth of so many players, would keep every player involved, would give the community a lot more to look forward to and talk about!

A bit like the Throne, we could use the ranking to select the top 100 alliances then match them into competition brackets. Putting 4 alliances in one bracket, so 25 brackets.

Each alliance plays the other 3 once then the top 2 of each bracket move on to the next stage.

Using a top 50 teams bracket we could then move on to a 1 match elimination tournament!

This would also increase the numbers of IB played, keeping everyone involved in the game. (The tournament matches could be held on every other weekend or take the place of the normal IB weekend match for those still competing in the tournament)

Making the whole game mode 100% more fun and competitive.

To conclude, I think IB is one of the main game modes the Devs need to focus on.

Making it better and into a tournament will also increase the activity rate in general as many players play IK for the competition. Not only the farming time.

Plus, IB is already set in a way that players can participate without a huge cost on their side.

Yet having a tournament would DEFINITELY increase the spending each player/alliance does in their IB match.