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[Reizo Ryuu]

The Senadina/Dreamseeker dance made me cringe so damn hard I almost shat my eyeballs out of my toes, though.

Haha yeah, I did like the rest of the cutscene though, mixing 2d animation and cg to show what I presume is the martian apocalypse.

I still vastly prefer the full DMC-ness of APHO to this new combat - so far.

Same, but I like the added layer of combat, and astral ring augmenting attacks like a mini devil trigger is nice; as a hammer main in MH, I especially like coralie going crazy with the hammer during it

That default jazz porno song is great, but I found an NPC that sells part 1 OST songs so naturally my first purchase was "NEEVEEEEEERR LEEEET YOU GO"

Heh yeah I figured you would ;P

Like what the fuck is even the point of pulling and building characters now? Abyss and Memorial Arena then just use trial everywhere else. If you don't need to pull, you don't even need to play abyss. Seems stupid.

Yeah this is a bit curious, I do personally enjoy going through ER, but there isn't much to use them otherwise, maybe later on in the story you'll get to use anyone; there's also an unused slot on senadina's skills currently that says it's for future content.

could have sworn they mentioned that they'd be migrating some valks before.

They definitely did yeah, and I assumed hua and luna would've at least brought over, but I'm guessing they don't want any of the part 1 valks to "overshadow" the new ones, so they'll wait a bit before doing that.

I hate how wordy HI3 is as of late.

They seem to want to tell a lot of story in a small time, fewer dialogue would indeed be preferable; maybe something for the surveys

Also kinda weird they just completely scrapped coop lol, I guess nobody played it.

 

[deanote666]

Been trying to scrounge up primos for my F2P genshin account to get Yae's weapon and got... Amos bow...

 

[Pejo]

Haha yeah, I did like the rest of the cutscene though, mixing 2d animation and cg to show what I presume is the martian apocalypse.

Oh yea their animation and pre rendered scenes were all great except the dance (which was done well - you can tell it was all mocapped from a real dancer). I get where they're going with it, but I feel like there's a big disconnect between how artsy they WANT the game to be vs. the playerbase that actually consumes the game. Unless the CN playerbase is full of dignified businessmen that sit around sipping tea and whiskey and reciting poems to each other (but we all know it's mostly psychopaths that hide in the bushes trying to kill the CEO).

Same, but I like the added layer of combat, and astral ring augmenting attacks like a mini devil trigger is nice; as a hammer main in MH, I especially like coralie going crazy with the hammer during it

I'll be honest I don't get the astral ring stuff yet, that's why I need to go through the character tutorials. I did see that they added Astral Ring skills to some (all?) of the ELFs though, which is cool.

Heh yeah I figured you would ;P

There's lots of good songs to buy in there to be honest, but I only had enough for 1 and a heart wants what a heart wants. I hope they improve the feature so you can make playlists and you can have those songs play in the main lobby instead of just when you're actively in Dreamseeker's room standing around.

Yeah this is a bit curious, I do personally enjoy going through ER, but there isn't much to use them otherwise, maybe later on in the story you'll get to use anyone; there's also an unused slot on senadina's skills currently that says it's for future content.

Yea I saw that ??? unlockable skill. Wonder if it will be a Devil Trigger proper?

They definitely did yeah, and I assumed hua and luna would've at least brought over, but I'm guessing they don't want any of the part 1 valks to "overshadow" the new ones, so they'll wait a bit before doing that.

Ok good, I thought I just made it up for a minute there. Yea I don't mind waiting as long as they eventually come over. I'd like to see Hua/Luna for sure. They'll probably do the IMG trio too I'd imagine. Griseo (boobs ver.) could probably use a bit of a buff too. Her gameplay was so underwhelming, even for a SP valk, even as SSS.

They seem to want to tell a lot of story in a small time, fewer dialogue would indeed be preferable; maybe something for the surveys

Yea at least now I can stop pointing out examples of shit localization since they seem to have fixed that for the most part.

Also kinda weird they just completely scrapped coop lol, I guess nobody played it.

I was kinda down on Realms of Battle (replacement for Co-Op as far as getting materials) at first, since it seemed just like another grind mode, but it's just a one-time clear and they throw some unique gameplay modes in there that were actually fun, but they hide them at the end. Like last round, there was a stage where you fly around Panzer Dragoon style on Kurikara, and a Griseo Jedi Training arc mode where you perfect parry lasers back at honkai beasts that shoot at you from an unreachable platform.

That said, I hope they rework co-op into something fun and bring it back someday. I didn't hate the idea of it, but they didn't put a single resources into improving it since like version 3.0. Same stages, same shit, more braindead players as time went on.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Yea I saw that ??? unlockable skill. Wonder if it will be a Devil Trigger proper?

That would be cool yeah.

That said, I hope they rework co-op into something fun and bring it back someday. I didn't hate the idea of it, but they didn't put a single resources into improving it since like version 3.0. Same stages, same shit, more braindead players as time went on.

Oh it was def braindead yeah, just didn't think they would just axe it so completely without anything to replace it with; if they bring it back they should definitely build it on the part 2 improvements, some nice big areas with some actual coop mechanics.

 

[Pejo]

Oh it was def braindead yeah, just didn't think they would just axe it so completely without anything to replace it with; if they bring it back they should definitely build it on the part 2 improvements, some nice big areas with some actual coop mechanics.

I bet that's the challenge for them. Including stuff complex enough to be fun/challenging but accounting for the sheer number of numbskulls. Like I had a not-insignificant number of players that couldn't figure out that each player had to stand on a big glowing circle to trigger the stages to advance in a mode that had been around for 5 years. Hell even 2 weeks ago I had somebody bring HoHE Elysia to Jizo. How do you do objectives that wouldn't wreck the other players' experience when someone afks or dumbs out.

*edit*

Nice.

 

[Pejo]

What artifacts are you guys using on your Nahida?

 

[jonnyXx]

What artifacts are you guys using on your Nahida?

4pc Deepwood is definitely her best set. If someone else on the team is already using 4pc Deepwood then she could use Gilded Dreams. Also Golden Troupe is viable if played off field and of course 2pc+2pc combinations of ATK, EM, dendro damage, or E. Skill damage.

 

[deanote666]

I bet that's the challenge for them. Including stuff complex enough to be fun/challenging but accounting for the sheer number of numbskulls. Like I had a not-insignificant number of players that couldn't figure out that each player had to stand on a big glowing circle to trigger the stages to advance in a mode that had been around for 5 years. Hell even 2 weeks ago I had somebody bring HoHE Elysia to Jizo. How do you do objectives that wouldn't wreck the other players' experience when someone afks or dumbs out.

*edit*

Nice.

Nahida 4pc deepwood with EM main stats on all 3. Pejo

For co-op, never underestimate stupidity. Back when I played Resident Evil 5, I co-opted with strangers since I was bored. Was a puzzle where one stood on a raft while the other turned a crank. Kept using in game emotes, telling the other person to stay and they kept following me.

 

[InterMusketeer]

The special program just finished and they announced the new Chronicled Wish banner:

So it's pretty straightforward but also surprisingly complex to explain. I'll try my best to keep it short:

• Separate banner with separate progress
• Pity system same as limited character banner (73 soft pity, 90 hard pity)
• Uses Intertwined (pink) Fates
• You pick an item from the list before wishing, and this item becomes part of a 50/50
• If you lose your 50/50, it will be to other featured items of the same type (character OR weapon)
• Losing 50/50 gives you a fate point (like on weapon banner) but only one fate point is required to ensure the item you want
• Fate points are lost when the banner changes (again, like weapon banner)
• Banner duration unknown, likely entire update
• 4-stars unknown
• Characters can only be featured on this banner if they've had two reruns (three banners total) and haven't been on a banner recently

As for my opinion: It's a nice addition to the game. More characters and weapons are available at similar or better odds. People can finally ensure their Mona, Jean or Diluc. Chance of losing your 50/50 to other limited characters and weapons is a plus. Great to see Beacon and Hunter's Path here. I assume those two will always be available.

This particular banner is not that appealing though. Most of these characters and weapons are obsolete. I think a future Liyue version would be much more interesting with Hu Tao, Ganyu, Childe(?), Staff of Homa, maybe even Primordial Jade Cutter and such on there. I feel like those are a lot more relevant and valuable.

The rest of the update is as expected. Chiori still has the construct thing so she sucks. Mondstadt festival is based on alchemy and potions. Some other minor events and things. Minor QoL upgrades to guide newer players in upgrading their characters.

Here's some codes:
DAKTDBWTZTYR
AT3BDSWTYBKD
5TKAUAWAGBJR

 

[deanote666]

The special program just finished and they announced the new Chronicled Wish banner:

So it's pretty straightforward but also surprisingly complex to explain. I'll try my best to keep it short:

• Separate banner with separate progress
• Pity system same as limited character banner (73 soft pity, 90 hard pity)
• Uses Intertwined (pink) Fates
• You pick an item from the list before wishing, and this item becomes part of a 50/50
• If you lose your 50/50, it will be to other featured items of the same type (character OR weapon)
• Losing 50/50 gives you a fate point (like on weapon banner) but only one fate point is required to ensure the item you want
• Fate points are lost when the banner changes (again, like weapon banner)
• Banner duration unknown, likely entire update
• 4-stars unknown
• Characters can only be featured on this banner if they've had two reruns (three banners total) and haven't been on a banner recently

As for my opinion: It's a nice addition to the game. More characters and weapons are available at similar or better odds. People can finally ensure their Mona, Jean or Diluc. Chance of losing your 50/50 to other limited characters and weapons is a plus. Great to see Beacon and Hunter's Path here. I assume those two will always be available.

This particular banner is not that appealing though. Most of these characters and weapons are obsolete. I think a future Liyue version would be much more interesting with Hu Tao, Ganyu, Childe(?), Staff of Homa, maybe even Primordial Jade Cutter and such on there. I feel like those are a lot more relevant and valuable.

The rest of the update is as expected. Chiori still has the construct thing so she sucks. Mondstadt festival is based on alchemy and potions. Some other minor events and things. Minor QoL upgrades to guide newer players in upgrading their characters.

Here's some codes:
DAKTDBWTZTYR
AT3BDSWTYBKD
5TKAUAWAGBJR

Blue or purple wishes?

 

[InterMusketeer]

Blue or purple wishes?

The purple ones, unfortunately.

Also, Hoyo has said these banners will happen occasionally. That's what they initially said about double banners too, and those are constant now but keep it in mind for the near future.

 

[Pejo]

The purple ones, unfortunately.

Also, Hoyo has said these banners will happen occasionally. That's what they initially said about double banners too, and those are constant now but keep it in mind for the near future.

Purple wishes kills this banner for me instantly. It's nice for new players but as someone that's played since launch (and whaled on older characters back in the day to get their C6), there's nothing here that would ever tempt me to pull. The fact that the Fate points are lost every time the banner leaves doesn't really make it good for F2P players either. Wonder if the pity # itself remains across banners of this type or if that gets wiped too?

I do find it kinda funny they pretty much invalidated their own weapon banners though, as long as the character they're for sucks enough to make it to this banner type. Probably won't see Homa on there.

This is one of the things that Wuthering Waves does better. Weapons are straight up 100% drop rate the first time on their respective weapon banner. The generic banner straight up lets you pick which weapon you want and you're guaranteed to get it when you get a 5*.

*edit*

InterMusketeer did they announce whether Chiori would end up in Standard banner or not? I didn't think they'd pull another Dehya but sentiment seems that she's pretty middling/bad like Dehya so I was curious. I'm not planning on watching the special program.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Purple wishes kills this banner for me instantly. It's nice for new players but as someone that's played since launch (and whaled on older characters back in the day to get their C6), there's nothing here that would ever tempt me to pull. The fact that the Fate points are lost every time the banner leaves doesn't really make it good for F2P players either. Wonder if the pity # itself remains across banners of this type or if that gets wiped too?

I do find it kinda funny they pretty much invalidated their own weapon banners though, as long as the character they're for sucks enough to make it to this banner type. Probably won't see Homa on there.

Progress towards a 5-star is carried over. To me this is not a huge deal. The banner doesn't seem to have any rate up 4-stars so there's no real reason to build pity on it. Just make sure you have enough to get the thing you want and leave. Heck, probably best to only do single pulls to not waste more wishes than necessary.

For most of us who've been playing for a while, this banner type is probably not that interesting anyway. But if you happen to want to get/invest in older characters, I think this banner is superior to regular limited wishes.

For the weapons it's a little bit mixed. The weapon banner has different drop rates and a lower soft pity. It's entirely possible to get three 5-star weapons on the weapon banner in the same amount of fates it'd take to get it on this Chronicled banner. But if you can manage to win a 50/50, that's a pretty good value for some weapons.

InterMusketeer did they announce whether Chiori would end up in Standard banner or not? I didn't think they'd pull another Dehya but sentiment seems that she's pretty middling/bad like Dehya so I was curious. I'm not planning on watching the special program.

They didn't mention that at all, so I'm guessing she's limited. They probably decided to announce this new banner type along with Chiori, to get us ready for when she inevitably appears on it herself.

 

[deanote666]

Did another yolo pull on my F2P account and got the jade spear... So essentially 2 5* in a row. Now at 2 5* on the weapon banner on that account... Now to try and grind out enough to get a 3rd 5*...

 

[deanote666]

Wild star rail code encountered.

Sparkle: 02/29 — 03/27
SB87P52BTVQ3

Reminder

 

[jonnyXx]

Does anyone know if the 3 buffs on the Widsith have a equal chance to activate? It seems like the EM buff is less likely.
I was messing around in Abyss trying to see how high a vape I can hit with Neuvillette and I didn't get the EM buff until like 30 Abyss resets.

In the end it turns out the DMG buff gave the highest result anyway.
With the EM buff I hit for 245k, with DMG buff...

 

[InterMusketeer]

Does anyone know if the 3 buffs on the Widsith have a equal chance to activate? It seems like the EM buff is less likely.
I was messing around in Abyss trying to see how high a vape I can hit with Neuvillette and I didn't get the EM buff until like 30 Abyss resets.

The weapon description just says random, and I haven't seen anyone else mentioning unequal odds. I've got to assume then that it's a 33% for each buff. You were probably just incredibly unlucky.

 

[Pejo]

Reminder

Apparently that was a one time use code because when I tried it, it said it was already used. Thanks for the reminder regardless!

Does anyone know if the 3 buffs on the Widsith have a equal chance to activate? It seems like the EM buff is less likely.
I was messing around in Abyss trying to see how high a vape I can hit with Neuvillette and I didn't get the EM buff until like 30 Abyss resets.

In the end it turns out the DMG buff gave the highest result anyway.
With the EM buff I hit for 245k, with DMG buff...

Just RNG RNGing if I had to guess.

So new Star Rail leaks for the 1st anniversary, looks like they're doing 3 skins (we've already seen one in the game for March 7th) + 2 actual swimsuits(?) in a later patch if that can be believed. Man they are NOT gonna beat the allegations of HSR being the favored child of HoYo games with this...

*edit*

I lost some brain cells, but I had a good time doing it.

 

[InterMusketeer]

So new Star Rail leaks for the 1st anniversary, looks like they're doing 3 skins (we've already seen one in the game for March 7th) + 2 actual swimsuits(?) in a later patch if that can be believed. Man they are NOT gonna beat the allegations of HSR being the favored child of HoYo games with this...

They can't be serious with this...

In other news, I've been doing the Hilichurl event and... it's fine but feels unfinished. There's absolutely no in-game story, not even an NPC with flavor text or anything. There's a short description for each challenge but that's about it. Really strange.

I was also flipping through some of the older pages in this thread. Kinda fun to read some of our (bad) takes from back then. We lost a bunch of people along the way, that's pretty sad. But about a year ago we had the entire Fontaine roster leaked. Now we have one rumored Pyro archon pic. MHY really putting everything under tight security nowadays.

 

[jonnyXx]

The weapon description just says random, and I haven't seen anyone else mentioning unequal odds. I've got to assume then that it's a 33% for each buff. You were probably just incredibly unlucky.

Just RNG RNGing if I had to guess.

It really was just an extremely unlucky run. I did a small test and after 50 abyss resets this time I got all 3 buffs pretty evenly.
ATK: 15
DMG: 19
EM: 16

On a side note, thank the gods that they changed it so resetting Abyss also resets all cooldowns on abilities and weapon effects. Can't believe it took them so long to make that change. Now they need to make it so we can modify equipment from the Abyss character selection screen.

 

[Pejo]

They can't be serious with this...

In other news, I've been doing the Hilichurl event and... it's fine but feels unfinished. There's absolutely no in-game story, not even an NPC with flavor text or anything. There's a short description for each challenge but that's about it. Really strange.

Haven't started it yet. I know Chenyu Vale came out this patch, and it was great, but it feels like the Lantern Rite stuff and anything afterwards has been very very very sparse.

I was also flipping through some of the older pages in this thread. Kinda fun to read some of our (bad) takes from back then. We lost a bunch of people along the way, that's pretty sad. But about a year ago we had the entire Fontaine roster leaked. Now we have one rumored Pyro archon pic. MHY really putting everything under tight security nowadays.

Yea it's a shame we don't have more posters. I guess GAF and this type of game doesn't have much overlap though. Hope Fuz is doing well.

On one hand I'm glad leaks haven't exploded again, but mostly only because they've done nothing but disappoint me outside of Cloud Retainer (and Navia's gameplay - still don't like her design much). I miss the days of 1.x Genshin designs. This new stuff is so overdesigned and frilly. Fontaine in its entirety felt like the design aesthetic was girls designing clothes for their dollies. I was hoping that Natlan was going to be warrior Aztec/Amazonness type designs, but this fucking clown show archon leak has already ruined that hope.

*edit*

Nice Nilou cosplay:

 

[deanote666]

Got an early 5* on my F2P account on the standard and it was a weapon...

Still need 20 or so wishes to hit soft pity on the weapon banner... Dealing with golden nara to grind for primos.

 

[Pejo]

Chiori teaser.



I don't think I've ever been as unhyped for a female character before. It's almost anti-hype. Looks like they're gonna write her like a Disney/Marvel Mary Sue badass 24/7 annoyance.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Just been loggin in for dailies and to drain my energy, but I hit AR57 today so that’s something I guess lol. July 5th will be my official 1 year of playing Genshin, man time flies.

I’ll likely skip Chiori, don’t care that much for Geo to begin with, and I also don’t have that many gems left in my game so I have to be extra picky. Areelchino or whatever her name is will also likely be a skip for me, don’t care for that design at all either. I’m hoping that scar face dude in white is playable though, he looked cool from those leaked images. So whenever that happens lol. Just been spending energy on talents and XP books mostly. Could Retainer is just about done, Mona, Sucrose and Chev are next.

In Star Rail news it’s been the same, standby mode. Dr. Ratio is now wrapped up and fully built as is my Swan. Now it’s just a waiting game for new characters. Have still barely touch the story for 2.0 but I did the first part and met Swan in game, and that dream boss. It’s been fun, but my attention has been too divided.

But man, FF7 Rebirth is amazing. I’ve been having a blast. Taking my sweet time with it and going nice and slow taking it all in. When I am done with it I will likely jump to Dragons Dogma 2 and play that. I figured by then Genshin and Star Rail should have some compelling stuff for me.

 

[Pejo]

Just been loggin in for dailies and to drain my energy, but I hit AR57 today so that’s something I guess lol. July 5th will be my official 1 year of playing Genshin, man time flies.

I’ll likely skip Chiori, don’t care that much for Geo to begin with, and I also don’t have that many gems left in my game so I have to be extra picky. Areelchino or whatever her name is will also likely be a skip for me, don’t care for that design at all either. I’m hoping that scar face dude in white is playable though, he looked cool from those leaked images. So whenever that happens lol. Just been spending energy on talents and XP books mostly. Could Retainer is just about done, Mona, Sucrose and Chev are next.

In Star Rail news it’s been the same, standby mode. Dr. Ratio is now wrapped up and fully built as is my Swan. Now it’s just a waiting game for new characters. Have still barely touch the story for 2.0 but I did the first part and met Swan in game, and that dream boss. It’s been fun, but my attention has been too divided.

But man, FF7 Rebirth is amazing. I’ve been having a blast. Taking my sweet time with it and going nice and slow taking it all in. When I am done with it I will likely jump to Dragons Dogma 2 and play that. I figured by then Genshin and Star Rail should have some compelling stuff for me.

Yea I'm in maintenance mode on HoYo stuff right now myself, so I get it. I highly recommend the 2.0 Star Rail main story though, it was one of the better arcs so far. I probably won't be around much when Dragon's Dogma 2 releases either.

I also just "finished" my Cloud Retainer, 10/10/10, right now running VV set with Enkanomiya catalyst as a support. Still have to build out a proper anemo DPS build for her and try that someday, but it's not a priority. I'm just having a good time bird hopping all over the fucking place. She's even more fun for traversal than Kazuha. If she could use her skill while in the air it'd be even better, but I don't mind that so much since most of the stages are more horizontal than vertical lately. Plus she gets a surprising amount of height on her 3 hops.

Had a bit of extra time so I knocked out the Hilichurl event. InterMusketeer you weren't kidding when you said it felt unfinished. Usually for a game like Genshin that holds your hand while you go potty, it was weird that they just threw you in the middle with little to no explanation. I didn't hate it though, it was easy enough to figure out. I honestly loved the boss churl too. I wish there were more gimmick fights like that than stupid "worm that goes under the ground or up in the air for half the fight" shit. Hilichurl spy eye thing was fun too. That was surprisingly one of my favorite events in a while for the gameplay.

 

[InterMusketeer]

I don't think I've ever been as unhyped for a female character before. It's almost anti-hype. Looks like they're gonna write her like a Disney/Marvel Mary Sue badass 24/7 annoyance.

I'm not as down on her as you, but she feels out of place between the literal gods, secret agents, soldiers, mafia bosses. "I run a clothing store and put annoying customers in their place!" Okay...

Still thinking about pulling though. Because when else are we gonna see another Geo character? Apart from Navia I only have Yun Jin built. Chiori is said to still be the best option for Navia at C0, so although it pains me to pull for such a nerfed character, it might still make sense. The banner's rumored to be terrible though, with Gorou, Yun Jin and Xingqiu. I was hoping for Kirara or maybe Lynette on there. And man, I really want to avoid Gorou at all costs.

Had a bit of extra time so I knocked out the Hilichurl event. InterMusketeer InterMusketeer you weren't kidding when you said it felt unfinished. Usually for a game like Genshin that holds your hand while you go potty, it was weird that they just threw you in the middle with little to no explanation.

I wonder if this is just HYV testing to see if people even care about the flavor text. Maybe it's just me, but Hilichurls are one of the major enemy factions in the game so I actually want to learn more about them. If there was a lore reason for all this, it might be interesting. I'd say drop the story for all the "we found a weird domain" stuff and focus on what really matters.

I thought the boss itself was a tad simplistic, really focusing on the gimmick in each fight as pretty much the only way to beat him. But still it's cool to see them adding new opponents like this.

 

[deanote666]

58 pulls on the weapon banner and have finished the main aranara story quests and fixed the furnace in Inazuma on my F2P account...

Just realized Rana was helped by Arana...

 

[deanote666]

Got it at 66 pulls...

Did the new vale quests, finished the first set of benben quests. Was starting to run low on quick quest chains...

 

[InterMusketeer]

Got it at 66 pulls...

What were you aiming for? The current weapon banner isn't that special, is it?

 

[deanote666]

What were you aiming for? The current weapon banner isn't that special, is it?

Wanted yae's weapon.

She's a beast and her weapon boosts her EM damage boost

Edit: Weapon is more tuned to her elemental skill more than her EM talent but still helps her out.

 

[deanote666]

Wild HI3 code encountered.

From December so I don't know if it's still good.

YATTASENTI

 

[Pejo]

First half banner.

IMO Yun Jin is a pretty good universal pickup, and I guess Gorou if you wanna play Geo memeteams. I will be bowing out of pulling this entire patch unless Chiori really rocks my socks in her trial mode.

*edit*

Bigger news is that the new banner type DOES NOT last the whole patch, it only runs through the same length as the usual limited banner, 21 days. So it went from "decent" to "only roll this if you currently have enough to guarantee double pity"

What a shitfest. They really are unusually stingy on this game compared to their other games.

 

[Pejo]

R Reizo Ryuu - You see they added Senadina to the support valks for Elysian Realm? With her Astral Ring effect and the new weather, Luna just keeps on being the best damn investment I've made in HI3 in forever. It was almost comical how fast I beat flame tiger and Hephestus. Mobius I barely even saw on the screen at the end. Honestly Luna hasn't had a bad weather since she released, and with the Part 2 valks all being Lightning or omni-element support so far, it's just had a side effect of making her better pretty much universally. I hope she's one of the first round of updated old valks for the Part 2 gameplay.

I watched a bit of the 7.4 valk's gameplay and it seems like they immediately gave up on combat being dynamic again and refocused on cinematic rotation based stuff. I was quite bummed out to see that's how they're treating her. Also she looks like an amalgamation of Helia from HI3 with Clara and Acheron from Star Rail. Their creativity in designs hasn't been the best lately.
7.4 Valk next to Helia (and no she's not an Alter or a possessed version of the other girl or anything):

Acheron and Seele (Star Rail):

I get that they're making several games now but they really should be trying harder to give some unique designs...

Also, Genshin releated, they "drip marketed" Arlecchino.

 

[InterMusketeer]

IMO Yun Jin is a pretty good universal pickup, and I guess Gorou if you wanna play Geo memeteams. I will be bowing out of pulling this entire patch unless Chiori really rocks my socks in her trial mode.

I'm happy Dori is here, but otherwise I want to get out as quickly as possible.

Bigger news is that the new banner type DOES NOT last the whole patch, it only runs through the same length as the usual limited banner, 21 days. So it went from "decent" to "only roll this if you currently have enough to guarantee double pity"

What a shitfest. They really are unusually stingy on this game compared to their other games.

It made more sense to keep the banner up for the entire update, but I guess they're banking on FOMO again. I will say that the 4-stars are a welcome surprise though. They're all themed to Mondstadt and you can even get Amber & co and the exclusive 4-star weapons like Mitternachts Waltz. That slightly ups the value of the banner IMO.

Also, Genshin releated, they "drip marketed" Arlecchino.

I'm looking forward to her leaked kit and animations. Rumors have been kind of sparse with leakers just repeating how strong she is, which is not very useful.

Finally, here's Chiori's web event:

Genshin Impact – Step Into a Vast Magical World of Adventure

Genshin Impact is an open-world action RPG. In the game, set forth on a journey across a fantasy world called Teyvat. In this vast world, you can explore seven nations, meet a diverse cast of characters with unique personalities and abilities, and fight powerful enemies together with them, all...

hoyo.link

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

R Reizo Ryuu R Reizo Ryuu - You see they added Senadina to the support valks for Elysian Realm? With her Astral Ring effect and the new weather, Luna just keeps on being the best damn investment I've made in HI3 in forever. It was almost comical how fast I beat flame tiger and Hephestus. Mobius I barely even saw on the screen at the end. Honestly Luna hasn't had a bad weather since she released, and with the Part 2 valks all being Lightning or omni-element support so far, it's just had a side effect of making her better pretty much universally. I hope she's one of the first round of updated old valks for the Part 2 gameplay.

I watched a bit of the 7.4 valk's gameplay and it seems like they immediately gave up on combat being dynamic again and refocused on cinematic rotation based stuff. I was quite bummed out to see that's how they're treating her. Also she looks like an amalgamation of Helia from HI3 with Clara and Acheron from Star Rail. Their creativity in designs hasn't been the best lately.
7.4 Valk next to Helia (and no she's not an Alter or a possessed version of the other girl or anything):

Yeah, while luna isn't the best outside of the Elysian realm, she's by far the best clearer overall in it, weather is almost always in favour of her and even if it isn't, a couple of good sigs and she's doing top tier damage anyway. And yeah that senadina support is absolutely goated for her, I think I hit homu magician with 17 million ult, and kalpas with 13 million; I don't think I've ever beaten kalpas in less than a minute on abstinence

And yeah that looks exactly like Helia lol, at the very least they could've given her a different colour palette, I guess she has smaller tits but whatever; I probably won't pull for her, I'll want to pull for whatever new version of lambda is obviously coming down the line.

 

[Pejo]

I'm happy Dori is here, but otherwise I want to get out as quickly as possible.

What in the world do you use Dori for that Shinobu isn't just flat out better?

It made more sense to keep the banner up for the entire update, but I guess they're banking on FOMO again. I will say that the 4-stars are a welcome surprise though. They're all themed to Mondstadt and you can even get Amber & co and the exclusive 4-star weapons like Mitternachts Waltz. That slightly ups the value of the banner IMO.

I guess, very slightly. Thing is, you and I have both felt the pain of chasing 4*s and the misery that it leads to. Plus in my case I have all the standard 4*s at C6 already except one constellation on Kaeya.

I'm looking forward to her leaked kit and animations. Rumors have been kind of sparse with leakers just repeating how strong she is, which is not very useful.

Supposedly she supplants Hu Tao in her niche as Pyro hypercarry and doesn't have any HP drain, that's good enough for me to roll for Arle. I like Yoimiya, but outside of her I don't have a Pyro DPS that I really enjoy playing, so I hope her gameplay is fun and dynamic. Well as dynamic as any modern HoYo character is. I've read multiple leaks that say her weapon is "must have" for her, whatever that means. Design is "meh" but mods will fix it anyways. I had to laugh that the pose is the "show the ass" pose and then they cover the ass.

Finally, here's Chiori's web event:

Genshin Impact – Step Into a Vast Magical World of Adventure

Genshin Impact is an open-world action RPG. In the game, set forth on a journey across a fantasy world called Teyvat. In this vast world, you can explore seven nations, meet a diverse cast of characters with unique personalities and abilities, and fight powerful enemies together with them, all...

hoyo.link

Thank god, a one-and-done.

Yeah, while luna isn't the best outside of the Elysian realm, she's by far the best clearer overall in it, weather is almost always in favour of her and even if it isn't, a couple of good sigs and she's doing top tier damage anyway. And yeah that senadina support is absolutely goated for her, I think I hit homu magician with 17 million ult, and kalpas with 13 million; I don't think I've ever beaten kalpas in less than a minute on abstinence

Really? I use her on all Mecha bosses and even PSY bosses that don't have lightning resist, and she's been rock solid for me. I also used her until this patch on Stardust enemies, but now Sena does a lot better.

And yeah that looks exactly like Helia lol, at the very least they could've given her a different colour palette, I guess she has smaller tits but whatever; I probably won't pull for her, I'll want to pull for whatever new version of lambda is obviously coming down the line.

I do like AI-chan's fancy dress look, but I wonder if they would dare bring another playable version. She was almost universally hated in CN due to the 4th wall asspull from the moon arc, if I recall. Outside of Sa/Vita there hasn't been a single Part 2 valk that I've liked the design of that we've seen so far, so it's making me the big sad currently. I hope they don't wait too long to do APHO3. It's one of the few things that I KNOW is coming that I'm looking forward to.

Here are the next new villains (turned playable character I'm sure) btw. I'm kinda suspicious that VI might be Himeko related but I thought the same thing when I saw early leaks of Eden so it's probably nothing...

Spoiler

 

[InterMusketeer]

What in the world do you use Dori for that Shinobu isn't just flat out better?

It's just for the collection and memes. Better than the rumored Xingqiu in any case.

I guess, very slightly. Thing is, you and I have both felt the pain of chasing 4*s and the misery that it leads to. Plus in my case I have all the standard 4*s at C6 already except one constellation on Kaeya.

I don't suggest anyone pull on this banner for the 4-stars, but I'd consider getting an exclusive weapon or Amber con on the way to a desired 5-star a happy accident of sorts.

Supposedly she supplants Hu Tao in her niche as Pyro hypercarry and doesn't have any HP drain, that's good enough for me to roll for Arle. I like Yoimiya, but outside of her I don't have a Pyro DPS that I really enjoy playing, so I hope her gameplay is fun and dynamic. Well as dynamic as any modern HoYo character is. I've read multiple leaks that say her weapon is "must have" for her, whatever that means. Design is "meh" but mods will fix it anyways. I had to laugh that the pose is the "show the ass" pose and then they cover the ass.

I read something about her kit potentially implementing Bond of Life. Would fit with the current trend of integrating underused mechanics in kits. That'd make her very dependent on healers though, unless she can lifesteal or something. Also Pimordial Jade Spear is supposed to be good for her. It's gonna look ugly as all hell on her with that color scheme, but I'd take it. I could use a strong melee Pyro too, so I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise.

 

[Pejo]

Bond of Life.

Can you expand on this? What is it? Like a shared HP pool?

 

[InterMusketeer]

Can you expand on this? What is it? Like a shared HP pool?

It's a debuff or status that prevents and absorbs all healing to your character. You can remove the debuff by healing it 'away' and as a reward for doing so, you get various buffs.

It was introduced with Fontaine. Some Fatui enemies can apply it to you, but some craftable weapons have it too. Finale of the Deep for example creates a Bond of Life worth 25% of your character's max HP, and that amount needs to be healed so you can get its ATK buffs and to resume proper healing.

Longer explanation here.

 

[Pejo]

It's a debuff or status that prevents and absorbs all healing to your character. You can remove the debuff by healing it 'away' and as a reward for doing so, you get various buffs.

It was introduced with Fontaine. Some Fatui enemies can apply it to you, but some craftable weapons have it too. Finale of the Deep for example creates a Bond of Life worth 25% of your character's max HP, and that amount needs to be healed so you can get its ATK buffs and to resume proper healing.

Longer explanation here.

Ohhh ok, so like that Fatui female musketeer enemy. Fuck. I hope that's not true...

I just wanted a nice Pyro carry without stupid HP bullshit...

 

[InterMusketeer]

Ohhh ok, so like that Fatui female musketeer enemy. Fuck. I hope that's not true...

I just wanted a nice Pyro carry without stupid HP bullshit...

I also saw some 'leaks' about how Arle might not be that good with Furina, which would line up with the Bond of Life theory. If you're depleting health and prevented from healing it back too, that would make Arle very squishy. But these are just rumors after all.

I agree that two Pyro polearm DPS characters with HP shenanigans would be a bit much. Just a couple more days and we should have a better idea of what's happening.

 

[Pejo]

I also saw some 'leaks' about how Arle might not be that good with Furina, which would line up with the Bond of Life theory. If you're depleting health and prevented from healing it back too, that would make Arle very squishy. But these are just rumors after all.

I agree that two Pyro polearm DPS characters with HP shenanigans would be a bit much. Just a couple more days and we should have a better idea of what's happening.

Just saw this...

 

[InterMusketeer]

Just saw this...

Are they just banking on people using her with Chevreuse? Or maybe shielders? Not sure how to take this.

 

[Pejo]

Are they just banking on people using her with Chevreuse? Or maybe shielders? Not sure how to take this.

Here's the whole thing, flowery text included:

Weapon:

*edit*

Here's a layman's description based on a redditor's understanding of her kit:

Ok I think I have a general idea of how her kit works, correct me if I'm wrong.

You start on her and use her skill. This will clear any previous bond of life you have, heal her if she had any bond of life, and apply blood debt to the enemy at stage one. This will evolve to stage 3 (the one you want) in 6 seconds.

After applying blood debt you switch to your other characters and start using bursts/skills and set-up.

After 6 seconds and all your buffs are up, you switch to arlech, clear the max level blood debt using a charge attack, and then burst.

After that you should have around 10-12(?) seconds of field time, where you just do normal attacks and the occasional charged. It should not matter at this point which you do unless in multi-target with multiple bonds, in which case you would want to clear the debts somewhat staggered.

Repeat as necessary.

She sounds like she works well with vape supports (Yelan/XQ), and although their is a little bit of anti-Furina synergy(she gets healed at the start of rotation, not after) you can probably make it work by just changing the timings or ignore her portion of healing needed. OR she also works with Bennet thanks to her anti-heal passive, and unless her IR resistance is 100% and not the likely 50%, you probably want a shield somewhere unless your ok with dodging.

I am a little worried that she will be a CA spammer. Single hit spear CA usually have no ICD, and her CA has a high multiplier.

C1: 33% chance not to consume bond of life, and instead refunds the hit. Probably not that good? Depends on how fast her attacks are, you need around 20 attacks to deplete her Bond on ST which sounds like a lot.

C2: Blood debt only needs 3 seconds to max out. When you clear that max bond you do a 900% atk explosion once per 9 seconds. Sounds really good? Especially if you can vape it

C3: Normals

C4: Using ult maxes out the blood debt immediately. Also maybe 2 ults per 20 second rotation? Probably just an ER decrease though.

C5: Burst

C6: That initial slash does triple the damage (250-->750), and you get 90CV for the rest of the rotation. Really good as expected, but not game-changing.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Here's the whole thing, flowery text included:

*edit*

Here's a layman's description based on a redditor's understanding of her kit:

I can't get a good grasp of how the Bond of Life mechanic is going to affect her gameplay. Sounds like it gives her massive damage buffs, but how annoying will it be to heal her when she's hurt? Maybe it'll be more engaging than it sounds.

For a lot of people it would probably be better to wait for Natlan. That nation will no doubt have its own Pyro DPS character(s).

 

[jonnyXx]

So she cant be healed by anything other than her E skill...Sounds like she's going to be very squishy.


The leaks for her have been all over the place. Early leaks said she'd have a simple but very powerful kit similar to Neuvillette. Then they were saying she's focused on the overload reaction. And now they say she doesnt work with Bennett and big healers because she doesnt want too much heals, followed by saying she cant even be healed by others.

 

[deanote666]

Looking like I'm skipping Chiori.

Her floating dolls seem to get stuck on things. Pairing her with Ningguang was a bad idea.

 

[Pejo]

Spent 20 mins or so in the trial for Chiori. I don't get what the point of her is. She's like Albedo with lots of extra steps. Animations are great but otherwise a miss on all levels for me. Saving up for next patch or beyond, we'll see how much of a shitshow Arle is to play.

*edit*

They added skip to hangouts finally. Hope it's coming to the rest of the story too.

 

[BJK]

Tried the new banner and hit my 50/50 in 3 x 10-pulls. I may never use Klee, but she’s practically a story character as Alice’s daughter. Also got Eula C1 on the same 10-pull, meaning I have a “fate point” towards Klee’s C1…which can’t be reassigned. The only other character on the banner I didn’t have was Alboredom, so no regrets here.

Been pretty lax about playing recently. Didn’t even spend resin after finishing the last battle pass, just focused on doing my dailies.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Guess I was the only one foolish enough to pull for Chiori. The things I do for Navia...

I was hoping for an early 5-star this time since I felt bad about spending too many resources on a mediocre character, but alas. Got no Doris and the ugly mutt now shits up my account. Thanks Obama. Shouldn't affect my future wishing plans though.

Can't say I recommend Chiori to everyone, but for my very specific situation she's okay. Geo resonance is just really good for Navia, and I didn't have access to it before without sabotaging the entire team. Navia feels much stronger now and the team is comfier to play, thanks to the additional Geo particles and crystals generated by Chiori. That's about as much as I expected.

I like her design (those stockings are legit) and animations and everything, but because she's an off-fielder you hardly get to see her do anything. With her being so similar to Albedo (with some Keqing mixed in) and of a dead element with only 5 potential (good) teammates and grim future prospects, I wonder why they even decided to release her in this state. She's got to be the least appealing character in a long time.

They could have increased her damage or given her a strong team-wide buff or something, but instead we get limitations and mediocre performance. I feel like she can't compete with so many other C0 off-fielders like Yelan or Furina. It's baffling. Not quite as bad as Dehya, but still pretty terrible.

Also got Eula C1 on the same 10-pull, meaning I have a “fate point” towards Klee’s C1…which can’t be reassigned.

Saw this in a video, and yeah that's pretty scummy too. It's not right that you have to be that careful with your pulls. Sounds like you'd need to do single pulls only to prevent yourself from getting screwed over.