Collectibles
Avatar Suits are a retention mechanic built on a collectible — limited-edition costumes that take days of repeat visits to earn.
This page covers what brings users back — Daily Appointments that spread the suits across many days, a Reward Ladder that pays out early and often, and Wearable Status that friends and rivals can see.
01CORE MECHANIC
Daily Appointments
Daily Appointments are what make a suit take days to earn. Quest points come a few at a time from daily quests, so wanting the suit means coming back day after day.
Daily quests spread the suits across many days. Suits are earned with quest points, and the everyday source is daily quests: three a day, one point each, refreshed every day. The three suits cost 20 points in all, so the set cannot be finished in a sitting. For instance, on our own account the first two suits unlocked six days apart. Each day's quests are a reason to open the app that day, and the suit meter shows the user what those visits are adding up to.
A deadline makes each day count. The event ran for about three weeks, with a countdown on the event page and on the home screen. Without an end date, a missed day costs nothing, because tomorrow will do. With one, every missed day leaves fewer days to collect the same points. The user can count the days left against the points still needed, and that sum is the reason to come back tonight.
It builds on a habit users already have. Daily quests were in the product long before suits, paying points toward the monthly badge. Suit Quest added a second meter to the same points. For instance, the screen after a lesson showed Suit Quest 1 / 10 beside May Quest 15 / 40. Users did not have to learn anything new. They kept doing the quests they already did, and those quests started paying twice.
Days Needed To Unlock Each Suit
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02PACING LAYER
Reward Ladder
The Reward Ladder is the event's three payouts, at 5, 10, and 20 quest points. The first comes within days and each one after costs more, which holds casual users for a while and committed users for weeks.
An early first suit gets users invested. For instance, the first suit cost 5 quest points, about two days of daily quests. A user who has unlocked one has watched their own avatar change and has started noticing which friends are wearing the next suit up. That early win turns the event from an offer on a banner into something they are partway through.
Rising prices stretch the commitment. For instance, the three suits cost 5, 10, and 20 points, and the last carries an Epic tag where the first two are Rare. Nobody is asked up front for twenty quests in exchange for a costume. They are asked for five, then five more, then ten more. Each ask comes straight after a payout, so the user decides whether to continue at the moment they feel most rewarded.
Three payouts keep slower users coming back. A single prize at the end stops pulling on anyone who can see they will miss it. The monthly badge works this way, with one target and one payout. The suit event has three finish lines. A user too far behind for the Epic suit can still reach the second, and one who started late can still get the first. At any pace there is usually a suit within a few days' reach.
Spooky DuoEpic
20 quest points
7 days of full daily quests
Sneaky CatRare
10 quest points
4 days of full daily quests
Hot DogRare
5 quest points
2 days of full daily quests
03REWARD LAYER
Wearable Status
Wearable Status is what makes the prize worth a week of showing up. A suit goes on the user's avatar, and the avatar is on every screen where friends and rivals see them.
The suit is seen wherever the avatar is. A suit's value comes from being seen. Duolingo already shows the user's avatar on the league leaderboard, on the results podium, on friend streaks, on friends quests, and on the update friends get when a unit is finished. A suit changes the avatar, so it appears in all of those places at once. The audience was in place before the costume was.
A suit is kept, so the effort feels safe. League rank can be lost: a user in Diamond this week can be demoted the next. A suit is earned on the user's own effort, with nobody else's score involved, and once unlocked it stays in the wardrobe. The user knows exactly what is required and that the result cannot be taken away. That certainty is what makes several days of effort feel worth starting.
Every worn suit advertises the event. The unlock screen ends on a large Wear Now button, so by default an earned suit goes on at once. From then on it travels with the avatar. For instance, when a friend finishes a unit, the update that appears on the viewer's home screen shows them in their suit. The viewer learns that the suit exists, that someone they know has it, and that the event is still running.
Daily Appointments
The event, the daily quests that feed it, and the places the quest follows the user around the app.
Reward Ladder
The three payouts — 5, 10 and 20 points — and what each unlock looks like when it lands.
Wearable Status
Where a suit gets seen — friend updates, the league board and podium, friend streaks and friends quests.
