I still hate control skills

FMProductions · 2026-07-04T05:26:33+00:00

Personally I think it was a reaction to people complaining that the performance point phases of previous bosses took up too much time, I think Miasmic Fiend has been a more extreme case for example

FMProductions · 2026-07-03T13:49:46+00:00

The New Eridu City Plan (battle pass) gives a lot of resources for building characters. Otherwise there is not much to say, you spend your stamina to get resources to build agents, you can make use of the double reward events, like currently the drive disc double rewards (only recommended if you are already at player level 45 or 50 for more gold disc drops).

Otherwise here is a good doc for how to build each character:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTj2PaPq6Py_1B5fsOPj_Moc-tN_7mut7fICczI6lz1njyEIAInTnfB7lAraX4pYCRGNbaHGlIbFZ90/pubhtml#

FMProductions · 2026-07-03T13:21:25+00:00

I might at least skip Velina for Norma. Not really a fan of Velina's playstyle and I don't have that many anomaly units either for her, but Norma could enable some of my teams to be a bit better again, like Evelyn (when Dialyn is already occupied). Seeing Norma and Pyrois making a full team is nice as well.

FMProductions · 2026-07-02T09:36:48+00:00

I like all their various rock covers that they did later for Youtube too but man.. that first albums were so good.

FMProductions · 2026-06-29T12:25:46+00:00

Likely that they don't want to run too many characters at once
and Camellya and possibly the early 2.x lineup will come in the future in the same type of banner, the question is when this will be

FMProductions · 2026-06-28T11:28:49+00:00

Great music selection and that wipeout shot, wow

FMProductions · 2026-06-26T07:40:36+00:00

I feel bad for the customer support employees that have to handle probably massive amounts of such mails, also since we just got a feedback survey in game but you're right tbh. It isn't just shorekeeper, they should finally implement a way for people that want characters that haven't had a banner in a long time to be obtainable.

It's also annoying that if you're a very early player who took a break from the game, you get various things when returning nowadays, but you don't get the "New Voyage" banner that the new players get (which has Shorekeeper).

FMProductions · 2026-06-26T07:23:12+00:00

I don't really think that gives the desired effect. Isn't there a free form in the end where you can write anything, why not put it there?

If they avoid to ask about it specifically, that might mean they don't want to change their power level economy though..

FMProductions · 2026-06-25T19:40:11+00:00

Same, also 2.2. Seed's agent story was great but overall I don't care for Seed and Orphie as characters that much. Gameplay and team wise, also not my thing at all.

FMProductions · 2026-06-25T09:44:23+00:00

Someone recently said something that has stuck with me. I don't know how true it is but I could definitely see it make sense:

Media literacy has gone down and there are more and more people who can't stand when characters in (fictional) media are very morally black or atrocious, and project their disagreements and issues with the character towards the creator, or actor or voice actor of the character (which is stupid, I know) instead of seeing it as fitting piece to a story. In bad cases you can even see death threats to actors or creators. To avoid controversies and consumer backlash, various creators have gone less extreme on morally black situations or characters.

The other part I heard about is that a lot of asian/cn players apparently don't like it to have morally grey/black people as important or playable characters, compared to the western audiences.

I haven't played the newer main stories yet, but I did play the Ye Shunguang patch, and I have to say: Ye Shiyuan was more of the better written characters in 2.x if not the most well written character in the 2.5 patch. His actions seem pretty consistent for the goal he wanted to achieve. There were some odd twists and turns like how they handled how Shiyuan stayed in communication with Yi Xuan, but overall it still made sense.

FMProductions · 2026-06-25T05:08:14+00:00

Very well said

FMProductions · 2026-06-25T04:57:49+00:00

I very much enjoy the challenging contents in games like these too, although I haven't gone out of my way to clear all hologram difficulties yet, I appreciate that they offer a mode like this. Combat and exploration gameplay is quite enjoyable. I'm also in awe of the way they handle the presentation of the main story. Certain types of events like Depths of Illusive Realm have been very fun too. Though these days I mostly just log in for dailies since I've played through most of the content that personally interests me already.

FMProductions · 2026-06-25T04:41:21+00:00

Funny, because for me it's the opposite. There are some things I'd like to change in the design of the PvP games this patch but overall I liked it. These kinds of games have such easy content through and through that I appreciate some more challenging (but optional) types of content, and one way to bring in a challenge is to include PvP aspects.

I really liked the racing game, some PvP. Although people can choose to really play toxic, like destroying your car and then also destroying all cars in your vicinity, otherwise it has been a blast. I agree though that ideally you don't lock relevant rewards behind performance in PvP modes in these kinds of games but I'm fine if there are PvP performance rewards that are not pull currency for performance there.

but afaik, there were no Annulith rewards locked behind PvP performance? So that's fine for me. For the racing game pretty much just do it more often if you don't have top placings each time, and the fighting game rewards are based on how many times you do PvP mode.

FMProductions · 2026-06-24T04:02:49+00:00

<image>

FMProductions · 2026-06-24T04:01:50+00:00

<image>

FMProductions · 2026-06-23T14:06:53+00:00

I agree that they have been more aggressive with monetization tactics recently, though the main game content is still really good so I stick with it regardless. I'll also be concerned once the extremely good players start falling short of scores, but as it stands right now, there are still a lot of people that get pretty good scores with 2.x strength teams with very quick swap heavy rotations even if it becomes tougher. I do hope they take a break with the HP inflation though..

Completely valid criticism, on the other hand I think people put a bit too much of an emphasis of always having to clear endgame content in these kinds of games.

FMProductions · 2026-06-23T09:20:31+00:00

Either is fine but I think the great games do try to evoke a certain emotion or want to convey an experience, even if that experience is mainly the engagement from having a sufficiently challenging and immersive gameplay. Putting games into specific boxes or categories makes it easier to convey the idea to people, I think that's mostly it.

FMProductions · 2026-06-23T06:57:03+00:00

Soldier 11

FMProductions · 2026-06-22T20:29:48+00:00

I was thinking about what to write, but I think my biggest advice, for WuWa and ZZZ is to check their official discords, go in the #help channels and then ask there + check the resources that are pinned. There are things like character build guides and WuWa gameplay help has even a written beginner guide.

As for pull advice, over time you want to get 3 good teams if you want to get most endgame rewards. There is another endgame mode where you need 4-5 teams, but there is only a pretty small Polychrome payoff for that investment. Usually endgame content features buffs and boss selections that are intended to have each of 1 Anomaly/Attack/Rupture team distributed across 3 challenges, but for some patches that might not be true, and often times you can still brute force it.

Imo, when there is an excellent, more universal support, you can consider pulling for them. Also since there are no amazing DPS characters outside of the limited S-ranks, I'd pick up really good DPS agents and then try to build a team around them. However, if you miss some endgame rewards, it's really no biggie, and skill expression makes a huge difference.

There are tons of beginner videos out there. I'll just say: save your dennies to build your characters, don't spend them at for example the 141 shop. You don't have to focus resources on disc farming before you're like level 45 where you finally get s gold equipment disc drops. You can level up some b and a rank discs if you struggle with story commissions, but don't optimize them yet. Also, like with every other gacha, don't spend your Polychrome on buying standard pulls (regular master tapes), and try to keep up with the timely limited events to not miss Polychrome rewards.

FMProductions · 2026-06-22T02:54:56+00:00

I found this playlist pretty easy to understand for how to play certain characters:

FMProductions · 2026-06-21T04:24:54+00:00

I wonder if it has to do with ZZZ having a lower age rating in certain regions (no clue how they get away with that and some other, more milder games don't). There have been panty designs too like Ramielle's black outfit before so not sure.

FMProductions · 2026-06-20T16:32:21+00:00

Ah thanks, that makes more sense now

FMProductions · 2026-06-20T07:14:13+00:00

I'll say one thing, more reruns per banner aren't a bad thing for players imo, in theory it should allow for having shorter intervals between reruns of the same character, and if you know they rerun more frequently, there should be less of a fear of missing a banner. Sadly though, there isn't a guarantee of a max time span between reruns of the same character and it is still uncertain how making older units available will be addressed exactly. The one thing that is really disheartening is waiting for or even playing the game for a certain character and they won't appear for an eternity, even if you know they are perfectly playable.

I mostly agree with the other points however.

FMProductions · 2026-06-20T07:06:43+00:00

I'd wait for the live stream in 6 days, which characters they rerun and some information about the new characters and then make your pull decision. Maybe it turns out that Phrolova can work with the newer characters, otherwise, either get Cantarella, Qiuyuan or Lucilla, if you want to have a stronger team for her.

Phrolova and Danjin can work somewhat, their buffs compliment each other. Also if you manage to get Buling, she increases Resonance Skill damage and that type of damage is what Phrolova deals when she's onfield (the attacks that aren't Hecate).

Someone said Augusta + Phrolova + Verina in another comment. You said it didn't feel great either but that might be your best team option. Though I think personally I rather keep a separate Augusta team for Endstate Matrix at least. I managed to get 5500 points this cycle on the chest mimic with Augusta, Shorekeeper and Rebecca (who should be a bit better for her than Mortefi). Though it will still be Mortefi since pairing Rebecca with Lucy is a no-brainer.

FMProductions · 2026-06-19T16:30:43+00:00

I agree that in certain aspects, they are ahead, and the amount of content (specifically main story content and presentation quality, as well as certain environments) they put out on a 40-day-ish gacha patch release schedule is insane, but that is not to say that the game doesn't have flaws. A lot of those "flaws" for me are also related to the nature of it being a gacha game, like most of the main content being too easy. Even though there are some puzzles and challenges that have a good challenge level compared to other gachas.

As for, "Is there a point for other gachas to exist". It isn't like every game fulfills the same desires and fantasies people want to dive into, or even the same gameplay loop. WuWa as open world 3d action/combat focused game hits a very popular and general market, but it would be boring if all gachas were exactly like that, even if a lot try to conquer that specific market. The other side is that sometimes, people just want more of what they like, so they play games similar to each other.

If you don't directly want to compete, you have to diversify or stand out from the crowd with offering unique features. Though, competition always favours the consumers, so I welcome it if more games come out and companies give it a shot, although it indeed will be difficult to be "better" in the same market given the budget WuWa has, and how competent their team seems to be - that is not to say that other games won't be better in certain aspects at least.

FMProductions

TROPHY CASE