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[Falk]

So Fire Emblem Heroes has been my first gacha experience. I was always leery of them because I thought they were always super predatory and not very game-y, but I've found FEH pretty fun, and as a college student it's something really suitable for short bursts and not a big time commitment like other games. And now I've heard about this game, and people seem to really like it. Am I too late in the game to start Granblue? Is it still popular? I've read that there are better times in the month to make an account/reroll. Is that accurate? I'm still playing FEH but I'd like to try another gacha just to get an idea of what else is out there. For the record I stay f2p. Thanks!

Short CliffsNotes version:

- Never too late to start.
- Has original story, original cast, etc. Pretty great if you're into anime tropes; it does rise a bit above at times
- The game is EXTREMELY grindy. You have been warned. If you're looking for short bursts, you might do well to look elsewhere.
- Game is extremely complex, perhaps too much so for its own good. Again, great if you're into prolonged progression and theorycrafting/numbercrunching but otherwise you'd probably do better to look elsewhere.
- 'i'm staying f2p' in this game... kinda works, I guess? The game is going to badger you into coughing up, but instead of being insurmountable walls, it's more of how good some deals are. Paid 10-pull deals where you get to pick a unit of your choice on top of the pull come by every month or so, meaning you can build yourself an endgame meta team with 3 of these, less depending on your luck with free rolls. This is both good and bad. Good because it's far, far better value for money vs much of the other gacha games out there. Bad, because it'll probably make you question what you've just done for a good long while.

A good strategy might be to start now and just mess around to check out if it's something you want to play for the long-haul, because the game's 3rd anniversary is coming up and there's a fair chance of some ridiculously good new-account/reroll freebies then, so you can decide. In many ways this is the complete antithesis of FEH since it's targeted at the really hardcore crowd, based on an original IP instead of a branding, and has an upper cap on spending (sorta), but if you're looking to check out the spectrum of gacha games...

Otherwise, here's a good thread to check out a few others: neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1128143

edit: The Good Guy side of me has to say though:

and as a college student it's something really suitable for short bursts and not a big time commitment like other games

Recommending "no", heh.

 

[1upsuper]

Thank you very much, Falk. I really appreciate it. It's kinda sounding like I'd be better served looking elsewhere, but I won't completely discount it yet. I like micromanaging in games but with my level of free time I'd rather play something simpler in short bursts and then something more complex when I have the time. It sounds like Granblue is a bit too much of a commitment for what I'm looking for right now. At that point I feel like I'd rather just play a console RPG.

 

[QuiteWhittle]

Releasing summer characters in the middle of winter now huh.

 

[Call me YHWH]

That's some dirty trickery, Cygames. Not a fan of non-legfest limited returning, even if the current mutterings are that they're likely to return for summer legfests.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not huge into Bea!

 

[QuiteWhittle]

I just got her with just 1 single draw ticket. Why can't I be this lucky with characters I actually want?

 

[Hemlock Study]

I just pulled SSR Ferry from a ticket... what's going on... Does this mean I have to go light now... I'm scared.

Aaaand a dupe Gawain and some silver moons from a 3k pull so I guess I'll take the SSR Ferry with gratitude.

 

[Ultimadrago]

It's Time.

Though really, I thought Granblue only celebrated White Day or whatnot.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Not being able for Gran to experience Valentine's Day moments with the male characters is really terrible. Dont they know he and Albert and Feather have the hots for each other ?!

 

[Wyndstryker]

What exactly does the valentines chocolate do?

 

[Ultimadrago]

What exactly does the valentines chocolate do?

Just a special scene (and 14 exp).

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

WTF Bea don't do a cannonball into the onsen not cool

 

[Strimei]

What exactly does the valentines chocolate do?

The chocolates you give don't do much.

The chocolates you get as Gran however have a bit more of an experience boost for summons/characters/weapons.

I imagine come White Day it'll be the reverse, with Djeeta getting and Gran giving.

 

[Mike Zhang]

 

[Falk]

what have i done

 

[Ultimadrago]

what have i done

I-I never took you for an Elmelaura man, Falk!

 

[Call me YHWH]

http://granbluefantasy.jp/pages/?p=11577

Oh god, summer Zoe inc again.

EDIT:

New showdown has GW style ele resist? Is this going to become commonplace?

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I guess they really want people to play all elements.

This will be hard to manage.

 

[MrCinos]

I'm playing it 3rd day (26 rank) and liking it so far. My first SSR character is Lady Gray (darK), but the weapon tied to her has light element. Which element should I focus on? Or Do I still strive for making common element deck (i.e. wind) when upgrading weapons?
Should I decide on the element after I get 1-2 more SSR characters (it'd take time since I'll be playing strictly f2p though)?

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I'm playing it 3rd day (26 rank) and liking it so far. My first SSR character is Lady Gray (darK), but the weapon tied to her has light element. Which element should I focus on? Or Do I still strive for making common element deck (i.e. wind) when upgrading weapons?
Should I decide on the element after I get 1-2 more SSR characters (it'd take time since I'll be playing strictly f2p though)?

Until you get more characters its going to be a bit to early too focus on an element (unless you already have 3/4 of an element), also SR characters can be just as good, especially ones that can get 5 stars.

 

[Call me YHWH]

I'm playing it 3rd day (26 rank) and liking it so far. My first SSR character is Lady Gray (darK), but the weapon tied to her has light element. Which element should I focus on? Or Do I still strive for making common element deck (i.e. wind) when upgrading weapons?
Should I decide on the element after I get 1-2 more SSR characters (it'd take time since I'll be playing strictly f2p though)?

Until you get more characters its going to be a bit to early too focus on an element (unless you already have 3/4 of an element), also SR characters can be just as good, especially ones that can get 5 stars.

This is good advice; start thinking of an element you want to play down the line. Decide if you want to go full f2p or if you're down to do light spending on surprise tickets, beginner's start dash, etc.

Until you've got a mono element team together, look for Grand Order friend summons -- they'll help you breeze through the early game.

Don't be afraid to ask questions, Granblue is a complex, number-crunchy game, and not everything immediately apparent. Welcome to the fold!

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

My very first attack on Xeno Ifrit was a 1.5 million shot of Oh My Bahamut

Things got progressively worse from there. Fuck my water team.

 

[Verelios]

My very first attack on Xeno Ifrit was a 1.5 million shot of Oh My Bahamut

Things got progressively worse from there. Fuck my water team.

I just said fuck it and put Yoda on my Light team. Whatever, 2 of my guys have revive so we ARE finishing this fight eventually.

 

[Wyndstryker]

The Grand Order friend summons are amazing. Helped me when my team was still Earth/Fire/Dark

Now I got full earth and full fire team. And a lone dark user =(. Narumaya is lonely.

 

[MrCinos]

Thanks for the advice. I didnt pay attention to Grand Order's summon ability before, I've been using Kaguya (whenever possible) for auto-revive and boost in item-drops both for farm and for tough quests.

Also, how do I use/pick friend's summon? I've only one so far. Does it work only if he is online and is it located in the same pick list before quest starts? Is it indicated differently from the others in the list?

I also got my first 3000 rainbow crystals. Do I just spend them on 3000-cost premium draw or should I wait for sales that cut crystals cost? If there are any.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Thanks for the advice. I didnt pay attention to Grand Order's summon ability before, I've been using Kaguya (whenever possible) for auto-revive and boost in item-drops both for farm and for tough quests.

Also, how do I use/pick friend's summon? I've only one so far. Does it work only if he is online and is it located in the same pick list before quest starts? Is it indicated differently from the others in the list?

it will say friend, though it only selects some of your friends based on if they recently played.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I also got my first 3000 rainbow crystals. Do I just spend them on 3000-cost premium draw or should I wait for sales that cut crystals cost? If there are any.

Theres no point wasting your crystals at a time when nothing of interest or significance is being boosted (for example spending them during this period is a waste unless you really want the two (THEMED) characters)).

Premium draw banner tells you what is boosted.

 

[Liseda]

I think it's time for me to realize that I've spent too much time playing something that's just an obvious cash grab.

With all the absurd powercreeping and shitty bandaid fixes, yeah no thanks.

 

[Astarte]

i went from being determined to farm 3 mlb flamescythes to 1 mlb is good enough

just managed to do it, i'm done with this event

 

[captainpat]

yea I don't what to do with this event. This boss is hard as hell if you don't have a decent water pool but we haven't gotten a new water unk in almost a year.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I wish I could make a water pool in time, but Levi seems to be really nice to me, an SSR about 3/4 times I solo Levi Omega is great.

Maybe Ill start building teams for each element now that my light pool is just in need of sword drops and *elements*

I just remembered I had a dark pool and its basically only SSR Draw weapons w 2 Celeste SSRs.

 

[Wyndstryker]

This event is too much for my Fire and Earth teams.

I still want the summer Narumaya to go with my regular Narumaya...

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

I never started farming regular Ifrit, so in the end this event is just a way for me to get two cheap copies of the summon and spear.

 

[Pics_nao]

Glad I play all elements. My water team is having little difficulty doing this event even with the shit pool. Now if only I could get axe flips. I just need one forged axe.

 

[Call me YHWH]

This event is very obnoxious.

I'd be infinitely more okay with it if they'd advertised that the GW resistance would apply to things like this, so I could have used the time to build up my water pool during magnafest. I like the idea behind the changes themselves -- promoting things other than dark/wind/light, but god if I'm not salty about the possibility of not even getting a single MLB axe for my fire grid.

I know it's going to come around again but holy hell is it like a thorn in my side, haha.

 

[3Kaze]

I don't like the changes but it's okay, I'm just skipping this event and won't bother much for GW. Spending less time on this game is a good thing.

 

[firehawk12]

I'm not sure I understand what the difference is with this event and others?

 

[Call me YHWH]

I'm not sure I understand what the difference is with this event and others?

This event has the newly implemented Guild Wars elemental resistance applied to it. If you're not on the advantageous side of the wheel ie: water, then you're hitting the boss for significantly less damage. Comparable to the damage you'd do if you were the disadvantageous element -- wind in this case.

It's upsetting people because this weapon is very strong for a fire grid, and with the next GW event being wind, people really want one or more of these, but they may not have a water pool. Meaning it is very difficult to clear the raids and farm the mats.

There was no warning of this event having the resistance applied to it. It caught a lot of people off guard.

 

[Falk]

It's upsetting people because this weapon is very strong for a fire grid, and with the next GW event being wind, people really want one or more of these, but they may not have a water pool. Meaning it is very difficult to clear the raids and farm the mats.

There was no warning of this event having the resistance applied to it. It caught a lot of people off guard.

I think this is where many people are at.

I can totally get behind progression being sideways after a certain point to keep moving up, since the alternative to that would be needing a greater upwards power creep (both in terms of new loot and making new characters appealing to people already with solid cores) but having no warning whatsoever, especially as a critical lead-up to GW is just all kinds of ass.

Not to mention while the theoretical fundamental idea behind sideways progression is a good one, there have been some baffling missteps in terms of execution over the past year, what with Summer Zooey and the whole Fenrir Bow debacle. Heck, even as broken as Korwa was that situation was resolved in a much more elegant manner, notwitstanding Korwa remains the best buffer for a lot of off-element situations.

 

[firehawk12]

This event has the newly implemented Guild Wars elemental resistance applied to it. If you're not on the advantageous side of the wheel ie: water, then you're hitting the boss for significantly less damage. Comparable to the damage you'd do if you were the disadvantageous element -- wind in this case.

It's upsetting people because this weapon is very strong for a fire grid, and with the next GW event being wind, people really want one or more of these, but they may not have a water pool. Meaning it is very difficult to clear the raids and farm the mats.

There was no warning of this event having the resistance applied to it. It caught a lot of people off guard.

Is that the Xeno tier weapon? I can't get any of those mats to even drop. lol

But maybe I'm missing something... I've only been playing for a few months, but I seem to remember these types of events happening before? Like, a boss that is one element and you grind him for parts to trade in the shop for the summon/SSR weapon...

(All my teams suck anything, so I'm probably too casual to notice the difference)

 

[Falk]

The FORMAT is rather familiar - kill boss, get drops, trade for loot. It's a little different in that it's both a showdown (implying solo) and a raid (implying multiplayer) combined together, with loot from both being required for the turn-ins. In the past, raid events usually had the drawbox system for dispensing loot.

All those differences are just minor details though, and not what a lot of people are upset over.

Elements already had an advantage vs events where the boss is weak vs your grid's element. What this event (and presumably everything of this new Xeno or post-Magna tier) does is further penalize everything that isn't element-advantage, making an already slow grind a tepid one.

It doesn't matter if you can or can't kill the content with your existing strong, non-water grid, or your shitty water grid, because without that additional penalty, you'd have been doing it significantly faster, and for a grind which is essentially a chance to spawn yet another encounter (nightmare) for a drop that you need, it simply becomes too much.

All that being said, like I noted it seems to all be part of a coordinated push for people to progress sideways for 3rd year after completing one reasonably decent Magna grid. Everything else - from GWs already adopting this penalty (and increasing it in immediate future) and the magna raids themselves being made far easier to farm, from reduced BP costs to increased loot chances, etc.

The problem isn't the plan, the problem is the execution, i.e. no prior warning w.r.t. Xeno Ifrit.

 

[firehawk12]

Ah, fair enough. Admittedly this is all over my head since I still haven't touched the casino or done any co-op missions yet and I'm closing in on level 90.

But I've seen people basically burst bosses and kill them in seconds, so I assume this is just them dealing with power creep... like how all FFRK bosses are RNG-fests now.

 

[Falk]

In FFRK terms, think that in addition to having rewards for Cid Missions, all Ultimates and above suddenly had penalty for non-RS gear.

And there was no warning.

 

[firehawk12]

In FFRK terms, think that in addition to having rewards for Cid Missions, all Ultimates and above suddenly had penalty for non-RS gear.

And there was no warning.

Oh, ouch... none of this seems to be surfaced to the player in any way, which is kind of crazy. (Either that or I missed a message somewhere).

 

[MrCinos]

Beginner's question again. This time about weapons.

So far I have these weapons of note:

Wind: 1 SSR + 1 SR
Earth: 2 SR
Fire: 1 SR
Water: 1 SR
Light: 1 SSR + 4 SR + SSR Amira character
Dark: 1 SR + SSR Lady Gray character

I'm not counting EXP Boost Light weapons, those exist solely to use as upgrade fuel, right?

From what I've read Amira is a decent light-element character and since I've got a few Light weapons from early free draws should I focus on upgrading Light element weapons now? Or should I upgrade 1 weapon for each element (and repeat the process) while I don't have at least 4-man party of the same element?

 

[Dedication Through Light]

IMO its better to focus on one element, make a pretty powerful party and weapon grid for that element, then its able to be used so you can at least fight all the other elements respective bosses so you can start building up those pools.

 

[TUSR]

Beginner's question again. This time about weapons.

So far I have these weapons of note:

Wind: 1 SSR + 1 SR
Earth: 2 SR
Fire: 1 SR
Water: 1 SR
Light: 1 SSR + 4 SR + SSR Amira character
Dark: 1 SR + SSR Lady Gray character

I'm not counting EXP Boost Light weapons, those exist solely to use as upgrade fuel, right?

From what I've read Amira is a decent light-element character and since I've got a few Light weapons from early free draws should I focus on upgrading Light element weapons now? Or should I upgrade 1 weapon for each element (and repeat the process) while I don't have at least 4-man party of the same element?

Are Lady Grey and Amira your only SSRs right now?

 

[MrCinos]

Are Lady Grey and Amira your only SSRs right now?

Yes, they are the only ones so far from guaranteed draws as part of tutorial (quests). I'll be moving with a snail pace since I'm going with F2P approach. I might be able to have 6k crystals by the end of the month for a couple of draws.

 

[Ultimadrago]

Finally got Summer Sara~

 

[firehawk12]

Yes, they are the only ones so far from guaranteed draws as part of tutorial (quests). I'll be moving with a snail pace since I'm going with F2P approach. I might be able to have 6k crystals by the end of the month for a couple of draws.

Starting somewhat recently and playing casual and mostly f2p, I would suggest just slowly going through the story and trying to do events to get upgrade mats and SSR drops.
Yes, the biggest limiting factor will always be the gacha RNG, since that is the only way to get characters, but you will eventually get the SSR summons you need for each element + a pool of weapons.

I don't know the meta, but it's because Light and Dark weapons rarely drop from events (which means you will need to farm the Luminera Omega, which is a whole different set of problems if you can't kill it yourself) that people recommend starting with one of the four main elements.

For a month or so I basically used Grand Order exclusively with a 4 element team because that's just what the game gave me. Make your main character a dark fencer who matches against the element that you are fighting, have Katalina, hopefully a healer/tank, and a DPS character of different elements, and try to build up to the point where you have a reliable team to work on.

Caveat - again, since I am casual, there may be a better way to start off... but that's what I did.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Starting somewhat recently and playing casual and mostly f2p, I would suggest just slowly going through the story and trying to do events to get upgrade mats and SSR drops.
Yes, the biggest limiting factor will always be the gacha RNG, since that is the only way to get characters, but you will eventually get the SSR summons you need for each element + a pool of weapons.

I don't know the meta, but it's because Light and Dark weapons rarely drop from events (which means you will need to farm the Luminera Omega, which is a whole different set of problems if you can't kill it yourself) that people recommend starting with one of the four main elements.

For a month or so I basically used Grand Order exclusively with a 4 element team because that's just what the game gave me. Make your main character a dark fencer who matches against the element that you are fighting, have Katalina, hopefully a healer/tank, and a DPS character of different elements, and try to build up to the point where you have a reliable team to work on.

Caveat - again, since I am casual, there may be a better way to start off... but that's what I did.

? The last event (before 4 beasts) had a very nice SSR dark weapon though, and a great Albert., Unite & Fight gives you a pretty nice light weapon (well since they are all default light).