Support NeoGAF

[EDarkness]

The Sakura story is fantastic. I highly recommend not missing out on it because it's fun and gives a lot of insight into Sakura as a character.

I don't know about being "fantastic", but it's definitely better than the others with fewer ass-pulls and characters that do "normal" things. Unlike the previous ones where the story is just silly with characters doing crappy things for the sake of plot. Kinda glad I didn't skip this one.

Oh, and yesterday I did the 1/2 daily for shits and giggles and it came down rainbow. I was shocked, especially when it turned out to be Blossom Sakura. I guess I REALLY need to work on my magic user team. With Christine, Terra, Blossom Sakura, and Rem it might be worth it now. I almost have my first Letters & Arms, so that'll help a bit.

 

[Muku]

I skipped the story on this one. Not going to lie. The only one I've ever read was Jiraiya's family one. Rest I just don't have time to waste.

This one does have a kill with esper on very last one. It sucks, but just going to have to lose the two tickets. Just did not think I was going to kill him round 2. Since he still had so much HP left. :/ Oh well.

Bit sad no Yun this year. But I kind of oddly want Chow...

 

[Pejo]

I skipped the story on this one. Not going to lie. The only one I've ever read was Jiraiya's family one. Rest I just don't have time to waste.

This one does have a kill with esper on very last one. It sucks, but just going to have to lose the two tickets. Just did not think I was going to kill him round 2. Since he still had so much HP left. :/ Oh well.

Bit sad no Yun this year. But I kind of oddly want Chow...

I'm sure Yun comes back in week 2 of CNY, similar to how Drain and Draculasswell came back week 2 of halloween.

I don't know how I missed this earlier, but Olive enhancements are coming! Time to dust off my 8 Olives! Depending on the multipliers she gets, I might fully enhance one. It's kinda funny, I have only full enhanced 2 units so far despite having and using a lot of the enhancement capable units. Demon Rain and Ace are all I've done.

 

[Shouta]

I don't know about being "fantastic", but it's definitely better than the others with fewer ass-pulls and characters that do "normal" things. Unlike the previous ones where the story is just silly with characters doing crappy things for the sake of plot. Kinda glad I didn't skip this one.

Oh, and yesterday I did the 1/2 daily for shits and giggles and it came down rainbow. I was shocked, especially when it turned out to be Blossom Sakura. I guess I REALLY need to work on my magic user team. With Christine, Terra, Blossom Sakura, and Rem it might be worth it now. I almost have my first Letters & Arms, so that'll help a bit.

I think it's pretty great because of what it says about Sakura when you read in-between the lines. The other Veritas had burdens and ways they dealt with it over the course of the centuries. For Sakura, it was loneliness or solitude, more so than the others IMO. It becomes more apparent with her short story that comes later but it shows how much of a toll it was for her across the 700 years she's lived. It's a pretty great considering the trope they used for her. It's not too often this aspect is explored in games/anime when using this character type.

 

[evangd007]

Almost forgot to spend my FFXII currency. Was able to get 2 Purecrysts, 2 Gigancryst, and moogles for Aileen and Dark Fina.

 

[Chiefonthis]

I don't know why but I did an 11 pull and burned like 20 tickets on this banner. I can't resist time limited units. Chow looks awesome though, too bad I didn't get him.

 

[Pejo]

I don't know why but I did an 11 pull and burned like 20 tickets on this banner. I can't resist time limited units. Chow looks awesome though, too bad I didn't get him.

So far, I've stayed resilient. Reviews of Ang shows him as the new supreme finisher unit (over Nyx and the new enhanced C. Artemos), but only if you have the usual TDH Fixed Dice setup. I'm missing Cloud and an Elfreeda, so eh. I think I'll hold my lapis. I did burn a handful of tickets though, and managed to pick up the 4* unit, so it wasn't a total wash.

 

[Chiefonthis]

So far, I've stayed resilient. Reviews of Ang shows him as the new supreme finisher unit (over Nyx and the new enhanced C. Artemos), but only if you have the usual TDH Fixed Dice setup. I'm missing Cloud and an Elfreeda, so eh. I think I'll hold my lapis. I did burn a handful of tickets though, and managed to pick up the 4* unit, so it wasn't a total wash.

Yeah my 10+1 netted me Yan, her shield TMR looks nice and she could be a decent alternative to Rikku. I like the ability to use damage mitigation right off the bat. She can't equip any weapons though which is bad, and her passives and base stats aren't so great.

 

[EDarkness]

I burned a couple of tickets on this banner, but wasn't lucky enough to get anything. Not one banner unit, so I figure I'll just live with doing the daily from here on out. Been pretty good at saving tickets and I want to stay that way.

 

[Muku]

Got Chow. I'm done.

Used 3 regular tickets and 4 4* tickets. Yielded a pile of crap. Free daily was CoD. 1/2 daily was Mercedes. :/ I decided with the 10+1 ticket I had to go for Chow. I wanted him and Yan. I'll try 1/2 dailles for Yan now. But CHOW! /dance

 

[tuffymon]

Went all in for this banner, snagged Chow, Angx2, Ayaka(2), Emperor(2), and Balthier. Overall super pleased. Also, side note to chow owners, don't send him out on any expeditions... he gets stuck in there yaaaaaaaa... (kicks you to login)

 

[Muku]

Did free daily... got a Rainbow. Was hoping a second Chow. Instead, got Basch. Don't really need MORE tanks, but meh. This is the whole reason I didn't pull on his banner. I wanted Balth...but knew I'd get Basch. Then here he is. Haha.

 

[Pejo]

Dang, congrats Muku, that's a solid string of luck there for you.

Shouta - you were right about the Sakura story event, this one is actually pretty damn good, and even a little touching.

 

[Muku]

Dang, congrats Muku, that's a solid string of luck there for you.

Shouta - you were right about the Sakura story event, this one is actually pretty damn good, and even a little touching.

Thank ya. I was quite surprised. When it was coming down I had to take a double take. I was like say whaaat. He used what little leftover cactaur I had after capping out Sakura. Was supposed to hit 40... got a Great Success and hit 47. Sweet. So next round of Cactaur stuff we get will go to capping him out. Two tanks in just a few days. Different ones.. but well damn. Still don't have Wil in GL. LOL.

Anyone using Hammersmith yet? I'm assuming it's the same percentage as other specific weapon masteries? Just never use hammers. But glad to have it in arsenal now.

On JP last night I ended up capping out Vincent. Got that last bit of 119 to finish him off. Thank goodness. Finished CG Sakura's TM the other day. (Her MAG went up by a lot, so was very happy with that.) So now only 7* currently in group missing their TM is Raegen. Just running him normally he's already 20 something %, so going to use Moogles now to cap him off and get him his.

 

[evangd007]

GL news recap:

- Banner for Yun, Ling, and the cupids.
- GL exclusive Lunar New Year event trial: Kanshou & Bakuya
- 5* guaranteed cash summon (uses money instead of lapis?)
- Lunar New Year giveaway: 5 1% moogles, 4 3* EX tickets, and 1250 lapis over 14 days
- Valentine's gift of 5 chocolates from Fina.

 

[Pejo]

GL news recap:

- Banner for Yun, Ling, and the cupids.
- GL exclusive Lunar New Year event trial: Kanshou & Bakuya
- 5* guaranteed cash summon (uses money instead of lapis?)
- Lunar New Year giveaway: 5 1% moogles, 4 3* EX tickets, and 1250 lapis over 14 days
- Valentine's gift of 5 chocolates from Fina.

Unless this Bakuya trial thing is really really fun, this is a huge step back from last year's CNY, which in my opinion was the best event we ever got.

Though it's hard to complain about free stuff, I'm going to do it anyways, this whole CNY sucks. The freebies suck. Paid gacha sucks too, you're basically paying for a 5* EX ticket plus a bunch of trash, and can't even use your lapis (probably?)

 

[Muku]

This years stuff is already a step back. Why can't Valentine's Day and CNY be their own things again? :/ Plus Valentine's Day event this year blows so much. I did it first day, haven't touched it since.

Also, Gumi must be hurting to want dat money. Sorry Gumi, I'm not paying cash.

 

[Chiefonthis]

Unless this Bakuya trial thing is really really fun, this is a huge step back from last year's CNY, which in my opinion was the best event we ever got.

Though it's hard to complain about free stuff, I'm going to do it anyways, this whole CNY sucks. The freebies suck. Paid gacha sucks too, you're basically paying for a 5* EX ticket plus a bunch of trash, and can't even use your lapis (probably?)

The CNY event this year is crap. The freebies aren't terrible but would be a lot better if they tied them to the exploration like they did last year. Every day the exploration gave new rewards, this year its a one and done and then you get free shit in the mail.

I know some people go nuts about the megacryst farming, but there is no chance in hell I will ever see a ring of dominion. I've crafted 20 Ruler Rings and haven't received a single material yet.

 

[EDarkness]

Not sure how I feel about the cash Summon. Anything over $5 is a no go for me, though. I guess we'll see.

This banner hasn't been kind to me as I haven't gotten one banner unit so far. Everything has been crap. I guess I can live with that, though. It would be nice to have the doge unit, but alas. Continuing to save tickets....

 

[Shouta]

I really want the Secret of Mana collab right now to see what the 7-stars of those characters look like. I know it's coming but I definitely can't wait to see see Randi get buff again, lol.

 

[Pejo]

Reddit is on fire with rage from the price of the cash pull guaranteed 5*. This time, I actually agree with them. What a total shit show. 46 dollars for a 10+1 pull with a non-limited random 5* - what the hell are they thinking. Just completely asinine, and that comes from somebody that used to whale on this game.

 

[Chiefonthis]

Reddit is on fire with rage from the price of the cash pull guaranteed 5*. This time, I actually agree with them. What a total shit show. 46 dollars for a 10+1 pull with a non-limited random 5* - what the hell are they thinking. Just completely asinine, and that comes from somebody that used to whale on this game.

Never whaled but have been a dolphin. I bought a few of the bundles in the past, but mostly with gift cards. I didn't mind spending because I did want to support the dev team for the entertainment they provided. But this 10+1 is about as awful as it gets. My limit would have been 20, but I felt 25 reasonable. Never would have imagined this.

 

[Shouta]

Everyone should be on fire for that price, it's terrible, lol.

 

[Muku]

Well, got a Rainbow last night on my alt. Noticed I got a couple more random tickets. Was going to use both, but only ended up using one. First one... came down Rainbow. Orlandu. Win. He's replacing Lightning now.

 

[evangd007]

$46? That's absurd.

 

[EDarkness]

That $46 charge for a 5* random unit is straight up BS. Folks should be pissed about that and I hope no one does it.

 

[Muku]

You too can spend $46 and possibly get Lightning. Good deal! So awesome! Plz give us free money. Love, Gumi

 

[Shouta]

Next JP event is a Secret of Mana raid like they mentioned in the mid-month livestream. The new character is Flammie who will focus on attack and support. The other Seiken characters are getting their 7-stars as well. Pretty interested in this because I only need 1 more Randi for his STMR which is 50% ATK + 30% Esper Stats.

I've got 1 of each of the other 5-stars as well so I can at least get their 7-stars. STMR would be pretty difficult.

 

[EDarkness]

I wouldn't mind having Flammie, but getting 2 would be hard as hell. Maybe in the process I'll get lucky and get Randi as well. I guess we'll see. My luck on JP has been up an down recently so maybe I'll hit a lucky streak again like with the Valkyrie Profile banner.

 

[Shouta]

7-star Randi is ridiculous. The other 7-star characters are great too. Devs have been hitting it out of the park with making these collab units powerful or useful.

 

[EDarkness]

7-star Randi is ridiculous. The other 7-star characters are great too. Devs have been hitting it out of the park with making these collab units powerful or useful.

I ended up getting a Flammie. How good is it? I'm not sure if I'm gonna get lucky enough to get another one, but I'll keep trying until the end of the event. Might do the step up a ways to see if I can get lucky. Just happy I was able to get one out of a ticket, even though I had to use all of the tickets I had at the time. I also got a Randi, but again, having just one doesn't seem like it's worth it.

Also, Lenneth destroys the raid boss. I used some folks 7* Lenneth and have been able to put up 40+ million in damage. Totally insane. Gotta find a way to get my Lenneth to that level. I used some Select Tickets to get another Cloud and got his TMR for her. Still can't get her to 900 ATK, but working on it. I only had one of the DQ hydras so I could only get one of his TMR, too. Gotta find some alternatives.

EDIT: I also just noticed how many 5* units there on these banners. Three on one banner and two on the other. That's pretty insane. I had decided I wasn't gonna pull on the other banner since I never played the third game and don't have any connection to those characters, but with the insane amount of moogles I'm getting from the raid, I'm starting to rethink that, but the odds of getting even one of those 5* units is extremely low. Also realized the half daily has all the characters on it. Whew. Pure insanity folks. Not sure what to do going forward because I don't want to have a bunch of moogles in my inventory that I can't use and are for limited time units. At least on Global I can always get Fryevia at some point so keeping her moogles is a good idea. There just aren't enough tickets for the sheer number of pulls needed to get everything.

 

[Shouta]

I ended up getting a Flammie. How good is it? I'm not sure if I'm gonna get lucky enough to get another one, but I'll keep trying until the end of the event. Might do the step up a ways to see if I can get lucky. Just happy I was able to get one out of a ticket, even though I had to use all of the tickets I had at the time. I also got a Randi, but again, having just one doesn't seem like it's worth it.

Also, Lenneth destroys the raid boss. I used some folks 7* Lenneth and have been able to put up 40+ million in damage. Totally insane. Gotta find a way to get my Lenneth to that level. I used some Select Tickets to get another Cloud and got his TMR for her. Still can't get her to 900 ATK, but working on it. I only had one of the DQ hydras so I could only get one of his TMR, too. Gotta find some alternatives.

EDIT: I also just noticed how many 5* units there on these banners. Three on one banner and two on the other. That's pretty insane. I had decided I wasn't gonna pull on the other banner since I never played the third game and don't have any connection to those characters, but with the insane amount of moogles I'm getting from the raid, I'm starting to rethink that, but the odds of getting even one of those 5* units is extremely low. Also realized the half daily has all the characters on it. Whew. Pure insanity folks. Not sure what to do going forward because I don't want to have a bunch of moogles in my inventory that I can't use and are for limited time units. At least on Global I can always get Fryevia at some point so keeping her moogles is a good idea. There just aren't enough tickets for the sheer number of pulls needed to get everything.

Flammie is a Support and Attack character. It has buffs, debuffs, healing, damage mitigation, even imperils. Its main damage source comes from jumping and it has 150% TDH at 7-star to help it. Kind of a nice jack of all-trades character. The 7-star cooldown skills are definitely the big ones.

Lenneth is still fantastic and I'm gonna be running between her and Randi now, I think. If you're looking for general attack up TMRs then Makumedi is a good choice because he has a 40% one with Paralyze and Petrify resist.

SoM collab has 5 5-stars between Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3. It's a lot and I don't know when they'll bring it back next because this is the 3rd time they've run it.

 

[EDarkness]

Thanks for the information about Fammie, Shouta. I don't have many tickets (got some from the raid and a couple from the FFT mog king event) so I'm not sure if I should chase after that one Flammie. I worry that I'll end up with Randi (wouldn't be bad) and not be able to get another Flammie. I'll stew for a couple more days before I decide what to do. Right now the cactaur are good for trying to get Vincent to 120 and Flammie to 100.

Looking over my crew again, I see that I have 2 Queens, 2 DKC, and 2 Emp Shera. I may just leave them like they are and not worry about getting them to 7*. I just don't have the EXP for leveling them up.

 

[Pejo]

I really enjoyed that 2 Dragon trial event battle. It was something different that couldn't easily be one-shotted for all rewards, and required some thought and built units without going overboard. We need more bosses like this and Gilgamesh, less like Malboro and Aigiaon.

 

[EDarkness]

I really enjoyed that 2 Dragon trial event battle. It was something different that couldn't easily be one-shotted for all rewards, and required some thought and built units without going overboard. We need more bosses like this and Gilgamesh, less like Malboro and Aigiaon.

I hated that fight. I hope they never do anything like it again. Just let us beat them down and move on with life.

 

[Shouta]

There's a nice middle ground in there that they usually find, lol.

 

[EDarkness]

So not much craziness today...except for the fact that I decided to do the half-daily in JP because of the sheer number of units needed if I want to use up these moogles. It came down rainbow! There are five 5* units on this banner, so the odds of getting another Flammie was low. But the RNG gods decided to give me another! Woot! Still trying to decide if I should do the step thing for some other characters.

A question about the two step banners. What units are in the top one? It seems like the bottom one (the one with two rows) is only the Seiken Densetsu 3 crew. But who's in the top one? I've only done the first 500 lapis on that one and didn't get a rainbow so not sure. That will determine which step banner I'll go with. I have a nice bit of lapis saved up, so maybe I can get lucky,

 

[Shouta]

Current Top Step banner should be Secret of Mana. So the only 2 rainbows in that are Randi and Flammie. It's Flammie's step-up though so she has the bigger portion of the rate-ups. If you want Randi, wait a few days until his Step-up comes and pull on that for him.

The bottom banner with the 3 characters are Seiken Densetsu 3 characters, Riesz, Kevin, and Hawkeye.

 

[Pejo]

Current Top Step banner should be Secret of Mana. So the only 2 rainbows in that are Randi and Flammie. It's Flammie's step-up though so she has the bigger portion of the rate-ups. If you want Randi, wait a few days until his Step-up comes and pull on that for him.

The bottom banner with the 3 characters are Seiken Densetsu 3 characters, Riesz, Kevin, and Hawkeye.

How do these JP step up banners work? Is it like 1/2 price 10 pull then guaranteed rainbow or something?

Got that 10+1 ticket for free this morning on GL, used it and got my Fourthlandu. Hope his STMR is good.

 

[Shouta]

Step-up is pretty simple. It starts with a small pull and eventually increases in number and cost with bigger benefits.

For example, the current Flammie banner is:

Step 1: 1 Pull @ 500 Lapis with a 1.5x rate for Flammie
Step 2: 2 Pulls @ 1000 Lapis with a 5% moogle as a bonus
Step 3: 4 pulls @ 1500 Lapis with a 2x rate for Flammie
Step 4: 6 pulls @ 3000 Lapis with a 10% moogle bonus
Step 5: 10 pulls @ 5000 Lapis with a 5x rate for Flammie

There are a couple of variations on the step-up so it's best to read them closely to see what they do.

 

[EDarkness]

Thanks for the info, Shouta. I might give it a shot to see if I can get another Randi since I can have 7* Flammie now. If I'm gonna go in, I might go in all the way and see where it leads me. Still have some time, so no rush.

 

[Pejo]

Step-up is pretty simple. It starts with a small pull and eventually increases in number and cost with bigger benefits.

For example, the current Flammie banner is:

Step 1: 1 Pull @ 500 Lapis with a 1.5x rate for Flammie
Step 2: 2 Pulls @ 1000 Lapis with a 5% moogle as a bonus
Step 3: 4 pulls @ 1500 Lapis with a 2x rate for Flammie
Step 4: 6 pulls @ 3000 Lapis with a 10% moogle bonus
Step 5: 10 pulls @ 5000 Lapis with a 5x rate for Flammie

There are a couple of variations on the step-up so it's best to read them closely to see what they do.

Interesting, thanks for the info!

So when you say 2x and 5x rate, is that in general or out of all rainbows? So like If I pull on the 5th step, do I have a flat 15% to get Flammie(5 x 3%), OR if I pull a rainbow, I have 5x the chance to get Flammie out of it opposed to like 50% on-banner 50% off-banner? That looks confusing but I think you'll see what I'm getting at.

 

[EDarkness]

I'm pretty sure it's the rainbow rate. In my experience you can get anything out of a rainbow, but the odds of getting a rainbow are increased. I think Muku got three or more rainbows out of a step up at one point. I've had crappy luck with these step up banners, but I did get Lenneth out of the second 1000 lapis step at one point. If your goal is to try and get as many rainbows for a 10+1, then step ups are the way to go. They just take a lot of lapis to do.

 

[Shouta]

Oh sorry, I made an error. Step 5 is an 10+1 pull.

It's the rate for Flammie specifically. So on the Flammie Step-up banner, it's 2% for Flammie, 1% for Randi. So with 5x, it's 10% for Flammie, 1% for Randi. Reverse will be true for Randi's step-up. The 4-star+ slot in the 10+1 pull, Flammie's rate is 18.75% while Randi's is 1.25% because of the 4-star+ ticket rules.

The Seiken Densetsu 3 banner at Step 5 gives the 5x rate on all of the banner 5-stars which is Riesz, Kevin, and Hawkeye. Each 1 is 1% normally. So it's a 5% chance to get the unit you want. However, it has a 15% Rainbow rate overall because it affects all of the 5-stars. Lower chance to get the unit you want but higher chance of a rainbow period.

 

[Pejo]

Thanks for the explanation guys! I hope we get this sooner than later. I'd have killed for that type of banner for Nier.

 

[thebigkahuna]

How in the world do I fight 3* Ifrit in Japan FFBE? I think I have the Ifrit stone (the orange one?) from the Chocobo expeditions and I still can't get in.

 

[Shouta]

How in the world do I fight 3* Ifrit in Japan FFBE? I think I have the Ifrit stone (the orange one?) from the Chocobo expeditions and I still can't get in.

You need to get a red stone from the Chocobo Expeditions to the volcano area. You usually only get it on a Super Success expedition. When you pick Ifrit's 3-star fight, it should tell you how many you have.

 

[thebigkahuna]

Thanks! But is there some secret to getting one? I've been playing on and off since the expeditions were first started and lately have been playing more than GL and I still haven't gotten one. I do mostly 12 hour expeditions.

 

[Shouta]

It's random, no real trick to it. So you just gotta hope for it to show up.

 

[thebigkahuna]

You need to get a red stone from the Chocobo Expeditions to the volcano area.

Aha! Now I feel stupid. I had to reread your reply closer. I didn't realize that you can change the expedition area... I guess I've been sending expeditions to the beginning area all this time without realizing how to change it.