I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread about reward points to compliment the articles which usually only delve into Game Pass Rewards and the occasional big money rewards on the Microsoft Rewards app.
Occasionally there are smaller but still significant rewards up for grabs that don't get reported as much. If you spot one on your app, then post about it here!
Here is a guide written by @FraserG that details Monthly Rewards from the various sources. Hopefully I'm not doubling up on any information with what I have written in this thread.
So far there seem to be 3 main apps for gaining Reward Points:
The Game Pass App on Xbox has quests related to the featured games which net you reward points. There's a frequently updated article on this site by @FraserG that is a great help in getting these. You can access this article by clicking this link.
The Microsoft Rewards App on Xbox has stackable weekly quests (among other non-stackable quests) that are normally Xbox related but aren't always game pass specific. This also links you out to the Microsoft Edge App on Xbox where an additional 102 daily points are available (PC search + Edge Bonus combined)
The Bing App on Mobile has a Rewards tab with stackable daily quests (among other non-stackable quests) as well as allowing you to get your 60 daily points from mobile searches. There's some points available from installing the Bing Search widget too but you can install this widget and then remove it and keep the one time point bonus.
I'm sure many of you know that you don't actually have to do a lot of the quests, you just click through the request with A and then back out with B. Some of them require you to do something though. I don't personally do any quests that require spending money (unless I was going to anyway) but some look like they require a spend but actually don't. If you spot one of these, then post about it here as well!
With that in mind:
I'm sure most reward hunters have spotted and completed the Comic Relief punch card already. You don't actually have to donate any points with this punch card, as morally dubious as that may be.
Today (26/3/21) I spotted a FIFA 21 FUT Birthday punch card for 500 points. Activate the punch card, click "Play the game" with A and back out of the store page you are redirected to with B for an easy 500 points.
I thought I would add a few notes, tips and observations for the standard Reward Quests that refresh.
The daily Game Pass Quests on the Game Pass App appear to refresh at 17:00 GMT (5pm in the UK).
The Rewards App on Xbox and the Rewards tab on the Bing App on Mobile appear to refresh at 00:00 GMT (midnight in the UK). Quit the Xbox Rewards App fully using "Menu button>Quit" and reopen it if they don't refresh, this also applies if your search rewards are not showing up.
When the clocks change in spring in the UK the new refresh times are 18:00 BST (6pm) for the Game Pass App and 01:00 BST (1am) for the Microsoft Rewards App on Xbox and the Bing App on Mobile.
For the "PC Search" and "Microsoft Edge Bonus" - I normally click on the latter from the Rewards App on Xbox which takes me to Microsoft Edge on Xbox. I hover my left stick over the search bar. Hit A to open the keyboard. Hit A again to type the selected letter which is "y". Hit the Menu button (three horizontal lines where the "Start" button is typically found on other controllers) to search. I readjust my cursor with the left stick to where the search bar is positioned now (this is the last time you have to touch the left stick) and just follow that button combo repeatedly. A>A>Menu over and over again. You should just keep adding an extra letter "y" to your search bar. You may have to slow down your button entry for the browser to catch up. I'm not sure if this changes with your reward level but I currently get 3 points per search so I have to press this button combo 34 times in succession to get the 90 "PC Search" points and 12 "Edge Bonus" points (102 points combined).
On the Bing Mobile App, I hold my phone in two hands with my left thumb over the search bar and my right thumb in the opposite corner hovering over the "enter" key and the letter "m" which is the closest letter to the enter key on my phone. So left thumb taps the search bar > right thumb taps "m" > right thumb taps "enter". At my 3 points per search, I have to do this 20 times to get 60 points and the process just adds an "m" to my search bar every time.
This seems to be the quickest way I've found to get these search points. You may already have your own method but I thought I would share mine anyway!
I just wanted to show an example of what I meant earlier when I said that sometimes you can click through to a task and then just back out without actually completing the task but still get the points. This example is from the Bing App on Mobile but there are tasks on Xbox that function similarly.
^ If the screen you click through to looks like this, then you can just back out without completing the quiz and the points still get claimed. It functions similarly to a "Check out these..." task where you get shown a page of recommendations but don't have to do anything.
^ If the page you click through to looks like this and it has a pop up that slides up from the bottom with the minimise arrow/close cross at the top right of the pop up, then you have to fully complete this task to get the points.
During the March/April 2021 changeover in the Game Pass Quests, I noticed there was an entire day where no new daily quests appeared. Completing daily and weekly tasks to stack up into the Quest Completionist 1000 point quest should be done as early as possible in the month as you could be caught short at the end of the month with no new tasks to top it up with.
Remember that this quest requires a certain amount of daily and weekly quests to be completed. I only emphasise this because a few months ago I was completing dailies like nobodies business without this quest filling up - only to realise that I was short on weeklies because I hadn't completed some in a previous week.
The Reddit user reckons they started grinding for points about 2 years ago but doesn't know how many points they started with. Their weekly streak is at 95 weeks so it tallies up with when they began their grind.
I'm on just over 40k points since January and I started the grind about 6 weeks ago according to my weekly streak. Except it's not a huge grind though, maybe you'll do like half an hour a week to get the weeklies and monthlies and then spend ten minutes a day doing dailies.
The Xbox Series X might actually be in stock on the MS store about 2 years from now anyway! 😅
Just a quick heads up about the Outriders achievement punch card for 250 points that @FraserG has detailed in this really helpful article on the main page:
Obviously activate the punch card first before you start playing. The game can be played after a partial download when it's "ready to start". I had loads of connection issues which added time but once I was into the game it took about half an hour to complete the prologue and get the achievement. Just hit B through all the cut scenes and dialogue (some aren't skippable unfortunately). You can use this same achievement for the 50pt daily quest too as well as it counting towards any other punch cards that require generic achievements (it finished off my weekly punch card).
The Android app updated a few weeks ago and has been pretty glitchy ever since. Occasionally the dailies don't click-through to the actual task and I have to close down other tabs and/or refresh a couple of times to get it to work. Also the quiz tasks where you "Select the five...." don't always scroll so you can only see the first few answers.
The newer version also doesn't show you the bonus streak points - the old one used to show you how many more days of the streak to get bonus points, but the new one just shows the actual days in the streak.
I think the app previously just linked to the web version rather than being an actual app though; there's a link to return to the dashboard once you've completed the daily tasks that returns you to how it previously looked rather than the new interface. There are also Punch cards that show on the web interface that don't show on the Android app too.
@dmcc0 I've noticed that about the Bing App actually, where the Rewards page is different. For me though, it's not entirely dependent on where I click on it. Both the Rewards button and the Account>Rewards method both take me to that same screen with less information. Occasionally I get linked to the full page with the punch card(s) but I haven't worked out why or how to trigger it manually.
I actually found a workaround to that annoying quiz thing! Holding the phone sideways (if you have auto rotate on) should reveal all of the options so none of them get hidden - allowing you to click on them all in quicker succession.
@ralphdibny Good idea, never thought to flip my phone! I've actually created a web link to the old version (with the punch cards) on my phone's home screen so I can use either version if the newer one starts glitching.
@dmcc0@thatCFguy I had that issue with a similar punch card last year. In the end it just took a while to update. I literally opened up a chat to Microsoft support to ask and I checked the punch card just as the chat connected and it had updated. If it doesn't update then there are only 3 things I can suggest...
1. Check the content you bought is definitely in the Easter sale i.e. From the Rewards App click on the punch card and then click on the £0/£35 quest to link you through to the Easter Sale page on the store.
2. Close the Rewards App completely and reopen it. Not sure if the app stays open if you are using a different power setting on the console. From the Xbox Dashboard, highlight the Rewards App Icon. Hit the Menu button on the controller. Select Quit. Then reopen the app and hopefully the total will have updated.
3. If all else fails, contact Microsoft support. There is anecdotal evidence of them being quite good at resolving MS Rewards issues.
@ralphdibny yeah, definitely in the sale - that's one of the first things I checked, and I've restarted the app and the console just to be sure, but no difference. I wasn't sure if the points added immediately or not for these types of punch cards and don't want to bother support if I don't need to. Will maybe give it a few days to see if they add.
07/04/21- added a note to post #2 about the monthly changeover in game pass quests. I aim to add the sideways phone screen workaround for the broken bing app at a later date when I get some screenshots of it.
Anyone had issues with the Top 10 Xbox Achievement reward? I clicked on it which takes you to your games and I opened up MCC (which is a top 10) and earned 3 achievements. Still hasn't given me credit for completing it.
"The only me is me. Are you sure the only you is you?"
@Mundaney click the first icon to activate the punch card, when you are back in the main page of the rewards app, ensure that quest says "1/2" in the bottom right of that icon. Earn your achievement and then go back and click the second icon in the punch card. This quest has been a bit iffy in terms of how well it's worked for people, just make sure it says "1/2" on the main rewards page before going in for your acheivement
@Mundaney This one was a little glitchy for me too.
I clicked to activate then went and got an Achievement in FH4. When I returned to the rewards app the box was checked for getting the Achievement, but not for activating the punch card, so I never got the points. Tried a couple more times but every time I tried to activate it just returned to the home screen - worked fine the next day. Has the Punch Card definitely activated?
Have you got any achievements on any of the other games? I don't remember what they were, but I think they were all available on Game Pass (if you have it). Must be one of those that give you an achievement just for starting a game.
@Mundaney ah fair enough sorry I'm at a bit of a loss then. Are you clicking the second icon on the punch card to claim the points? Not sure if I had to click mine or not or if it just completed itself automatically, can't remember now
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Topic: Microsoft Rewards (Reward Points Thread)
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