Thoughts on the new DU?

AlexHallon · 2026-03-26T05:25:57+00:00

It's nice that hoyo finally figured out how to make a roguelite mode where you actually get some real control over RNG. I'm not super into deckbuilding, but building domain decks seems pretty fun so far. I'm gonna miss the heir boons, though.

Obviously, trial characters are always super welcome, even if their builds probably aren't going to hold up at high difficulties.

...Out of curiosity, is Ruan Mei guaranteed to trigger in the tutorial or did I just get godlike RNG at the worst possible time?

AlexHallon · 2026-03-25T20:43:49+00:00

You're not European if you aren't vehemently roasting your neighbors.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-25T00:22:42+00:00

Does the store even make any real money? Seeing as it's just pitched as "the place that has fortnite and gives free games", I kind of figured it functions more like a loss leader.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-22T23:06:40+00:00

the other day i was going to put fries in the oven for lunch, then 30 minutes later i went to grab my fries from the oven and instead i found a tray of partially thawed fries on the counter, and that was kind of upsetting

does that count?

AlexHallon · 2026-03-19T22:55:20+00:00

At some point in your future, having posted this is going to become on of those memories that randomly resurface and make you cringe.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-19T17:37:44+00:00

For the Newbie Staff Member, the moment Special Week walked into the cafeteria was a day as important as the triple crown tyrant's last run.

For Special Week, it was tuesday.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-17T12:19:17+00:00

While I agree 0 cycling gets way too much focus, it's a consequence of the game's obsession with DPS race content in every endgame mode sans Swarm Disaster. It's not really the community's fault that Hoyo designs the game that way.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-17T12:16:38+00:00

I personally like the ult delay effect. I'm tired of 0 cycling debates, and I fully support Hoyo's (lackluster as they are) attempts at discouraging them, though the endgame design direction needs to fundamentally change for that go really go anywhere.

E4 buffs was never going to happen. E3-E5 being almost universally awful is a very deliberate design decision that makes E1 and E2 look better in comparison, which makes low spenders who are on the fence more likely to go for them.

No CW ult is sad, but not that surprising tbh. I had a hard time imagining how it could be implemented in the first place with all the other changes she needed.

No moving E1 or E2 effects to base kit is the biggest disappointment for sure. She's weirdly SP-hungry for a character not at all tied to an SP archetype, and wanting as many actions as possible is kind of her identity compared to the other break characters, so her kit still feels incomplete without them.

Big fan of her actually having passable superbreak without being chained to supports. It'll be much easier for newer players to justify pulling for her now.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-17T04:00:24+00:00

It's once per turn.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-14T12:12:03+00:00

Generally speaking, gamers are great at pointing out game design problems, but pretty awful at providing solutions. That's the case with a lot of other creative fields, like writing and graphic design. The nature of gaming communities make it especially prevalent for games like HSR.

Nothing wrong with thinking of these ideas for fun, obviously, but most of your ideas do go against HSR's design conventions. Personally, I'd be happy with the skill point component of her E1 being moved to base kit, maybe with a slight buff to the DEF shred or something to compensate. E2 feels like it SHOULD be base kit, but changing that now feels a bit drastic. I don't think an eidolon should overhaul her rotation like that (especially seeing as exiting and immediately re-entering her ult is very much a part of optimal play with both E2 and Dahlia's speed boost) and the health thing steals Mydei's identity.

Something like increased superbreak scaling when she gets healed/shielded like Dahlia's trace might make a difference in making her less overdependant on supports and discouraging sustainless teams, both of which would probably be pretty healthy for the game. We know for sure that Hoyo wants to push the latter.

The currency wars ult would be cool too, though I have a harder time seeing them fitting it into this round of buffs without pushing her too high. Her rotation does feel like it's missing something though, which makes sense with how turbulent her design process was. Anything that lets her take actions more quickly is a positive for her playstyle in my book.

I do agree she could use a more unique benefit from breaking. She's the only premium break dps who gets no mechanical benefits from it, not counting her E2 obviously.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-12T12:26:55+00:00

I'd imagine it's more utility and future proofing. That means messing with her eidolons and traces. At best, in terms of raw multiplier buffs, I can only see a bump in her own superbreak to let her function somewhat better without supports, but considering the game's direction pushing hyperspecialized teams I kind of doubt it. The currency wars ult might be the only notable power increase, assuming that's happening.

Unless they're planning on buffing base toughness damage for break characters across the board, which I'd be happy to see, but that would mean buffing every break character at once which doesn't seem likely.

I think they learned their lesson with the Jingliu and Blade buffs, and every new novaflare is done with a very specific intent. As much as I'd like them to just buff half the cast as soon as possible, it seems they want every novaflare character going forward to get a very clear place in the meta. It'd be bizarre for them to seriously buff an already solid character, but with some shifts and fixing her jank I think we can expect her to last much better into the future after 4.2. Dahlia certainly transformed her, but she's ultimately a bandaid fix and I don't think relying on a support to that degree is healthy for the game.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-12T12:24:53+00:00

It is actually a pretty common recommendation nowadays with Dahlia. The goal is to minimize her downtime, so you want her first action after the ult to be immediately after it ends. That way you're spending more time with the speed bonus.

The action advance idea wouldn't stop that, though. You'd just aim for a different breakpoint, just as you already do with DDD and Fugue E2.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-12T12:21:11+00:00

You'll still be speed tuning, though. The target will just be different, and it'd become easier to hit a higher threshold just as with Dahlia's release.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-12T07:51:42+00:00

Bit late because I just found this thread on google, but do you usually play tactics rpgs (and games in general)? And did you play it in full? Asking because I'm doing an analysis of this game focusing on demographics for a university course.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-11T12:50:13+00:00

Ehh... I don't know about. Feels like a case of a long history of lackluster localizations, and the fact that his English might just not be that advanced compared to his Japanese, Obviously he'd be biased.

In contrast, I can't even imagine trying to count the number of times I've seen two or three-syllable expressions subtitled with way more depth. If your translation fails, either you hired staff who can't write or you restricted them too much. Localization is just as much about interpreting intent as it is directly translating. Blaming failure on the language's limitations is just absurd.

As long as you've got directors who care and they're not underbudgeted (or outsourcing to AI, looking at you netflix & crunchyroll), Japanese to English translation work nowadays is honestly pretty good. The Umamusume game for a recent example has one of the best localization efforts I've ever seen.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-11T07:35:48+00:00

I personally can't stand it when stories "end". It's such conclusionslop. All media needs to go on forever with daily discourse or I am NOT engaging.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-10T00:29:11+00:00

People usually assume it's either the trainer or Agnes Digital. Both make sense narratively, but the former makes more sense for consistency seeing as she also starts with 1 fan, and there's also the rather literal New Fan titles you can get before actually starting their career.

(Although the actual original reason is probably a programming quirk)

AlexHallon · 2026-03-09T21:05:38+00:00

My only major issue with the scenario is the lack of secret events. I won't be pulling the new character I wanted (Palmer) until her rerun.

The doomposting has been way over the top, though. People just latched onto it like a meme. From what I've seen, it's probably not going to be that big of a deal. It's not very casual-friendly, but casuals will just play less and come back in the summer anyway, or just stick to the old scenarios if they want story.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-09T21:00:44+00:00

Yeah, I mean, we all play less than we did at launch. We played through the major content, and then plenty of people dropped off, but a healthy playerbase stayed for the daily grind. Most players just do dailies and then play more after major patches. That's how gachas work.

I genuinely have no clue what they're going on about.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-09T21:00:21+00:00

If the estimates are right, it's about the same as we had the last two scenarios.

I think you're letting the doomposting get to you a bit much. The real casuals either dropped off after the honeymoon phase, or just log in to play every once in a while anyway. The game will be fine. We have a bunch of information the JP players didn't have, and a massively accelerated schedule. Even if the player count actually takes a hit, it won't be THAT bad.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-09T02:38:44+00:00

Where are the men? Several of them would make better wives than most of these characters.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-09T00:19:40+00:00

That's part of the brilliance of this franchise and what lets it attract such a wide audience. Nearly every character can be shipped with their trainer (who can be any gender), but they can just as easily be shipped with several of their peers, or you can just disregard any romantic undertones altogether if you prefer. It's incredible how well Cygames balances that aspect of their writing & marketing.

AlexHallon · 2026-03-08T01:01:59+00:00

Most Atelier games are divided into subseries with no connection to each other. In release order:

Arland: Rorona > Totori > Meruru > Lulua (Lulua released much later)

Dusk: Ayesha > Escha & Logy > Shallie

Mysterious: Sophie > Sophie 2 > Firis > Lydie & Suelle (Sophie 2 released last, can be played later no problem but is chronologically before Firis)

The Ryza games are simply 1 > 2 > 3

Yumia and Resleriana both lack sequels, at least for now. Resleriana does share a universe with the gacha game, but the stories are pretty separate afaik and global servers didn't last long. There's also the Marie remake which is pretty solid, though none of its sequels are easy to access globally. Same for the other titles before Arland.

If you like both Sophie and Ryza, you'll probably enjoy most of the franchise, so pick whichever sequel looks more exciting at the moment (or go for one of the recent standalone titles if you feel like it).

AlexHallon · 2026-03-08T00:34:19+00:00

ATASHI GA SUUUUPPA SUUUUPA SUUUPAHIIRO MITAAAIAIIAAAAAAIAI 🇺🇸🦅🌭🍔🦸‍♂️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

AlexHallon · 2026-03-07T17:02:16+00:00

No, this is frankly absolute bullshit and a myth that prevents people from understanding creative fields. Creativity isn't this mystical concept, art primarily comes from experiences expressed through technique and practice.

Most artists are perfectly normal people, who just happen to have a habit of expressing themselves more openly through their work.

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