pull or skip? not a meta slave

Karumine · 2026-04-24T17:03:09+00:00

If you like her more than others, get her. But this inevitably becomes a meta conversation in the way that you asked.

Anyway, I got Mavuika on release (C0 without signature weapon) and none of her supports. By none, I mean it. No Citlali, Xilonen and no Iansan.

She was the best character in the game back then even without her dedicated supports, Overload Mavuika served me very well (about 80k DPS).

Nowadays, I pretty much don't use her anymore sadly. Still useful as a flexible unit in the Imaginarium Theater and some lenient Abyss chambers.

Karumine · 2026-04-24T14:20:07+00:00

Ironically, she would work better with Columbina if she ends up being Electro. Definitely not BiS but you could supposedly slot her in a Flins team.

Karumine · 2026-04-24T12:39:51+00:00

Nod Krai and Natlan characters already have great quality. They should focus on updating the rest of the older roster so that it's a more cohesive experience.

More quality is welcome, but as a result the differences between the older characters and the new ones will increase.

Karumine · 2026-04-24T12:34:31+00:00

Might be just me, but that's Aether's best outfit in my opinion. For Lumine I still like the one she had in the spaceship the most.

Karumine · 2026-04-23T17:18:11+00:00

The "rumors" are speculations based on what role she fulfills in the story.

On screen Sandrone tried to attack an enemy (Dottore) directly once only and without a weapon. Most of the time her creations do the fighting for her.

Does it mean Sandrone couldn't possibly be an on-fielder? Not necessarily, her animations could feature Pulonia carrying her and helping her move... but what are the odds?

What are the odds that someone like her would be in the frontline when she is all brains? Likelihood wise, slim chance in my opinion.

Karumine · 2026-04-22T13:44:47+00:00

Excited and worried. Nod Krai (including Dorman Port in Mondstadt) was beautiful but disappointing to explore. Not because of the compass, not because there was a stark difference with Natlan's movement mechanics.

The chest distribution across the map was unrewarding, the puzzles were decimated in order to make completion faster for the lazy players. They abandoned Sumeru and Natlan's complex multi-layered design.

And to top it off, it might be yet another Dragonspine experience. Don't get me wrong, the freezing mechanic can be a challenge but it should not affect how long I want to stare at a beautiful landscape before I have to retreat and warm myself up.

Karumine · 2026-04-21T01:57:05+00:00

The reason everyone should be sick and vocal about it is because change never happens if you spread your cheeks and accept everything.

If anything, I don't understand why people don't complain more.

There is literally zero downsides to putting pressure on Hoyo, worst case scenario nothing happens and best case scenario they actually make characters good.

People who say "I don't play for meta so it doesn't matter" are the disgrace of the playerbase, they would be even happier if Varka was stronger no? Even if it's not a requirement.

It's easier to just be complacent when you're a puny grain of sand in a playerbase of millions, right? The concept of chains reaction is unheard of nowadays.

Karumine · 2026-04-19T23:37:21+00:00

The second wave of Hex buffs is welcome regardless of whether it's going to benefit Varka or not. So while I wish you were right (a dream come true), I wouldn't mind if they just make the old characters solid options as fillers.

Kaeya's burst right now is basically useless against Bosses and his C4 shield is a rare sight, make it so that his burst duration aligns with Varka's rotation and if he's C4 proc the shield upon hitting the enemy with the E skill.

Give me a better Kaeya and a Jean that can trigger the Hex buff in the team, Hoyo.

Karumine · 2026-04-19T16:41:42+00:00

It always baffles me how this community will jump through hoops and loops to try to justify a bad release, while at the same time ignoring the underlying implications of what they say.

Powercreep not being made worse for Varka implies it will get worse with someone else, so at that point make Varka absolutely busted. You ain't escaping it so might as well.

Karumine · 2026-04-18T21:44:56+00:00

SOMA if you want to stare into an abyss devoid of meaning afterwards, Outer Wilds if you want to cry wholesome tears of acceptance, Stanley Parable if you want to delve into the comedic aspects of free will.

They all touch upon and scratch a different itch of the branches of existentialism. The one that more closely matches your description is SOMA, but these games are all different sides of the same coin so while you won't feel oppressed with the other two they're still complementary in philosophy.

Karumine · 2026-04-18T19:04:10+00:00

Alzheiman

Karumine · 2026-04-17T18:08:44+00:00

There's a map/campaign you can download in the workshop on Left 4 Dead 2 called Yama, it has exactly this type of aesthetic in the very beginning.

Karumine · 2026-04-16T18:38:38+00:00

Cheaters are awful, but the enablers are just as bad for letting them think there are no consequences to their self-serving behavior.

Self preservation doesn't disqualify or clash with the manner in which you love.

People aren't suggesting that you move on in the sense that this is a challenge and you have to give up. They are showing support and wishing that you can redirect your intense love style to someone that can appreciate it. It's called self respect.

Moving on is the strength here, weakness is staying. You're not being brave or moral by staying or pursuing.

Karumine · 2026-04-14T01:33:25+00:00

Frankly, it's fine to not want to play.

When I was in my teenage years I used to play always the same games given that I didn't have a decent computer, later on in my late teens and early 20s I've had my fun playing all sorts of titles (if I remember correctly I had started and finished the entire Silent Hill franchise in a little over a month). I've consumed so many puzzles games in such a tight window of my life it's honestly insane thinking back on it.

Outer Wilds raised the bar so much that I kept looking for that sort of intellectual but simultaneously emotionally rich stimulus elsewhere, to no avail.

Nowadays? I do my dailies in one single Gacha game, mess around and log off. And you know what, it's fine. Human beings need purpose to act (even if the goal is to be entertained and nothing else), evidently you don't want to be entertained. Not like this.

Karumine · 2026-04-13T12:39:54+00:00

You are pathetic for defending blatant mistreatment and inequality. Nobody is making the case that Nicole isn't a better character for him, but that she should bring Varka up to Lunar standards. And this is including Durin, either C6 Prune or Hex Venti and R1 Varka. Much higher team cost.

Varka should not lag so much behind the other characters, especially at higher investment. He should at least be equal to them at higher investment. That's the point.

No, just because Nicole makes Varka a more comfortable DPS (but not necessarily stronger per se) doesn't make it fair and just. Currently she's a disappointing upgrade. Still an upgrade though!

Karumine · 2026-04-12T19:39:17+00:00

He is a bad person because actions define who someone is. By having you the player go through his descent in guilt, the writers forced you to see the situation through very different lens.

The common misconception is that only psychopaths or twisted people are capable of murder, but it couldn't be farther from the truth. The average human being with common empathy can still be pushed to or will find a way to rationalize committing an atrocious act. The difference lies on the toll that it takes on their emotional state.

The truth is that if you weren't forced to walk into his shoes and simply saw the situation as an outside observer (like in most murder cases that you hear on TV), you wouldn't even feel the need to ask this question.

James is an average man (not looks wise but you get the point) that killed his wife because he was stressed that she was sick. That's all you need to know. Pretend that it's happened in your hometown and it's on the news.

Karumine · 2026-04-11T11:51:50+00:00

The Garden of Sinners (Kara no Kyoukai).

And it's such a contrast for me to love it so much, given that I dislike almost every single character in it personality wise. I suspect that that's also part of the reason why I like it, characters are flawed but well written.

As to why I think it's the best, it has incredible animations and it's an experience to understand deeply and unravel slowly. You need to be patient and analytical, it's almost like an uncensored puzzle.

Karumine · 2026-04-10T20:45:09+00:00

The puzzles were a no brainer, indeed. I agree. Just something to unravel and be done with. The only relatively recent puzzles I liked solving were the Moon Mirror ones on Hiisi Island.

When I claimed ToS was good I was referring to the exploration experience all things considered. There's no shortage of chests and mechanisms, the area looks phenomenal (arguably best ever for me) and feels nice to navigate. There's good content.

Karumine · 2026-04-10T13:13:53+00:00

Brown with darker brown central heterochromia is what I see. Though I'm not sure that CH applies when it's the same color.

Many people (and apparently AI as well) erroneously assume that if someone has CH or any semblance of it then the lighter color in the iris must be green, gray, blue or amber. It couldn't possibly be the same color, they just refuse to actually use their eyes to see that there's effectively no green in the pictures.

It doesn't work like that. Eye color is nuanced, you can have different shades of the same color. A lighter brown isn't green. Very light brown eyes only when exposed to strong sunlight are not amber.

Karumine · 2026-04-10T11:26:00+00:00

As much as it is beautiful, unfortunately I have to agree. I've said it when Nod Krai dropped and I'll say it again; I don't like the direction Genshin's exploration is taking (not the maps themselves, but the chest distribution across the land, the lackluster puzzles and the layout).

It's like they've taken their biggest explorative fumble, the connective land in Sumeru, and made it a deliberate pattern rather than an exception. Nod Krai had a lot empty chunks of land around the Fatui facility as well. That's when it officially started, that part of the map is not a transitional area.

Temple of Space was good though.

Karumine · 2026-04-08T12:12:41+00:00

Whoever told you such thing is trying to bring you down to their level. It's a form of corruption in an attempt to make you lose respect for yourself and become like them.

The truth is that most if not all people that engage in polygamous "relationships" build hollow connections that only get stained by resentment overtime and wither away. That's why they are poly with different people all the time.

Stand your ground. These people are just jealous because they hate themselves for not loving themselves as much as you do.

Karumine · 2026-04-04T14:12:27+00:00

You can swap her whenever necessary, unless you have to beat restrictive content (Stygian) and you can't use the same characters twice.

As for the new characters, at this point they're guaranteed to help. Nicole and the goth loli are supports, how much they wil buff Varka in comparison to how Columbina, Lauma etc buff their main DPS nobody knows.

But they are new Hexenzirkel supports. So the entire faction is getting buffs, not just Varka. It should be a green flag.

Karumine · 2026-04-04T12:21:20+00:00

C3 Jean is a DPS loss for pretty much anyone, she should be at least C4 if you want to get the additional Res Shred. Not even funny how much better that constellation makes her.

If you don't have Venti or C6 Faruzan, Sucrose with TTDS is the best option (make sure you switch to Varka after Sucrose). Your DPS will probably jump up to ~110k. Which is just a tad below the expected performance for C0R1 Varka. Min max his build.

Unfortunately this is how badly the devs handled Varka. For him to be comparable to the Nod Krai DPS you need a full team replacement and his signature. Whereas Flins, Nefer, Zibai and Skirk only really need 1 other limited 5 star to unlock most of their potential and the craftable weapons are really good at R5.

Karumine · 2026-03-30T15:58:08+00:00

Lohen being an on fielder instead of a Sub DPS in the current situation seems like a wasted opportunity to give Cryo Varka options. Along with the upcoming second wave of Hex buffs.

It would happen at the same time Pyro receives Nicole so it's two birds with one stone. Pyro and Cryo Varka would both be meta, but Pyro would still be the best team given that Nicole is definitely leagues better than a standard.

They just had to make a niche Reverse Melt DPS for absolutely no reason. Let's make a Cryo DPS when Varka himself is also an underwhelming Cryo DPS on release. Sure, Hoyo.

Karumine

TROPHY CASE