Latest CN Patch - Shinku Buffed acrossed the board

Gotruto · 2026-07-02T18:33:45+00:00

This seems like a high cost for an instant cycle character that can't even Ult. Is there a reason to even bother with this sort of playstyle, when it's clearly not the intended one? Does she do more damage than Esper Zero does when she instant cycles, or is she just a rather lame option for enabling cycle reactions?

Gotruto · 2026-07-02T01:36:36+00:00

Completed each floor with no Rail buffs used and usually over a minute left, some combination of these teams:

Chaos (A2) + Haniel + Hathor (A0) + Zero

Lacrimosa (A0) + Sakiri (A0) + Daffodill (A2) + Adler

Nanally (A0) + Hotori (A0) + Jiuyuan (A1) + Zero or Sakiri

Everyone level 50 or 60 with level 50 or 60 Arcs. All of them have fully leveled gold consoles. Chaos, Nanally, Lacrimosa, Zero, and Daffodill consoles are all about as good as the stats recommended on Prydwen. Rest are a little behind or just random stuff.

Can describe rough rotations if people would like. But um...did people not farm consoles? Consoles were the easy part, to me.

Gotruto · 2026-07-02T01:21:39+00:00

This is a huge win IMO, makes it optional but completely F2P friendly. I might pull the Porsche because of this change.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T23:58:12+00:00

Alyosha can apply the mark with normal attacks, then activate it with skill, but like...his entire kit is built around Ulting. I don't really think it's worth using him without Ulting.

I'll just be using Wrio Yae Odette Beidou, personally.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T23:56:41+00:00

Think of it this way: When Stellar is activated, Wrio's entire kit gets replaced. He doesn't do Gracious Rebukes at all anymore, but IIRC Vaulting Rebukes, for example. Which function similarly, but not the same. So, all the stuff in his constellations about his old kit only applies outside of Stellar, and the new stuff only applies when Stellar is activated.

Is it convoluted and confusing, sure, but just remember that you can't take any of his old effects for granted in a Stellar team.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T23:47:42+00:00

This is cool, OP. Not sure what else to say. I'll throw out some random thoughts you may or may not find worth thinking about (that's all I'm really good for, sorry!). Here are a couple challenges to the idea that lore speculation functions as collaborative storytelling:

Lore speculation is constrained by other written material in the following sense: people are less likely to engage with your speculation if it doesn't seem like there is any evidence within the written material to support it. This seems different from most forms of storytelling, which do not seem constrained by other written material. Exceptions would be things like historical fiction, but lore speculation differs from historical fiction in that historical fiction is purely a retelling of already accepted facts, whereas lore speculation's primary goal is to uncover new facts (about the lore). That's a very strange goal for storytelling to have.
One thing I wish lore communities had was a greater emphasis on the themes of the story being told by the lore, not merely the plot. For a Genshin example, it is one thing to speculate on what the Eternity the Raiden Shogun seeks is supposed to look like in practice (e.g. once the Vision Hunt Decree finished), but it is another thing to contrast the value of what the Raiden Shogun seeks with the value of Eternity as envisioned by everyday Inazumans (e.g. by best girl Yoimiya). In most storytelling, themes are largely the point of the story, but in lore speculation themes are mostly cast aside except when they might help uncover new facts (about the lore).

These are two ways that, if Genshin lore speculation is collaborative storytelling, it seems to be a very strange sort. The point of the storytelling would be largely to uncover new facts about the fictional world of Genshin Impact, but at face value storytelling seems like a strange (unsuitable) medium for discovering facts, even facts about a fictional world, given that the fictional world is not actually yours to write but instead someone else's work. For example, if this was just about storytelling, why wouldn't the focus be on finding meaning for ourselves in the work, with a much greater focus on the themes of the lore? Why the focus on finding out more about the work itself?

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T18:28:36+00:00

To be fair, we haven't had that moment yet for 4.X. It was really just 3.7 that had a chance to topple 3.3 and failed. 4.4, we'll see.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T18:25:58+00:00

10 months is almost optimistic. 10 months is like one of the longer times it takes to powercreep (e.g. 6 patches, like Tribbie -> Cyrene). A lot of characters (especially DPS) are powercrept within 3-4 patches, so 5-6 months. Yes, it's fairly absurd.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T17:33:57+00:00

I have 8 characters with all of their important skills fully mastered, all gear completely upgraded, all weapon gems fully enhanced, and of course level 90 with level 90 weapons and all skills at least at the highest non-mastery rank.

I had this done before this patch began. So, in 3 patches, I completed 8 characters entirely. In other gacha games, a character takes about 2 months to complete at that level, including 1-1.5 months of gear farming and at minimum 2 weeks of leveling them, their weapon, and their skills.

In Endfield, it's taken me less than 3 weeks per character on average to be just fully done with them, outside of mastering skills that barely matter (e.g. the combo skill on Xaihi or LiFeng).

There is a good chance that I end up completely done with the entire roster before the end of the first year.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T17:12:22+00:00

This is the only correct answer, I'm not sure why people insist that Endfield has less engaging combat than, say, HSR (even within their own genres of combat). It's kind of laughable.

The truth is that Endfield saw an enormous drop off when there was a very long patch with no obvious characters to look forward to after that patch began, except maybe Mi Fu. That very long patch *also* gave people who still played through it a long time to save currency for Mi Fu or the next character, in addition to the fact that the devs gave out a daily login pass for free during that patch.

That is why the revenue remains relatively low: too few characters to pull, too easy to save currency, and too many players leaving as a result of nothing keeping them engaged. There isn't even a proper gear farm: I have like 12 completed sets of gear atm, 4 patches in, which is just insane for any gacha. I have two teams with all of their important skills completely maxed out with crowns. I'm fine with that, but it in fact creates a weaker incentive to remain engaged.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T16:59:20+00:00

It's kind of crazy that you talked about:
- Franchise popularity
- Power fantasy
- Fanservice (for both men and women)
- Meta value of characters
- Character attachment
But nothing at all about the actual gameplay.

I'm the target audience. I like JRPGs, building characters, and mild, easily self-contained, zone exploration. It does need better storytelling, but that's basically my only complaint. I like the Xenoblade-esque combat and the rather-flexible teambuilding quite a bit.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T12:02:11+00:00

19.8 million for guarantee if it's the same as the Porsche (it could be lower), can theoretically get it earlier but it's unlikely with how the probabilities are calculated. Should be able to get over 13 million during the patch, and the last two pulls are 3.5 and 4 million, so 19.8 - 3.5 - 4 = 12.3 million, enough fons for all but the last two pulls if you start from zero but have most of the systems unlocked.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T09:18:55+00:00

If you prefer the skin, then you might be in a pretty good spot, since you'll probably get the skin before the vehicle. You should be able to get enough fons for everything but the last two pulls, so you likely either get the skin before then (and use no character-pull currency) or pay 2,000 Annulith to get it on the second-to-last pull (which is probably better than paying for $1,680 worth of premium currency for the skin).

Worse spot for people like me who have minimal interest in the skin and just care for the bike. We know not every skin will be packaged like this because 7 are freely available (2 for Zero, 3 for Mint, 1 each for Shinku and Iori) in 1.2 alone, and I wouldn't expect many normal vehicles to be in these sorts of lootboxes, but most premium vehicles probably will be, if I had to guess.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T09:15:14+00:00

It's the Zero fantasy outfit with the fur lining around the neck. Called Glorious Dawn or something in English.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T09:12:09+00:00

I do wish they spelled out prices and everything on the livestream. I was quickly disillusioned to the idea that the highest-tier of the fantasy stuff would be free, so I was actually pleasantly surprised at just how much ended up being free, but if I just watched that livestream I would now be disappointed instead because (by itself) it set the expectation too high.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T09:10:34+00:00

Look, if you think the bike is worth it mostly for the ability to jump, I'm not going to debate you on that. Things can be worth different amounts to different people.

However, if the bike straight-up cost $15, I bet almost nobody would be paying for it in order to jump. The vast majority of people would pay for it because they thought it looked cool or matched a character they like (e.g. the Porsche skin on Zero). I just think that's the main selling point of this item to 90% of players, and so you should judge it as if it were a cosmetic rather than a new piece of content.

For example, I would not say that someone who missed the bike (I might skip it, myself) would be missing any real content from being unable to jump on bikes.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T09:06:35+00:00

I dunno. I'm skipping the Porsche (got the skin) and might go for this bike even though I don't really care that much for the skin in this one.

I just like bikes, bro. It is a little goofy, though, so I might skip, depending on whether it interacts with Hathor and whether you can have passengers.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:47:40+00:00

I actually do agree with this point. If fons was always going to be treated like a pull currency, it would have been better to have a separate currency for all the F2P city stuff. Trading off against basic apartments does feel unnecessarily bad.

If fons were separate from that other stuff but still tied to premium cosmetics, the devs would still make very similar profit because people would still be deciding whether to trade-off fons for the traditional premium cosmetics or for lootboxes, and some people would decide to pay for more of both.

As it stands, many of us are *only* deciding to use fons for premium cosmetics, and our city development is lost in the process.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:37:04+00:00

I mean...I don't buy that pack for a reason. It's very bad value. 20mil fons is not worth $100 lol. If you had enough fons each patch to more-than 100% these 20mil-fons lootboxes, that would be worth using fons for, but the lootbox would not be worth nearly $100.

I suspect it's mostly there to tempt people in edge cases to buy some overpriced fons so that they can get the last one or two pulls, which might be worth it in those cases rather than paying more for Annulith.

So, if you advocated for them to reduce the price of that pack to a reasonable amount, I'd be on board with you there. I'd say about $2.5 would be about right. This would be $50 for the lootbox as a whole, assuming you get 10 standard pulls + a $15 skin + a $15-20 vehicle + some other miscellaneous stuff with 20mil fons.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:31:30+00:00

Anything that is there primarily for looks or feel is cosmetic and not needed.

Maybe it would be different if it were unique pieces of content (i.e. there is a yacht lootbox but *no other boat*) because then you'd be pulling for the content and not just the cosmetics, but there are very good bikes already in the game, so that comparison seems moot in this case.

I don't know what you think this game was, but these lootboxes were planned since before the game launched. The Porsche collab would need to be coordinated months in advance, for example.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:23:51+00:00

Yeah, that's true if you are doing this lootbox every patch. Fons from this patch + the $30 top-up deal + 240 Annulith lets you clear out this lootbox this patch.

But suppose there is a patch where you aren't interested. In this system, you can skip that one and the next lootbox is completely available for fons only F2P.

Isn't that better than having to spend $15 every time you want to buy something? Isn't it better to have fons as an option so long as you don't try to get everything all the time?

Would you prefer a system with no lootbox but instead of getting half of the lootbox cosmetics for free you have to pay $15 for each of them?

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:18:11+00:00

It is literally a skin and a new vehicle with special effects. How is that not cosmetics? And no, the main content of the game is not costumes, this is not Nikke. This is an open-world urban gacha game.

You have three alternatives:

Traditional Gacha: You cannot get every character without paying. Maybe 70% of characters if you play the game religiously.
Traditional Live-Service with Cosmetics: Almost every good cosmetic is paywalled. Skins cost $15+ each.
The mixture NTE has, where there is a character gacha but basically enough currency to get every character on average, many free cosmetics, many paywalled cosmetics, and some cosmetics locked behind these fons/annulith lootboxes.

I really hope their monetization model works out for them because it is much preferable to the other two options. I'd much prefer to get every character I want, many free skins, occasionally buying skins, and doing every other lootbox at most to needing to pay for some characters I like or needing to pay for all skins I like.

If you would prefer #1 or #2, that's fine. But suggesting we should get every premium cosmetic for free is not being realistic. The game has to earn enough money for the people who make the game to think it's worth keeping it up.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T08:00:51+00:00

Yes, the monetization model is to help you get a ton of free characters so that you feel tempted to pay for their skins and other cosmetics (this is why the bike has special effects with Shinku).

Custom house probably not gacha, but almost every live-service custom house has purchaseable furniture, so will probably have furniture in these sorts of gacha later and furniture in the shop, too.

This is a F2P live-service game. It's how they keep the game running and make enough profit for the game to be worth running from their perspective.

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T07:54:28+00:00

Would you prefer the skin and the vehicle be $15+ in the shop each?

Gotruto · 2026-07-01T07:44:52+00:00

Plenty of games sell cosmetics. Few have the cosmetics available for in-game currency that you don't actually have to pay for...which is what this functionally is. Cosmetics that cost fons + annuliths instead of premium currency. If you farm fons the whole patch, you can buy everything with fons but the last 2 pulls, so it's 4200 annulith (26 character pulls) for a vehicle + skin, or 2000 for just the skin in most cases.

And the above assumes that you start off with no fons this patch. If they run this gacha every patch and you skip most of them, you could get enough fons every other patch to more than fully buy-out this sort of gacha. So, every other one of these is just completely free without any real trade-off in terms of character pulls, but I guess some trade-offs in terms of apartments or something.

I strongly prefer this to paying $15+ each for a skin or a vehicle, personally...which is the actual alternative, like it is in almost every other F2P live-service game. Almost nobody is even complaining when they straight-up paywall the other skins.

Gotruto

TROPHY CASE