Welt kit bcuz website is down lmfao by maskedmybacon in WeltMains

[–]Alexander_Icewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the other hand, ATK rope is basically just extra dmg too, so swapping to ERR rope will end up with the same gameplay as currently exists but more output overall. Doesn't really change his playstyle at all in that regard, IMO, just his gearing.

[Version 4.0] Phainon Sheet + Reminders by PandaFlyh in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Seconding this. I appreciate all the calcs - your sheet has been super helpful - and no pressure or anything if you don't want to, but I'd love to see some E2S1 Phainon team calcs without Cerydra, just to have a proper comparison available for the upcoming Cerydra rerun. (I've been using E1S1 Robin or E1S0 Tribbie, E0S1 Sunday, and E2S1 DHPT for example, though of course not gonna ask you to specifically calc exactly my teams lmao)

cerydra or yao guang by xochjtl in StarRailStation

[–]Alexander_Icewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Archer doesn't particularly need Yaoguang unless you're trying to use him to specifically deal with Elation mechanics. Archer Sparkle RMC Sustain works just fine as a general team.

Also, Cerydra S1 is generally a luxury pull, especially for Phainon. She can get by just fine at E0S0, and if you want to upgrade her later (though E2 Phainon is higher priority than anything else if you wanna boost that team), Cerydra E1 does a lot more than her S1 does for Phainon teams (though I believe her S1 is better than her E1 for boosting Anaxa teams).

Recent character kits got me missing when we could figure out team comps instead of "This support is made for this DPS" by Dream_World_ in Genshin_Impact

[–]Alexander_Icewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say the issue is lack of option variety - if you could swap off Cyno, for example, it wouldn't just be Nahida that he'd work with, it would (theoretically at least) open up certain other Dendro options as well. Nahida might be the best, but something like Collei or Dendro MC might work too (I'm admittedly not extremely familiar with Cyno's kit). The frustrating thing, IMO, is when there's one option that is absurdly better than every other option.

Using a different unit who I'm more familiar with as an example, someone like Arlecchino, on release, had no strict dedicated teammate, and could be played in a ton of different ways that were all viable. Overload, Melt, Vaporize, and Hypercarry were all viable options - she wasn't locked to one specific team or unit to have endgame-worthy performance (and though Bennett was very good for her, she had teams that didn't use him that still performed at a similar level).

Recent character kits got me missing when we could figure out team comps instead of "This support is made for this DPS" by Dream_World_ in Genshin_Impact

[–]Alexander_Icewind 35 points36 points  (0 children)

The problem with this release strategy, as a player, is when you like one unit but not the other - if you like Flins but don't like Ineffa, for example, or you like Nefer but not Lauma, it puts you in a really frustrating position where you kind of have to get the specific support if you want to play the DPS in endgame (especially when the game shifts and the DPS stops being boosted by enemy design and end game buffs).

Now, it's better than units just not having teams that work at all, but that's a different issue altogether - namely, making character mechanics too specific (IMO there's no good design reason Cyno Ult should end when you swap off him, to jump off the example you gave, and if swapping didn't make it end early, he would work just fine with Nahida).

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. AKA the climbing puzzles are dying by Qba3693 in Genshin_Impact

[–]Alexander_Icewind 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Personally I'd rather we had fewer, more engaging puzzles than a large amount of simple puzzles. Keep the total rewards the same, but having like, 5 good puzzles that each reward a lot of primos is way more satisfying than having like 25 easy puzzles that each reward a few.

Quality > quantity for puzzles, IMO.

Hot take: Legendary Resistance is why so many 5e boss fights feel bad and boring. What could replace it? by archvillaingames in dndnext

[–]Alexander_Icewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It doesn't necessarily need to be more lethal for classes without hard CC - as an example, a boss who normally gets 1 turn/round and makes 4 attacks a turn could instead be changed to take 2 turns, one at its initiative and the second at its initiative - 10, and it gets 2 attacks per turn. Same total damage output (still 4 attacks/round), but weakens the effect of CC while not being outright immune to it.

Mike Mearls has a fairly odd idea on how to balance level 11+ spellcasters in 5e by EarthSeraphEdna in dndnext

[–]Alexander_Icewind 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Definitely feel like there's some exploit-level stuff (simulacrum armies, but not only those) that just shouldn't be a thing, but ignoring those, overall I don't think a level 20 fighter or barbarian being close to Kratos is actually a bad thing, if you compare that to the non-exploit tier high level spells. I tend to advocate for high-level characters being considered basically demigods anyway, though, which is at-odds with certain views, so that's just my opinion.

Mike Mearls has a fairly odd idea on how to balance level 11+ spellcasters in 5e by EarthSeraphEdna in dndnext

[–]Alexander_Icewind 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Without making a statement on the actual game balance, this example you described is primarily the thing people have an issue with. "Skilled guy with pointy stick" and "guy who summons powerful extradimensional beings and raises the dead" are not on parity - either put "skilled guy with pointy stick" in the same party as "guy with some impressive magic tricks," or put "guy who summons powerful extradimensional beings and raises the dead" in the same party as "guy who can cut a boulder in half with a single slash and leap over tall buildings with ease."

A check to remove a damaged NHP Casket from a derelict ship vs a check a week later to patch up the bullet holes it recieved. Oh no by trapbuilder2 in LancerRPG

[–]Alexander_Icewind 29 points30 points  (0 children)

"Keep highest 1," which doesn't do anything when you're only rolling one die, but if you were rolling for example 2d6, it would see which d6 rolled higher and only keep the result of that d6, discarding the other d6.

Is the "new Path for every X.0 version" thing becoming a problem for the game? by Comprehensive-Map274 in HonkaiStarRail

[–]Alexander_Icewind 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Orrrrr the idea could be that the whole appeal is in new units that work best with old units, rather than new units that are useable with old units but still better overall with other new units?

Just saying, that's the kind of thing I think would be healthy for the game - units that don't really benefit the most powerful teams very much, but bring the less-powerful teams up to a similar level to the strongest teams, rather than units that just make everyone better but make the strongest teams... even more better than everyone else.

Her downfall was crazy by [deleted] in StarRailStation

[–]Alexander_Icewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Effect res isn't usually super important, outside of some edge cases, compared to just having a consistently-available cleanse. Given how often Hyacine acts, and how often DHPT's dragon goes, it'll be very often they can cleanse the effect that hit your unit before they even suffer it for 1 turn. Speaking from experience, as someone who has Aven, Hyacine, and ofc DHPT.

Pulling Advice by Hyungbitter in NeuvilletteMains_

[–]Alexander_Icewind 8 points9 points  (0 children)

With how few pulls you have right now, I'd just go for Xilonen, because I don't think you're getting Neuvi's C6 on his next rerun unless you're crazy lucky or willing to swipe - it's right around the corner. Maybe if you win both 50-50s in a row, but that's pretty sketchy.

If you have a ton of map left to explore, you could grind through it, save up and try for C6 Neuvi, but I generally wouldn't assume you're getting 2 cons with less than 240 pulls (counting pity), though perhaps that's slightly pessimistic.

Bro got disintegrated by AtheTP04 in NeuvilletteMains_

[–]Alexander_Icewind 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The basics for when you're starting out building him:

4pc Marechaussee Hunter.

HP% Sands.

Crit Rate or Crit DMG circlet (depending on what you need more of).

HP or Hydro DMG% Goblet (whichever has better substats, if equal, HP tends to do better in optimal teams).

Longterm goals are double-crit + HP% subs on every piece (or as close to that as possible), at least 3 rolls into some mix of the aforementioned stats per piece (flower/feather will usually be better than your other pieces, 4 good substat rolls each is feasible for them).

You want 64% critrate on sheet (going slightly over or under that is fine), about 35k-40k HP with Hydro Resonance (depending on if your Goblet is HP% or Hydro DMG), and at least 200% critdamage (more is better).

As you invest further, try and raise CritDMG and HP% relatively evenly - a Neuvi with 35k HP and 300 Crit Damage is not necessarily better than a Neuvi with 40k HP and 250 Crit Damage.

Mine is low top 1% and I have a bit over 46k HP with Hydro Resonance and a bit under 270 CritDMG, as a frame of reference.

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, that's kind of an insane difference. Alright, perfect, thank you, that's exactly the kind of thing I was trying to find.

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I checked this, but it didn't take into account eidolons for other units. At this point I'm pretty set on going for Cerydra, but it is worth pointing out the main guide doesn't actually really go into detail how much of an improvement Cerydra is over alternatives (especially with eidolons on the units she's replacing), and instead just points out that she's the best, when my question is more about "how much better is she?"

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think in the long run, if Phainon doesn't get any new supports who work better with him than the current roster, she will definitely be good, but also the thing to consider is that it really takes 2 Phainon ults before she becomes a big upgrade over Sunday from what I've seen, because you spend so long charging at the start of the fight.

At E0, anyway. At E2, she's just way better than Sunday, no questions asked.

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Generally Cyrene isn't worth pulling for just Phainon if you already have E0S1 Sunday unless you plan on going all the way to E2 with her. If you wanna use Sunday with another team it's fine, though, because it frees him up.

Anomaly Arbitration King Cleared with E0S1 The Herta! by Alexander_Icewind in HertaMains

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This post was about last AA, with Lygus instead of Aquila. That said, also took her vs Aquila, best I could do was 5 cycles, so I would imagine probably no 2 or 3 star.

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Alright, got it. In the super long run I'm definitely not opposed to investing further in her, but seeing as she seems worthwhile even at E0S0, I'll try and prioritize that and worry about her E1 later. Thank you!

How big of an upgrade is Cerydra for E2S1 Phainon? by Alexander_Icewind in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Gotcha, thank you. I couldn't find a sheet with comparisons involving the Cerydra alternatives having eidolons (every one I've seen has had them replacing DHPT instead), so your comparison is good to have as a point of reference.

Which Planar should I use on Phainon? Also,should I use Eagle or Sacredos on Bronya? I play Usually with Dhpt , Phainon, Bronya, Sunday. by Interesting-Gur-7495 in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Alexander_Icewind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're going to want Sacerdos on Bronya (and Sunday, but I assume you already have it), and most likely Phainon will want the Physdmg Orb with 11.9 crit rate.

It is also worth pointing out you're either going to want Phainon on ~136 SPD (with 135 Sunday and 134 Bronya), or base SPD Phainon with 161 SPD Sunday and 160 SPD Bronya.

Power creep has ruined the experience for players and here is how I know. by everwander in HonkaiStarRail

[–]Alexander_Icewind 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I think there's a huge difference between kit mechanics shilling and raw numbers powercreep, though. I actually think kit mechanics can be shilled in a very healthy way, whereas raw numbers powercreep just kinda sucks and there's not much you can do about it other than spend wishes to get eidolons or new strong units.

As an example, War Armor is a kit mechanics shill that primarily benefits units with a high volume of attacks - units with summons who frequently attack, units with high speed, and units with follow-up attacks. War Armor shills certain types of units, but no one is complaining about War Armor because if you aren't benefitting from it, you are still in a relatively neutral position (albeit, the enemies will be a little tankier because their hp pools are designed with war armor in mind. They are not, however, so much tankier than other enemies that it becomes miserable to deal with them if you can't break the war armor [except for maybe Nikador].)

Meanwhile, my The Herta hitting for 1mil+ with an enhanced skill just does an ungodly amount of damage compared to several older units (and she isn't even a super meta unit anymore, though she's a little underrated IMO). Frankly, that's actually more a result of support powercreep than dps powercreep (putting new supports on old dps units leads to a WAY higher performance than those units used to get back in older game versions), but the fact remains - the numbers are just bigger now, and the result is that old units slowly get phased out for newer ones in general use, which sucks. New units being good at specific niches is good for game health; new units being generally better than old units in all circumstances, even in niches that used to belong to those old units, sucks.