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Genshin Impact |OT| 5.0 (Natlan) - Everything Changed When the Fire Nation Arrived

jonnyXx

Member
So I tried Candace with Arle. I get what they're going for since apparently Arle has a really long ICD on Vape, but it just doesn't feel good to play. To be fair, my Candace was built for EM since I use her in the Nilou team, but even if I went full HP/ER I don't think it'd be a satisfying way to play. It just shows how bad they screwed Candace. I have her at C6 and even still the burst is so short that it's hard to fit properly into a rotation, and her skill is pathetic (should have been a 10~ second Hydro shield effect on Hold).
I think she is good for aoe scenarios like below (loudness warning, might want to mute the clip).
Because of the aoe hyro application Arlechinno can vape all 3 Maguu Kenki at once whereas with Xingqiu/Yelan she would only be able to Vape on 1 of the 3 Maguu Kenki.


Maybe Sucrose would make a good 4th for the VV shred. I think it stacks with Zhongli's shred?
Yea they work in tandem, VV shreds elemental resistance and Zhongli shreds Def.
 

jonnyXx

Member
4-7-character-banners-via-fullstopchan-conveyed-by-hxg-v0-ErlWKg2FE8r_U0bBcBrxscE8mKmZyS7abDpIZIYNuis.png


Clorinde paired with Alhaitham and I may actually pull on the weapon banner as I'd be happy with either weapon.
And if they put Chevreuse and Fischl on there then first phase banners will be🔥.
Come on Hoyo...Do it!



edit*
damn forgot Sethos will be on first phase. No way Fischl will be there then.
 
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Pejo

Member
Clorinde paired with Alhaitham and I may actually pull on the weapon banner as I'd be happy with either weapon.
And if they put Chevreuse and Fischl on there then first phase banners will be🔥.
Come on Hoyo...Do it!



edit*
damn forgot Sethos will be on first phase. No way Fischl will be there then.
Depending on the 4*s these are some of the better banners we've had in a while. Wish it was Furina paired with Chlorinde though, I don't want to lose 50/50 on a weapon banner to a healer weapon, especially a healer bow.

Chev is the only 4* at this point that I'm interested in, so I'd like to see her on a banner that I want the 5*.
 
As the only person on the planet who's interested in Siggy's bow, I was hoping she'd get paired with Nilou. Furina's sword doesn't seem that good unless you have cons to fix her massive energy issues.

Considering these leaks, the best possible scenario for me would be Siggy + Clorinde, but the chance of that happening is low. And it would piss off everyone else.
 

Pejo

Member
As the only person on the planet who's interested in Siggy's bow, I was hoping she'd get paired with Nilou. Furina's sword doesn't seem that good unless you have cons to fix her massive energy issues.
It was fine until bolded, for me:

Equipping character can gain the Remedy effect. When they possess 1/2/3 Remedy stacks, their Max HP will increase by12%/24%/40%. They can gain 1 stack in the following situations: 1 when using an Elemental Skill for 25s; 1 for increasing Bond of Life value for 25s; 1 for initiating healing for 20s. This can still be triggered when the equipping character is not on the field. Each stack's duration is counted independently. Also, when you have 3 stacks, Elemental Burst CRIT Rate will be increased by 28%. This effect will be canceled 4s after you fall under 3 stacks.
I mean I guess there's Diona, and possibly another future bow character that could benefit slightly from 2/3 of the HP bonus, but the fact that they force the Bond of Life mechanic into it to receive the Crit buff rubs me the wrong way. There will likely never ever ever be another character that can activate that passive, and they know it.

It's similarly bad in Arle's polearm, and even worse because they lock a LOT of visual flair and style behind having it, but I don't like the idea of supporting this type of shit. I caved on Arle because how pleasantly surprised I was by her and the fact that it really improves her style, but I can't justify that for an off-field supporter like Sige.
 
It was fine until bolded, for me:

I mean I guess there's Diona, and possibly another future bow character that could benefit slightly from 2/3 of the HP bonus, but the fact that they force the Bond of Life mechanic into it to receive the Crit buff rubs me the wrong way. There will likely never ever ever be another character that can activate that passive, and they know it.

It's similarly bad in Arle's polearm, and even worse because they lock a LOT of visual flair and style behind having it, but I don't like the idea of supporting this type of shit. I caved on Arle because how pleasantly surprised I was by her and the fact that it really improves her style, but I can't justify that for an off-field supporter like Sige.
Completely understandable. I only consider it because I really like Siggy and there's hardly any F2P options in the game. But I don't want to risk getting a weapon I don't want.
 

Pejo

Member
Completely understandable. I only consider it because I really like Siggy and there's hardly any F2P options in the game. But I don't want to risk getting a weapon I don't want.
Don't forget the weapon banner isn't really 50/50 on the featured weapons anyways. When I rolled for Arle's spear, the first weapon I got was Skyward Atlas. So there's always a way for it to fuck you. But yea, no shame if you like her/ the weapon.

Kinda shit that the Crit stat they went with was Rate instead of Damage. It's kinda useless because the benefit of having it there is that you wouldn't have to build as much Crit% in the damaging Burst user's kit. But, unless the only purpose they have is a Burst nuke and no other contribution, you'd still need to build them for Crit% for other aspects of their kit. Meanwhile if it was a CDMG buff, it'd benefit any character and be additive. I guess for those people still playing Shogun Burst DPS, it'd let you swap out Crit Rate hats for Crit Damage.
 
Don't forget the weapon banner isn't really 50/50 on the featured weapons anyways. When I rolled for Arle's spear, the first weapon I got was Skyward Atlas. So there's always a way for it to fuck you. But yea, no shame if you like her/ the weapon.
Yeah, I know. I think it's 37.5% chance each for the featured weapons and 25% for the off-banner ones. If I were to get two Furina swords before the bow, I'd be super pissed.

Kinda shit that the Crit stat they went with was Rate instead of Damage. It's kinda useless because the benefit of having it there is that you wouldn't have to build as much Crit% in the damaging Burst user's kit. But, unless the only purpose they have is a Burst nuke and no other contribution, you'd still need to build them for Crit% for other aspects of their kit. Meanwhile if it was a CDMG buff, it'd benefit any character and be additive. I guess for those people still playing Shogun Burst DPS, it'd let you swap out Crit Rate hats for Crit Damage.
I assume that Crit Rate is only for the wielder themselves, not shared with the team. Siggy's burst is purely damaging, and she will likely struggle to build much Crit otherwise, so that's why they built that in. I doubt she's gonna deal massive damage regardless. Maybe with a bunch of cons. Anyway, that bow seems super specific to her. A shame.
 
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Pejo

Member
I've been reading through Imaginarium leaks (new endgame mode next patch), and I have to say, I'm actually a bit excited to try it out. Seems like interesting mechanics and lots of little niceties to make it more fun. Like there's a "select a soundtrack" option to listen to music you wanna hear while you play it. Small details that I think will go a long way to making it fun. Also you can borrow your friends' characters and use them.
 

jonnyXx

Member
Rewards for first time completion of Imaginarium Theatre.
1100 primos, 640k mora, 40 XP books, 4 Fragile Resin and 1 billet. Not bad.

vVMYZ8n.png


After the first clear it will give 620 primos each reset, other rewards are unknown. Hopefully they continue giving out mora, xp books and resin. This mode will require you to build a lot of characters and Genshin is way too stingy with resources.
 

deanote666

Member
Don't think anyone here plays on PS4 but deanote666 deanote666 you might wanna upgrade your phone. Man I hope this doesn't fuck with mods.


e8UBAsw.png


Also, 4*s confirmed for 2nd half banners:
gtj3788hxczc1.jpg
If I'm looking correctly, the Snapdragon 865 was in the Samsung galaxy S20 so I'm good. My 2nd account runs on a S20+ so it will probably suffer some.

Currently got a S24+.
 
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Pejo

Member
Maybe it's the old Rock Band/Guitar Hero addict in me, but I love these music events. I've been having a great time doing this one, even with Itto being the focus of ANOTHER event. The little cameos like Yae bratting us and Sayu asleep in her tanuki has been pretty good too. The only thing that I don't like is that Dvorak guy is back with the weird VA that sounds like a sped up slowed down woman voice. I think I remember he's some actual opera singer or something, so it makes sense that his vocal chords are destroyed.

I can't fucking believe that they picked Nahida's bullshit theme over the greatest theme that Sumeru had to offer, though.
 

Pejo

Member
Randomly came across this in youtube recommendations. Not sure if anyone else here has seen.


Kinda interesting. The Kaeya/Benny ones look like just recycled animations on slightly different models, but the rest were cool. This has to be tough to do considering the inconsistent multiplayer lag.

*edit*

Just finished the music event. It was pretty fun. They actually made a cutscene for Itto/Paimon's rock song which was fun, even if the song was shit.

Does anyone know what we're supposed to do with the instructions on that box at the end of the quest? It says to find something close by and then return it to Heizou, but I only found that packet immediately to the left and it didn't seem to have anything to "give" to anyone.
 
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jonnyXx

Member
Randomly came across this in youtube recommendations. Not sure if anyone else here has seen.


That's pretty cool, must have taken a lot of tries to get them to sync.
I hadn't realized that Bennett and Kaeya share the same sword slashing animations.

That last bit about less focus on open world and more on story worries me. I skip most of the WQ and event dialogue cause characters talk too damn much, more focus on overly verbose character dialogue is the last thing I'd want. Guess I'm in the (statistical) minority.

However they did a great job with exploration in Chenyu Vale and the new underwater area so I still have great hope for exploration in Natlan.
 

Pejo

Member
That's pretty cool, must have taken a lot of tries to get them to sync.
I hadn't realized that Bennett and Kaeya share the same sword slashing animations.


That last bit about less focus on open world and more on story worries me. I skip most of the WQ and event dialogue cause characters talk too damn much, more focus on overly verbose character dialogue is the last thing I'd want. Guess I'm in the (statistical) minority.

However they did a great job with exploration in Chenyu Vale and the new underwater area so I still have great hope for exploration in Natlan.
There was a clarification post after this one where they said they're gonna focus on interactive storytelling, like the "show don't tell", not that there won't be exploration and stuff. So hopefully less statues with 50 lines of text or watching 3 NPCs go round robin giving exposition for 20 mins. More in-engine cutscenes and visual puzzles and stuff. I'm pretty hyped about it because ever since they neutered the overworld puzzle difficulty, the unvoiced world quests have been my primary reason for playing the game, and I thought Chenyu and particularly the latest water area were fantastic.
 
Does anyone know what we're supposed to do with the instructions on that box at the end of the quest? It says to find something close by and then return it to Heizou, but I only found that packet immediately to the left and it didn't seem to have anything to "give" to anyone.


In the list one of the name is Dvorak with age 40. I took it as he was telling us to check the evidence and hinting that the pets are code names for actual people who Gorou saved during the war. So the mythical dog is Gorou and the pets are various people he helped escape during the war. I also didn't find anything so feel since he was told to not reveal anything he wanted us to know indirectly.
 
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Pejo

Member
Supposedly this is Alice's concept art, leaked for Mother's Day. Aren't leakers just so topical.
Not what I had envisioned. I expected a more mature look and a big brimmed witch's hat like Mona. She looks suspiciously like Rukkhadevito.


O63RWH8.jpg
 

BJK

Member
Hit a 5-star on the standard banner: Aquila Favonia. Not many physical damage sword users; the character build google doc that I look to only shows it for Bennett, Kaeya, Keqing, Ayaka (who I’m not getting), Traveler (Anemo or Geo), Jean (who uses my Jade Cutter). Should I re-build Keqing around it, or just hand it to Bennett for multiplayer dungeons & move on? Part of me feels like I should put it on the Traveler, just for the story fights where you have to use her. Feels like it’s been forever since I got a new 5* weapon, and I hate feeling like I’m wasting one (especially since the game won’t give me Amos Bow for Ganyu…)
 

Pejo

Member
Hit a 5-star on the standard banner: Aquila Favonia. Not many physical damage sword users; the character build google doc that I look to only shows it for Bennett, Kaeya, Keqing, Ayaka (who I’m not getting), Traveler (Anemo or Geo), Jean (who uses my Jade Cutter). Should I re-build Keqing around it, or just hand it to Bennett for multiplayer dungeons & move on? Part of me feels like I should put it on the Traveler, just for the story fights where you have to use her. Feels like it’s been forever since I got a new 5* weapon, and I hate feeling like I’m wasting one (especially since the game won’t give me Amos Bow for Ganyu…)
Keqing is kinda outdated info by now because she works best in aggravate teams, her Physical iteration is left in the dust due to Dendro buff. Kaeya is probably the best use case scenario if you wanted to "main" him instead of just using his Cryo application. It usually goes to Bennett just because of the ultra high base attack, which is the only thing that factors into his ATK buff. I don't use Bennett heavily, but I give him Sac sword just to make sure his burst is up whenever you need it. Availability is worth more to me than maxing numbers. Then again, I'm not a min/maxxer player. I put mine on Kaeya even though he sits unused at level 50. It is a very aesthetic sword though, too bad the Traveler cutscenes don't update to whatever weapon they have equipped.

Maybe Physical will get a rehaul someday and they'll released a physical sword main dps character, but until then, that's about it. At least youd didn't get that Dvalin series polearm, which I consider to be the worst 5* weapon in the game.
 

Pejo

Member
Damn they're really shaking it up for 5.0
UDSVK0Jl.jpg


I hope to god this provides every character with a new passive to help some of the struggling/useless characters. If there was ever a time for them to fix Amber/Qiqi/Dehya/Xinyan/Candace, this is it.
 

Pejo

Member
Japan Nani GIF by Talisterparis

They will most likely lock mounts to Natlan region, like the swimming in Fontaine.

How's the game these days? Been absent from it since Cloud Retainer dropped.
I can only speak from my own experience, but the new world quest/area is fantastic, and Arlecchino is just insanely overpowered for a Pyro character. Other than that, more of the same. Events, character stories, gacha, yadda yadda. 5.0 is gonna have some big game-wide changes though. Upgraded game engine, level 100 cap, mounts, some new mechanics, something that's gonna make melt/vape great again, refocus on visual storytelling instead of text logs.
 

Nankatsu

Member
I can only speak from my own experience, but the new world quest/area is fantastic, and Arlecchino is just insanely overpowered for a Pyro character. Other than that, more of the same. Events, character stories, gacha, yadda yadda. 5.0 is gonna have some big game-wide changes though. Upgraded game engine, level 100 cap, mounts, some new mechanics, something that's gonna make melt/vape great again, refocus on visual storytelling instead of text logs.
Natlan seems to be setting up to be pretty good. Not sure if I'll come back around though. Game is still very time consuming.
 

Pejo

Member
Natlan seems to be setting up to be pretty good. Not sure if I'll come back around though. Game is still very time consuming.
Yea I've been wrestling with that a bit myself. It's no big deal to stay on top of dailies and events, but I've been getting further and further behind on exploration and quests.

They're also adding some new endgame content next patch. Undetermined how difficult it is compared to current abyss, but at least it has some interesting mechanics and seems to have some customization features.
 

Nankatsu

Member
Yea I've been wrestling with that a bit myself. It's no big deal to stay on top of dailies and events, but I've been getting further and further behind on exploration and quests.

They're also adding some new endgame content next patch. Undetermined how difficult it is compared to current abyss, but at least it has some interesting mechanics and seems to have some customization features.

Something new besides abyss? Now that's interesting.

Thing is, Wuthering Waves is also around the corner, and combat wise it seems more fresh and challeging.
 

jonnyXx

Member
Damn they're really shaking it up for 5.0
UDSVK0Jl.jpg


I hope to god this provides every character with a new passive to help some of the struggling/useless characters. If there was ever a time for them to fix Amber/Qiqi/Dehya/Xinyan/Candace, this is it.
Whoa I didn't think they'd increase the level cap anytime soon. A new passive would be awesome but there is too many characters in the game and it would require so much work to implement and test. Although who knows how long they've been working on this. And they need to do something more than just give trivial base stats increase to make it worthwhile. But I shudder to think of the resources cost to ascend.
 

Pejo

Member
Something new besides abyss? Now that's interesting.
Yea it's called the Imaginarium or something to that effect. You pick the soundtracks, probably buffs or something else, I can't remember. You win primos and some tertiary stuff like new character specific poses for taking screenshots.
Thing is, Wuthering Waves is also around the corner, and combat wise it seems more fresh and challeging.
I played the CBT2 of WW, and the combat was fun, but everything else was lesser or straight up bad. The localization particularly in EN was AWFUL. They also made the gear system essentially a pokemon mode where you kill monsters and equip their 'spirits' as your gear. But my god the layers of RNG involved. It makes Genshin's artifacts look EZPZ by comparison. You're free to farm enemies as much as you want, but the materials to "unlock" the hidden stats are time/stamina gated.

I'm more looking forward to Azur Promilia or if we ever see actual gameplay from Project Mugen.
Whoa I didn't think they'd increase the level cap anytime soon. A new passive would be awesome but there is too many characters in the game and it would require so much work to implement and test. Although who knows how long they've been working on this. And they need to do something more than just give trivial base stats increase to make it worthwhile. But I shudder to think of the resources cost to ascend.
I think they absolutely have to add new passives. Otherwise it's just really not worth it. Like why hold out until halfway through the life of the game to unlock the cap and then just make it another 10% stats? I just hope it's interesting character specific passives and not just min/maxxer bait like "Crit damage +10%". And yea, they can afford the development of 70~ passives, lol. I don't even mind if they roll it out gradually to make sure the quality and balance is good. Like do Amber/Kaeya/Lisa/Jean in the first wave, and so on.

I'm betting the final ascension is gonna use totally different materials tied to some new game mode or something. No way they make us go back and farm 200 kills of the vines and cubes.
 
Damn they're really shaking it up for 5.0
UDSVK0Jl.jpg


I hope to god this provides every character with a new passive to help some of the struggling/useless characters. If there was ever a time for them to fix Amber/Qiqi/Dehya/Xinyan/Candace, this is it.

That's one way to get players to burn their resources and make them grind more.
 

Nankatsu

Member
I played the CBT2 of WW, and the combat was fun, but everything else was lesser or straight up bad. The localization particularly in EN was AWFUL. They also made the gear system essentially a pokemon mode where you kill monsters and equip their 'spirits' as your gear. But my god the layers of RNG involved. It makes Genshin's artifacts look EZPZ by comparison. You're free to farm enemies as much as you want, but the materials to "unlock" the hidden stats are time/stamina gated.

not like this GIF
 
The wish off the free copy of Gorou (didn’t have him) went gold and gave me another copy of Jean. Have her C2 now!


edit.
Oh shit level cap raise?
I hope they give all the characters new abilities and/or skills, and I also hope this mixes things up and makes different characters more powerful or viable.

Edit2
Forgot but I got Robin in Star Rail, didn’t even really want her but I had so much resources saved up and I just wanted to do a few pulls + I’ve skipped all the amazing harmony supports recently. Well, 4 10 pulls later I got her.
Bronya got pushed aside to build Acheron and now she’s getting pushed aside again for Robin. All I know she she does action advance for the whole party. So… Super Bronya? If so I might never finish off Bronya lol
 
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Pejo

Member
Edit2
Forgot but I got Robin in Star Rail, didn’t even really want her but I had so much resources saved up and I just wanted to do a few pulls + I’ve skipped all the amazing harmony supports recently. Well, 4 10 pulls later I got her.
Bronya got pushed aside to build Acheron and now she’s getting pushed aside again for Robin. All I know she she does action advance for the whole party. So… Super Bronya? If so I might never finish off Bronya lol
Bronya still has her uses even with Robin. The biggest benefit for me is that she has a cleanse on her skill, so if you're running a tank with no healer or whatever, you still potentially can deal with debuffs. Robin is MoC/endgame mode bait, but that's only because everything endgame is about killing everything in the fewest number of turns possible. I honestly hate that mechanic but yea, that's why Robin's good. In general content, either of them are really strong.
 
Looks like lots of changes are coming to Genshin. But changes aren't always for the better.

I'm very skeptical about the new endgame mode. It seems to be based on an event we had about a year(?) ago and I don't remember anyone liking that one. The limitations in characters, elements and the RNG nature of buffs and such just don't sound appealing to me. Abyss has a natural way of guiding you towards certain characters/teams, but with skill and perseverance one could also conquer them in unconventional ways. This new mode seems to shut that path down entirely. The QoL stuff they're doing is cool, but pointless if the mode itself is no fun. Far as I know it's still cannibalizing Abyss too, which is simply unacceptable.

A higher level cap does nothing unless it also unlocks a new passive that might fix bad characters. I'm not sure they're even capable or willing to do that.
 

Pejo

Member
I'm very skeptical about the new endgame mode. It seems to be based on an event we had about a year(?) ago and I don't remember anyone liking that one. The limitations in characters, elements and the RNG nature of buffs and such just don't sound appealing to me.
I see where you're coming from, but as a guy that mostly never even loads into Abyss because I don't find it fun, I'm willing to give another mode a shot. I think the key will be how dynamic it is and how much it changes from month to month. If it's just "abyss but less options", then I agree that it's probably bad and I will just to continue to ignore it like I ignore current Abyss. I'm willing to give it a shot before poopoo-ing it though.
Abyss has a natural way of guiding you towards certain characters/teams, but with skill and perseverance one could also conquer them in unconventional ways. This new mode seems to shut that path down entirely. The QoL stuff they're doing is cool, but pointless if the mode itself is no fun. Far as I know it's still cannibalizing Abyss too, which is simply unacceptable.
Well the only way for current Abyss to go was to keep inflating monster HP. Either way, both modes are simply there as an advertisement for current banners. At least this one is all trial (and friend loaner) characters I think, so they can force mastery of mechanics instead of artifact min/maxing, epeen crit farming, big number snapshot type bullshit.
A higher level cap does nothing unless it also unlocks a new passive that might fix bad characters. I'm not sure they're even capable or willing to do that.
Yea there hasn't been any further info on it yet, but they would almost HAVE to add passives in. Like why even bother doing it otherwise? They've had 4+ years of feedback and data to see which characters are in a good place and which ones frankly suck and never get used. This is THE opportunity to fine tune those characters without budging on their "we don't buff characters after they release" shit. Could also breathe life into reruns and those scam character banners with the fate points that don't roll over.

Anyways, nice Eula cosplay. The sword detail is nice too.


Bonus pic:
F2uO_aBWYAAAntp
 
I see where you're coming from, but as a guy that mostly never even loads into Abyss because I don't find it fun, I'm willing to give another mode a shot. I think the key will be how dynamic it is and how much it changes from month to month. If it's just "abyss but less options", then I agree that it's probably bad and I will just to continue to ignore it like I ignore current Abyss. I'm willing to give it a shot before poopoo-ing it though.

Well the only way for current Abyss to go was to keep inflating monster HP. Either way, both modes are simply there as an advertisement for current banners. At least this one is all trial (and friend loaner) characters I think, so they can force mastery of mechanics instead of artifact min/maxing, epeen crit farming, big number snapshot type bullshit.
Gotta say I fundamentally disagree with you. I don't love Abyss. It's rather repetitive and stale. But it's the only mode that truly allows players to test their characters and teams. And since this game revolves heavily around improving characters with constellations, weapons, levels and artifacts, it is vital to have such a mode. It's a mode that needs to be preserved and expanded upon as much as possible.

But instead of that, they're bringing a new mode that completely abandons all that, including the gameplay loop that has driven this game for 4 years, and replaces it with a glorified character trial. It's like a Pokémon game where you don't catch or train your own Pokémon. What's the point? The only explanation I could think of for this is that it isn't actually an endgame mode. But that doesn't explain why they halved the amount of Abyss cycles.

The way it's looking now, I'll only do it to get Primos and try to forget it as quickly as possible after. Just like all of the other shitty events they've done in this game with trial characters.

Yea there hasn't been any further info on it yet, but they would almost HAVE to add passives in. Like why even bother doing it otherwise? They've had 4+ years of feedback and data to see which characters are in a good place and which ones frankly suck and never get used. This is THE opportunity to fine tune those characters without budging on their "we don't buff characters after they release" shit. Could also breathe life into reruns and those scam character banners with the fate points that don't roll over.
Looks like they're messing up Clorinde and Sigewinne as we speak. I have little faith that they'd use this opportunity to finally do the right thing.
 

Pejo

Member
Gotta say I fundamentally disagree with you. I don't love Abyss. It's rather repetitive and stale. But it's the only mode that truly allows players to test their characters and teams. And since this game revolves heavily around improving characters with constellations, weapons, levels and artifacts, it is vital to have such a mode. It's a mode that needs to be preserved and expanded upon as much as possible.
I can totally see where you're coming from, I just think as time goes on, the "hardcore" contingent of this game matters less and less compared to the wide casual market. There will always be a place for spreadsheeters and youtubers and theorycrafters, but I'm guessing they make up an extremely small portion of the overall playerbase. Personally, I prefer difficulty in mechanics, not in stats. That's why I'm curious to see how this new mode goes.

They've slowly but surely introduced good ol' gacha powercreep lately in Fontaine, first with Neuvi, then Navia, and it seems like Arle is a whole new level, at least in my account. It takes VERY little investment to get her to absolutely decimate current content. Seems like another way to cater to casuals that spend, at least to me.
But instead of that, they're bringing a new mode that completely abandons all that, including the gameplay loop that has driven this game for 4 years, and replaces it with a glorified character trial. It's like a Pokémon game where you don't catch or train your own Pokémon. What's the point? The only explanation I could think of for this is that it isn't actually an endgame mode. But that doesn't explain why they halved the amount of Abyss cycles.
Yea, I don't think an extra 600 renewable primos would have been too much to keep current Abyss as it is, for those that enjoy it. I can only assume they looked at the back end data and saw attempt/completion numbers and decided it just wasn't worth it for whatever reason.
The way it's looking now, I'll only do it to get Primos and try to forget it as quickly as possible after. Just like all of the other shitty events they've done in this game with trial characters.
Isn't that what 99% of players do with Abyss right now though? I don't see any difference. Only the most hardcore people will jump into abyss after they've cleared it to improve times/tactics.
Looks like they're messing up Clorinde and Sigewinne as we speak. I have little faith that they'd use this opportunity to finally do the right thing.
Bro, I saw that. It's fucked up. Adding cooldown and reducing duration on Chlorinde fucking KILLS me. I wish they'd just do the balancing in damage numbers, not cooldowns. It's the antithesis of fun.
 
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jonnyXx

Member
Well the only way for current Abyss to go was to keep inflating monster HP. Either way, both modes are simply there as an advertisement for current banners. At least this one is all trial (and friend loaner) characters I think, so they can force mastery of mechanics instead of artifact min/maxing, epeen crit farming, big number snapshot type bullshit.
Only the 6 Opening Characters have trial versions, and you can get 1 character from a friend. The rest all have to be your own characters.
 

Pejo

Member
Only the 6 Opening Characters have trial versions, and you can get 1 character from a friend. The rest all have to be your own characters.
Interesting. I only read that first leak where they said it was all trials and a friend rental, I haven't really been keeping up on it. Still hope it's mechanics based instead of a stat check.
 
I can totally see where you're coming from, I just think as time goes on, the "hardcore" contingent of this game matters less and less compared to the wide casual market. There will always be a place for spreadsheeters and youtubers and theorycrafters, but I'm guessing they make up an extremely small portion of the overall playerbase.
Casuals don't whale for constellations and 5-star weapons. Casuals don't log in daily to spend their resin so they can build up their character for Abyss. They need that hardcore audience to keep the game going. They're the ones who keep these new characters and items relevant.

And let's be real, the amount of people who care about a character's power level is huge. Most online discourse is about that. From videos to tier lists to build guides and even leaks. So even if not everyone is a fan of Abyss specifically, it has always played a vital role in benchmarking characters' performance.

MHY doesn't really seem to gain anything from minimizing that aspect of the game.

Personally, I prefer difficulty in mechanics, not in stats. That's why I'm curious to see how this new mode goes.
I get your criticisms about stats and such, but I feel like that's a problem with the core game mechanics, rather than Abyss itself. This new mode doesn't really address that, because those mechanics still make up the vast majority of this game.

I also doubt this mode will be more skill-based. MHY is able to control way more parameters for this challenge than Abyss. If anything, it's a more controlled environment for them to shill characters in.

They've slowly but surely introduced good ol' gacha powercreep lately in Fontaine, first with Neuvi, then Navia, and it seems like Arle is a whole new level, at least in my account. It takes VERY little investment to get her to absolutely decimate current content. Seems like another way to cater to casuals that spend, at least to me.
Hard to say if that's for the sake of casuals or to bait folks into spending money. Also, Abyss difficulty just scaled along with those powerspikes, while dedicated players could still use old favorites. That is ideal.

Isn't that what 99% of players do with Abyss right now though? I don't see any difference. Only the most hardcore people will jump into abyss after they've cleared it to improve times/tactics.
I don't do Abyss just to get Primos. I do it because I want to challenge hard content with new characters, teams and builds. I don't (have to) repeat them because I know there's a new one in two weeks. I assume that's how it is for most players who even attempt the Abyss.

Bro, I saw that. It's fucked up. Adding cooldown and reducing duration on Chlorinde fucking KILLS me. I wish they'd just do the balancing in damage numbers, not cooldowns. It's the antithesis of fun.
I really wonder what would possess those devs to make these changes.
 
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