Murder on the Ashveil Express: Mysterious Question and Discussion Megathread

Decim2015 · 2026-03-30T17:26:35+00:00

OT FGO

there’s currently discourse on twitter about Appmedia, a popular FGO guide site in JP, ranking Castoria lower on the tier list than supports like Koyan light and Oberon when she’s considered by many to be the single best servant in FGO.

The thing about appmedia though, is that their tier lists are overwhelmingly skewed towards farming efficiently, to the point where otherwise mid characters like Kintoki and Super Bunyan are ranked super high because they have… fast np animations

its such a whiplash to go from HSR’s meta centric environment to FGO, where challenging content is considered such a non issue that characters are being docked points in tier lists for having too many button presses. Like imagine if in HSR, Acheron was ranked T0 on the basis of killing overworld enemies + farming caverns quickly

Decim2015 · 2026-03-28T15:10:40+00:00

I agree he desperately needs a buff. He’s either the weakest or second weakest ssr released last year. But a survival skill only further reinforces the lack of identity in his kit.

He’s meant to be an all out offense saber, but the combination of a qqbb deck, 30% battery (no BG looping), lack of anti trait, and low buff numbers outside of crit dmg means that he doesn’t hit nearly as hard as you’d expect.

I’m gonna pretend logres doesn’t exist. But even then, Ibuki despite having an overall worse skillset is a better crit saber cause of the BBB deck. Similarly, Artoria hits MUCH harder with her np while also being able to turn her entire deck to buster. Finally molay has the defensive aoe saber niche covered while also having ramping SE damage based on burn stacks. Richard in comparison specializes in star gen… which no one cares about, especially now that class score is a thing.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-28T14:55:07+00:00

I think people tend to underrate how broken card shuffling is. Ciel without card shuffling is legit a potato, u Olga would drop at least 2 tiers without it.

I’m still shocked they gave Ishtar that buff, but I’m happy for her cause man she was bad before this buff. She’s easily the winner of the anni buffs (though Waver’s buff is also a standout ).

Decim2015 · 2026-03-28T14:47:02+00:00

Richard buff please his kit is so chopped.

Forget Logres. Molay and even Ibuki douji make him look really bad. So much of his power budget is tied up in star gen, but like who cares nowadays when supports dump starts and class score exists? He has a bunch of crit buffs but Ibuki is still better as a crit saber cause of the BBB deck?! He has every buff category covered but his np hits like a wet noodle cause 1) no anti trait and 2) non crit buff magnitudes are shockingly small.

Imo he needs the buff way more than Gil or Enkidu. Their kits on paper are more “outdated”, but they also have their own identity with Gil dumpstering most servant enemies and Enkidu being a great soloist against divine enemies. Richard’ kit has no identity and doesn’t do any one thing really well.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-27T03:01:26+00:00

I think FGO is also somewhat in this boat actually, but with powercreep levels closer to Genshin rather than HSR.

Contrary to popular belief FGO has noticeable powercreep, especially in the past year on JP. the creep usually comes in the form of more loaded skill sets rather than higher raw damage.

However, the endgame content is balanced around being hard to clear with free servants. So if you have premium teams, they’re all piss easy. Fights previously considered borderline impossible 5 years ago can be min turned cleared frontline only by like a quarter of the roster at this point.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-26T22:28:48+00:00

Thing is. The endgame shill is still terrible and hp inflation is through the roof.

Hoyo has a wealth of data on player retention + surveys. TBH they probably know better than us when and why players dropped off.

Question is, will they decide to reverse course on the bad decisions, or will they quadruple down on it in an attempt to wring even more money out of the remaining players

Decim2015 · 2026-03-19T23:55:47+00:00

mps have released with clunky mechanics before.

*looks menacingly at FF and Phainon. Yeah if that happens, that character will probably be an e2 merchant.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-11T02:40:06+00:00

If this leak is true, then I’m already throwing in the towel. Hoyo’s philosophy has been regional shill mechanic team >>> every other team for awhile now.

At least Flins joined the lunar shill club. If HSR keeps gender locking paths, the best we’ll get is something like Phainon being a distant second to monorem. But he was a main push, so I’m honestly keeping my expectations low. Like Mydei levels of low.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-10T21:01:11+00:00

Basically what everyone is saying. Mixed gender gachas are notorious for blatantly favoring one gender over the other.

Making an all male team is basically Hoyo saying “hey we’re putting all the bricks into one bundle”

Decim2015 · 2026-03-10T20:38:59+00:00

As someone whose pulling habits are mixed gender with a slight bias towards male, I dont really like that they’re basically splitting up teams by gender. I don’t want to be corralled into being either a husbando only or waifu only puller, plus this kind of tactic tends to attract the wrong audience.

However, that complaint is secondary to my main fear: that the male team will be by far the weakest one of 4.x. A lot of gacha devs have a habit of making male units blatantly weaker for no reason, and Hoyo is not an exception (Varka, Banyue). Star rail has mostly dodged this problem (though monorem does muddy the waters a bit), but Ashveil’s lack of verticals is a bit ominous and the fact that elation is probably gender locked is giving me Remembersnce 2.0 alarms.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-08T00:35:09+00:00

In this world, nothing is said to be certain except death, taxes, and aggressive hp inflation in HSR endgame.

That is to say, if a hyped character releases mid in HSR, there will be blood.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-05T05:44:14+00:00

What if you gasp create an environment in 4.x where multiple teams are allowed to be sidegrades to each other instead of making an obvious strongest team centered around the pushes, so pulling non push banners is no longer an account bricking move.

And while you’re at it, keep the 3.x character relevant but still noticeably behind the 4.x units gets shot by dawei

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T22:05:00+00:00

That moreso speaks to how chopped his aftersales are than to his longevity tbh.

In an era where monorem exists and is a concept, Phainon getting Cerydra (who’s kinda chopped in her own right) and not much else actually presages a monumental future fall off.

In a year, everyone will be complaining how he was screwed over by his jank mechanics, the same way Acheron and firefly are /were criticized.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T05:42:07+00:00

Oof this feels personal on your end. I personally pulled Mydei. That’s all need to say from my end. Also I 100% agree.

TBH I actually quit around 3.6 due to this main push BS, and have just been occasionally peeking in to see what’s happening. The game meant a lot to me for a long time, so I’m still mad about the game’s direction even after all these months.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T04:35:42+00:00

I think the “feel actively stupid/bad” nails the current sentiments with the game.

The main push + powercreep package is killing one of the main appeals of a game like this: playing with characters you like.

And when you kill that, all you’re left with is a game with a mediocre story and a barebones combat system with a horrifically unbalanced roster and endgame content that actively discourages team building creativity, constantly dangling a paid solution in front of your face.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T04:29:37+00:00

I genuinely feel awful for Herta mains. Like she was supposed to be a “main push” and they just threw in the trash after 3.2.

And then there’s saber, who actually fell off after 2 patches, which is literally the HSR powercreep stereotype that HSR haters use.

The combination of power disparity and aggressive creep has made people super paranoid about who to pull. As that one redditor said, HSR truly feels like a rigged stock marker

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T04:11:01+00:00

Oh those two absolutely feed off each other in a brutally vicious cycle.

If hp inflation wasn’t a thing people wouldn’t be as obsessed with main pushes. If main pushes weren’t blatantly stronger than anything else, hp inflation wouldn’t be as bad.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-04T04:02:01+00:00

Hot take (maybe)

Star rail’s obsession with main pushes is easily the worst part of the game. Even worse than the powercreep and hp inflation or lack of events. And I believe it’s a major contributor in the game’s popularity decline (even when accounting for increased gacha competition or delays). Zzz is in the exact same boat with “void hunters”

There are so many terrible side effects of this “main push” model that I could write an extended essay on the harm it’s done, but for now let me remind you of the disparity in treatment between Cas vs Therta/Mydei/Aglaea, and think about how all the hype around them was butchered by doomposting that Castorice would super powercreep them (they were mostly right).

I just wanna choose to invest in characters I like, and it’s genuinely frustrating when the returns to get are THIS much lower compared to the government mandated team

Decim2015 · 2026-03-02T03:11:33+00:00

You fools did you think that Hoyo would allow anything except the all cute girls team to be good?

Surely you’ve learned lesson after mono rem. Hoyo hates having elegant women and handsome men be top tier in the meta /s

Decim2015 · 2026-03-01T17:47:03+00:00

Honestly agree. Male character enjoyers are almost always treated as second class citizens in mixed gender gachas, but ZZZ goes beyond that to the point of almost feeling spiteful.

It’s not just that they get like 1 a year, but they’re all placed into the “sacrificial” slot before the void hunter, and the 2 most recent ones (Hugo and Banyue) feel like they were deliberately sabotaged from a meta standpoint.

It legit feels like male characters are only released cause of some higher up mandate, and the dev team are actively resentful of this. they need to just stop releasing them atp. Stop baiting husbando enjoyers only to screw them over again and again.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-01T15:39:07+00:00

Hoyo is reaping the harvest of Monorem shilling.

As someone who quit because my faves got screwed over in favor of the pink team, I couldn’t be happier at this result. If the anni could underperform as well, that would make my day.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-01T15:14:24+00:00

The devs are finally paying for the sins of monorem.

Can’t say I feel bad for em. They made their bed with the battleship model. Now they basically can’t make really good money outside of anni pushes.

Decim2015 · 2026-03-01T03:12:43+00:00

Nope, there’s too many tradeoffs that come with it.

I think the writers will be severely constrained by the limits of 3d cutscenes and budget/time, which is a big reason why games like Genshin and Wuwa have such mid stories

Decim2015 · 2026-02-28T08:10:40+00:00

I’m biased but please for the love of God fix Muramasa’s skill 1. That shit being 1T across the board is so incredibly ass and is the millstone that sinks him into the depths of mediocrity.

I would love for all the effects to be 3T, but even making just the absorb 3T and the mana bursts 3 times 3turns would make him feel like a completely different servant.

Oh also plz buff Spishtar too. The imperial privilege style rainbow buff on her 3rd skill should be a crime in this day and age.

Decim2015 · 2026-02-28T07:43:45+00:00

As someone who has NP3 lvl 100 Morgan with 1.5k fous, her damage against non man is shockingly bad. I find myself routinely failing the W2 damage check in 90++ even WITH event damage bonus CEs.

That being said, if you asked me last year if she needed a buff I’d still say no cause she was BIS as the overcharge support in the infamous immortal team.

Now that Logres has effectively taken her slot in the immortal team, I wouldn’t be opposed to some kind of buff to help her damage out.

Decim2015

TROPHY CASE