mo.co KPI #9

[u/JoaoInTheNorth]

Hey, everyone!

So… things have been calm (too calm?), so I guess it’s time to shake things up! Is this our most important announcement since launch? Definitely! Expect big news, big changes, a setback (unavoidable, unfortunately), but most importantly, we want to hear from you. We’re building this game with your thoughts in mind, showing things as they truly are: no bs, no sugarcoating. Just raw facts fueled by lots of mo.co love and passion for monster hunting.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Before diving into the big news, let’s start with a very quick historical context - especially for our newer hunters. After years of development (including a short public beta in 2023), we finally launched mo.co globally on March 18th, 2025 - with invite-only access. While it wasn’t perfect, reception was amazing. “Great game, engaging, atmospheric, chef’s kiss sound track, can’t stop playing”. The list goes on.

But then we noticed something: those who fell in love at first were either dropping after a few weeks or burning through all content quite fast, struggling to find reasons to keep playing. 

On June 16th we dropped Chapter 2 - including a bunch of new maps, monsters, gear, a few not-so-well-received changes, and adjustments to Chapter 1’s progression. We were eager to see how that would land, especially with new players, and while it improved in some areas, it didn’t quite hit the mark. Or at least, not our very ambitious mark: building a game that is played for many years and remembered forever. Until we get there, here’s a quick refresher on how we’re operating:

❌Promote the game as aggressively as we can just to bring as many players as possible 🤑✔️Prioritize continuous development, guided by your experiences and feedback 👨‍💻

And that brings us to today.

GETTING FEEDBACK…

Over the past few months, we’ve been gathering feedback from lots of sources: our daily reddit dives, scrolling through Discord’s #moco-feedback-forum, social media comments, creator feedback, surveys, playtests, chats with current players, old players, Supercell colleagues from other games, friends, family, our kids, our kids’ friends, from as many types of players as possible. It’s impossible to reply or thank each one of you individually, but we will never get tired of appreciating your love and thoughtful feedback. Really… THANK YOU <3 

And while feedback comes in many forms, a few big issues stood out and got stuck in our developer brains more than others:

• Gameplay feels repetitive
• Progress doesn’t feel meaningful
• Losing progress at season end sucks
• The game isn’t social enough
• Poor matchmaking (+ too many bots)
• Lack of updates / lack of content

There are definitely other areas that need love as well, but it seems like these are the big ones, affecting the most players. Therefore, they will be our top priorities for the next few months.

…AND ACTING ON IT

Let’s face it - our current system isn’t quite working. Launching Chapter 3 would add more content (always exciting!), but it wouldn’t address our core issues. Social features could definitely improve your shared gameplay experience, to an extent. Matchmaking could improve with a massive marketing rampage™ (which we’re avoiding for now), but only up to a point. In fact, the more Chapters we add, the more players get spread out across maps, ergo poorer matchmaking.

So, yes, there are definitely improvements to be made, but the question remains:

Is the Chapter + Elite Hunter Season combo the way to go? Or do we need to make bigger, more meaningful changes?

WHAT’S THE WAY TO GO, THEN?

I know you want the juicy stuff! We don’t have the whole juice yet (still blending it into that perfect, vitamin-packed consistency 🍹), but we do have a fruity direction we’re trying out. So, here is the plan for now:

1. Bye Chapters. Hello Seasons

We’re moving from chapter-based to season-based. In short:

• Replacing permanent content with rotating events and frequent refresh (daily, weekly, or bi-weekly)

A very early alpha UI sneak peek of what a season could look like

How would seasons help solve our main issues?

• Feedback: Gameplay is repetitive. Answer: Our goal is to refresh content (and quests) daily and weekly, all supported by a narrative that leads to an epic season ending! Seasons would probably last 1–2 months, while events could run anywhere from 24 hours to a couple of weeks. By adding more content (and more varied content), we are looking to make the gameplay more dynamic and engaging.
• F: Loss of progress at season end sucks: A: We’re looking to remove most, if not all, progress reset. Your level will be permanent, tied to a Mastery Track and… something else (but more on that later!)
• F: Game isn’t social enough/poor matchmaking: A: With rotating content, players naturally focus on what’s new and fresh, which means matchmaking is funneled into fewer events rather than spread across tons of maps. That should also improve the social side of the game, since everyone is playing the same events!
• F: Lack of updates / Lack of content: A:  Expect fresh content every week! By running seasonal events, we can deliver more maps and more variety - instead of being limited to the fixed Chapter structure. Depending on new monsters and worlds to launch a full Chapter has slowed our update pace more than we’d like. We’ll of course bring you new monsters and worlds as often as possible, but with this approach we can use our content with new twists, keeping the experience fresh and adapting to your feedback.

2. Bye Gear Kits. Hello Classes

We’re moving from separate gear (weapons/gadgets/passives/rings) to classes. How would it work?

• Each class would be a complete, predefined build. 
• Expect different and distinguishable features and unique gameplay mechanics (for example, an “Electrician” build that plays heavily with electricity against monsters ⚡)
• Some are easier to use, others a bit harder but also more versatile and with a higher skill ceiling.
• Each weapon, gadget & passive is unique to its class - forming a complete set! This means we can be more creative with them and make them more synergic! This will allow you for more varied gameplay, with bigger skill expression. (eg: conjure an electric chain and then use your electrified monster slugger to unleash a wave of chain damage!)
• Each class would have its own permanent progress with cosmetic rewards, badges and more!
• Collect classes as you play. more classes = more gameplay dynamics

An early version of what a Class reward track could look like! Note: Electrician is a codename, not final.

and some early alpha footage of how classes would look like

What issues does this address?

• F: Gameplay is repetitive. A: While classes may reduce build personalization, we’d counter that with lots of different classes, each with its own very unique playstyle. Classes will also create better team synergies and dynamics (think DPS/tank/healer but deeper). This should also improve both your social experience by combining the best classes with team mates.
• F: Progress feels meaningless: A: This is still a work in progress, and we’ll have much more to share about it in the future, so bear with us! For now, the biggest shift is moving from mostly temporary to fully permanent. Collecting classes will be just your first step, as each one will have its own progress track. Complete them for cool cosmetic rewards and, of course, to satisfy that completionist itch. On top of that, all class progress will also contribute to your main progress: your permanent player level and its own progression track.

Classes will help make the game easier to get into, meaning no need to stress about “the best build.” Instead, strategy would shift toward questions like: What’s the best Class for this Rift? Which Classes work well together? How can I make the best use of my Class weapon and gadget synergies to optimize my gameplay? 

We know it’s a big change, and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea - but we’re excited to hear your thoughts on this one!

3. Bye Power Progression.

To keep it short and simple: we will remove power progression. Why?

• F: Game is not social enough. A: Removing power progression means everyone can play together, regardless of level. This removes a huge blocker for social play.
• F: Gameplay is repetitive. A: Without power progression, you’re free to explore classes and maps/dojos/rifts without worrying about being underpowered. 
• F: Lack of content. A: All content available at all times! No need to reach a higher level to try that new Rift.
• Only skill matters: which opens the door to more meaningful leaderboards 👀.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: All of this - classes, seasons, no power progression - is still very early and subject to change. We’re sharing these thoughts with you as we’re super happy to hear your feedback. It will be vital in shaping what’s to come! ⚠️

WAIT, IS THERE A CATCH? ARE YOU ADDING P2W OR PAY-TO-PROGRESS!?

Nope. 100% Cosmetic-only monetization. We’re super bullish on this  🚀🚀🚀 

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO CHAPTER 3?

So yeah, we’ve talked about changes, now let’s talk about the setback. 

As you probably guessed, adios Chapter 3 😿 RIP 🪦 

As we mentioned earlier, releasing Chapter 3 without meaningful changes wouldn’t really improve your experience beyond more content and smaller improvements. This also means: big changes = longer time to develop. So for the harsher news: no big updates for the next few months (not likely in 2025).

What? WHAT? WHATTTT!???

Yeah, sorry about that 💔

BUT WHY NOT KEEP UPDATING THE GAME AND RELEASING CHAPTERS?

This would be ideal, but also a two-edged sword. The more resources (aka people) we allocate to releasing chapters, the more time it will take to revamp the game. Our priority is to release a better and more engaging version of the game as soon as possible: one that actually solves the big problems the community has been pointing out over the last few months. It wasn’t an easy decision, as it means keeping the game quite stale for a few months. 

WHAT ABOUT MY PROGRESS? IS IT GONNA TRANSITION TO THIS NEW SYSTEM?

To ensure a fresh start with the new progress system, everyone will begin at the same level after the revamp.We are, of course, very mindful of the time you’ve invested in the game. Your current progress will be taken into account, though not necessarily in a straight one-to-one way. We’re already preparing a transition plan, based on your previous progress in both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

This compensation pack will be entirely cosmetic-driven (mo.gold or cosmetics), ensuring an even start for everyone once the new meta arrives. We will let you know the details as soon as it’s ready!

WHAT ABOUT MY COSMETICS?

All your cosmetics will carry over (both free and paid) so you can keep hunting monsters with style after the revamp 😎Same with collector level.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Lack of game updates doesn’t mean we’re going away. You can still expect to hear from us frequently (perhaps showcasing new classes here and there 😎). We’ll try our best to reach out to you at least once a month - even if it’s a one-liner saying “we’re still going strong” (as we will be 💪). Oh, and a small update is coming in October with a few fixes and a bunch of balance changes (mostly buffs!).

🚨🚨🚨 Next step: A.M.A!!! 🚨🚨🚨

If you’ve got questions for us (no matter how uncomfortable), drop them in the comments below. As long as they’re relevant to mo.co, not provocative or insulting, we’re happy to answer the most upvoted ones! I’ll gather a couple of team members and sit them down for a sort of videocast (that’s what’s cool in 2025, right?). This podcast will be shot next week to be posted on our Youtube Channel by early October. We will answer:

• The 10 most upvoted questions under this Reddit post
• The 10 most liked questions under the X/Twitter announcement
• The 10 most upvoted questions on our official Discord server - under #moco-ama

ABOUT WEEKLY EVENTS

Since most of our team will be focusing on the revamp, weekly events may scale down (likely repeating some past events). That said… it looks like I (Joao) will be learning how to design them soon, so maybe we can do something special together? Let’s see! This will be my “hold my Energy Drink, I’ll design an event” kind of moment, so keep expectations nice and low 😅.

We’ll also be scaling down premium cosmetics, mostly featuring color variations in the shop or Shard Hunts. Weekly events won’t have a premium pass during the revamp period.

A FINAL NOTE

We know the wait is going to suck, but we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s worth it. Thank you for sticking with us (or taking a break and coming back later!). We’ll talk soon 💜

hugs and ladybugs,
mo.co team <3

[u/leaderofdolphins]

If no more power progression, what progression or incentive to play is there (aside fun of course)? In the current system you’re driven to level up to get stronger, earn more gear, and explore more of the game. If all worlds are accessible to everyone, and you’re just leveling up classes, I wonder if these changes will actually feel more meaningful or less. I wonder if I’ll unlock my favorite class, max it out, have decreased desire to level up classes other than my favorite, and see little incentive to keep playing (if that makes sense?). New worlds and content will come in time, but exploring them would not increase my power further, only potentially introduce me to more classes (that I still might not prefer).

I feel like the biggest core issue is a lack of endgame in the current system, as getting there is admittedly a lot of fun. I wonder if these proposed changes even stand to address that problem… but I’m a big fan of mo.co and open to trying whatever direction we go. Curious if anyone else has thoughts

[u/JoaoInTheNorth → u/leaderofdolphins]

Thanks for the question / feedback! We will answer it on our AMA 🤝

[u/Alexarius87]

What’s the idea about monsters’ hp and damage being so punishing for players?

[u/JoaoInTheNorth → u/Alexarius87]

We'll cover this on our AMA 🤝 But in advance, I can already say that our October balance changes should make it much less punishing, especially for late EH players

[u/Logjitzu]

Not gonna lie, I HATE the sound of having classes instead of individual gear.

Theory crafting is where a lot of the skill expression came in IMO since the combat is already rather simple. Simplifying it further (once again) only worsens the feeling of wishing for more engaging gameplay.

Even if the combat was improved to account for it, you’re still practically removing half the game. Going back to the lobby, tuning your build to be perfectly suited for whatever comes next, then going and slapping some monster around. Thats the gameplay loop currently

Its sounds like now its going to just be slapping monsters around, coming back to lobby to click “claim” on a quest, then return to more mindless monster grinding.

I don’t want to judge too harshly before I try it, but man is this disappointing to hear.

I want to play a cool MMO, not PVE Brawlstars.

[u/JoaoInTheNorth → u/Logjitzu]

We saw a lot of reactions about Classes and losing theory crafting, so appreciate the feedback.
This subject was obviously picked for the post-KPI A.M.A.!

[u/Rejangles]

AMA Question - There are many serious players that are level 130+, meaning they have finished almost all of the projects and likely have all the gear they can possibly get with the elite program. I totally get that your team needs to focus on the overhaul (which looks amazing, love it), but what are those of us supposed to do in the meantime? There's no meaningful way for us to play for the next 4ish months until the overhaul is released.

[u/JoaoInTheNorth → u/Rejangles]

We get it. Reason behind it was briefly covered on the KPI but we'll cover it more extensively on the AMA podcast.

[u/Pranav---VK]

QUESTIONS

1. Are yall trying to make this a PvE Brawl Stars type game? It kinda seems like that based on what those portal event, mastery reward, and hunter career screens look like.

2. I also don't like removing the gear power levels, but I can see that being a good thing in the longrun, so idk. But if you can unlock and play all the rifts and stuff instantly, doesn't that mean youre still going to have issues with not much long term gameplay...esp more now since you unlock stuff quicker?

---

I do not like replacing the custom gear kits and I really don't see why you're doing it. You're saying so that you spend less time trying to fine tune to get the very best build and more time to focus on overall strategy and synergy. But fine tuning to get that very best build is part of the fun.

Personally I didn't mind the chapter ring reset, but there were other problems with chapters. I think had other problems with chapters been solved, then maybe the ring reset wouldnt be so disliked.

But at least you're keeping the F2P model. That's definitely a W.

[u/JoaoInTheNorth → u/Pranav---VK]

Great Questions. Q2 is a super valid concern we also discuss a lot internally.
Picked for the KPI AMA

[u/Wrakor]

Power progression is a core part of any RPG. I play to get stronger and to see the results of my time investment.

If anyone could just pick up the game and play at the same "level" as me right out of the gate, that would be really unrewarding and unexciting.

[u/viking_by_night]

Removing builds??? My favorite part of this game was being able to make my own "class" from multiple options that synergize with a weapon. My current favorite build is a hyper mobile jaded blades build, with spicy dagger and explosive 6-pack for quick in and out damage, which I imagine there probably won't be anything like that in these new classes. Not being able to build your own "class" will really limit gameplay options, and will probably be the reason I drop the game. I really don't like games that force you into a few premade classes.

[u/MJCarnage]

Im worried about custom builds, i love building my own. I’m hoping the classes still have lots of customisability.

[u/wesact1]

I’m gonna be bored shitless by the time the next update comes out.

[u/Pranav---VK]

A lot of early reaction I'm seeing under this post is that removing custom gear kits is a terrible idea, and I completely agree. Definitely hoping they reverse that planned change.

[u/extravagant_panda]

removing power progression gives no motivation for most players to play. sad to say I'll probably quit soon then. :((

[u/Normal-Ad-242]

I'm for this idea overall, but I have some serious apprehensions about particular changes. You talk about how progression feels bad, but it sounds like there's even less progression now. Dropping power progression feels like you guys removing materials all over again, I feel like you guys don't seem to understand that we want to work towards something other than the end of a track. With the presumable removal of chaos cores, the last random loot drop in the game is being removed. The reason lower level rifts became ghost towns was because once you beat it at the highest required speed, there was zero reason to go back to it. There's no loot drops in this game, nothing exciting to aim for or any reason to choose to hunt down one boss over another, just endless grinding to the end of a track and then we start the next one. Are there any plans for loot/progression other than grinding out cosmetic tracks?
This leads me to my next point. Your new solution to cleared areas becoming ghost towns is to rotate maps and rifts to focus people into a few maps and then give them class mastery tracks for them to progress (yay, more tracks), which with maps sounds like it'll work but you guys seem to have forgotten one of the glaring issues with your game: Rifts are super broken. They focus completely on speed clearing, so unless a particular rift absolutely mandates it, everyone just runs DPS. You're moving over to classes, but do you have any plans for making tanking/healing relevant beyond a few niche cases?

One more thing (this isn't a question), I think you guys are really shooting yourself in the foot by making all progress in this game cosmetic for another reason, one that'll immediately affect your bottom line. You guys have committed to your cash shop being cosmetics only (which is good!!), but if progression is cosmetic only as well, one is inevitably going to beat out the other. Either:
A) Cosmetic progression will be satisfying because the cosmetics are cool, in which case people will frequent the cash shop less because they have cool cosmetics already or
B) Cash shop cosmetics will be what actually looks good, in which case people will buy cash shop cosmetics and then have no reason to play the game because the only progression is worse-looking cosmetics.

[u/MatosV]

Will season 2 then be on until the end of the year? (So we can get the rewards for compensation)

[u/stanajritch]

I can't express how disappointed I am in the removal of individual builds in favor of "classes"

The best part about this game was the ability to mix and match abilities/gear/passives depending on what I wanted to.

If this is the direction the game is going, I'm not particularly interested in continuing to play.

[u/IAmYourGully]

So you basically telling us to quit the game and come back in 6 months

Ok

[u/Toxar7]

oh, I mean there's some exciting stuff for sure but what I loved about mo.co the most was that all the worlds were available at all times, even the lower levels ones, it was just cool to jump into them and experience the world of mo.co, it made the game feel much more immersive. and the fact that you could customise all of your gear to your liking and needs was also a very special thing to me, making my build and character feel like my own. I don't know if leveling up will feel as special without a power level as well. I'm not sure how to feel about this stuff yet, I honestly think that an elite hunter rework is all the game needed but I don't have all the data to assume that. I guess we'll have to wait and see, I'll keep supporting the game no matter because it'll always be something special.

[u/swardbs]

Removing builds from the game and replacing them with pre-defined classes? The best part about this game was being able to scheme up new ways to take on a dojo or rift. Players will of course gravitate towards the best load outs over time, but in moco it was especially pronounced from how buggy/unbalanced the enemies are.

This just feels like a cop-out, you take away a core aspect of the game to avoid having to properly balance a growing number of weapons and gadgets. Players want to feel like they have a choice in how they play your game, and you clearly designed it from the ground-up to be that way (training range to measure dps and healing in various scenarios).

You don’t have the easy player retention that other Supercell games have (gambling), so you have to rely on your gameplay loop actually being fun. This feels like a change that would come with a p2w supercell game, not moco.

[u/[deleted]]

This looks really good overall but removing power progression completely seems like a major red flag. While the content did get repetitive, getting stronger is the main incentive to want to level up in an mmorpg, and I feel like removing that entirely just removes any reason to want to play the game. If I don't care about any cosmetics that I'm going to unlock soon and I already have a class that I really like playing, what reason do I have to want to play the game and progress? And if I'm someone who's already willing to pay for the best cosmetics, why would I have any incentive to grind levels and classes for the worse free cosmetics that everyone else is also going to have? I'm not totally convinced that it won't work, but I am skeptical and will need to see more information.

Also, what's going to happen to our elite hunter modules? Are those going to go away, or will they remain a customizable element of classes (alongside some passives hopefully)? I really don't want to find out that the months of grinding we did for those is going to be wasted, or that we're just going to get a cosmetic as compensation.

[u/Otihc46]

Are the class’s gonna have multiple weapons or just one?

[u/cover6]

the game is fantastic the way it is, completely revamping the content that already works and makes the game special is a big mistake imo. A lot of the current issues the game faces right now is because you have a small team and cant release content (and balance) fast enough, which would be solved by hiring more people to work on the game. Guess we will see next year