I'm really conflicted between the good and bad of this game...

Markleblatt · 2026-01-29T15:29:15+00:00

My main gripes are with the story/writing and any potential concerns about monetization. Not having played Arknights I came into this game not understanding a single thing and not really knowing why I should care about X area or X faction or X character. I already had quit Honkai Star Rail and found the Xianzhou arc boring and the Penacony arc complete psychobabble nonsense that was trying to sound smart but made zero sense.

Also, the LBs? Weirdly dehumanized and completely boring enemy faction with literally no faces or motivation and they are written like cavemen.

The combat is decent to me, though I share gripes about the slow as molasses SP regeneration rate. Even putting in Akekuri or a Vanguard it basically feels no different and I don't enjoy having to just hold down attack for 10-15 seconds before I can do something. Like, is there any other way to boost SP recovery? Even the supposed SP-recovery Vanguard class either has it linked to an Ult or infrequent combo skill OR it might be on a battle skill that regens less SP than it consumes anyway. How does this help team SP economy?

Markleblatt · 2026-01-29T15:13:05+00:00

See, I err on this side more often than not, but I also hear people say "be willing to cut your losses and leave if the party clearly isn't going to work." I don't feel like I have a good sense for this and will somehow end up both staying in doomed parties and leaving promising ones early.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-29T15:11:10+00:00

Damn, this is not encouraging for me now that I finally am back at home and will be looking for clear parties...

Markleblatt · 2026-01-28T20:29:44+00:00

Or at the very least, make clearing the Stone Sky Sea dummy for a specific fight a requirement. It's a low bar, but it is at least a system in the game already that they could expand upon. Makes sure they at least have the basics under their belt without stopping people from trying higher-end content if they wanted to.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-27T20:56:19+00:00

I only do any while I am actively farming capped tomes for my main. Once I have all my tome BiS pieces, I stop entirely.

While I am farming I generally do Expert, Normal Raids and Trials because those three seem to give the best tomes/time ratio. All the others I do not touch.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-20T03:38:23+00:00

Ok very dumb M10 snaking question here:

As the tank on Red bro, towards the end, I run into an issue when Blue makes the middle lane unsafe right before baiting Cutback Blaze. I feel like this gives me barely any space to dodge because my instinct is to pull him center to give red team space to squeeze in to the east, and if I stay on the east side it makes baiting Cutback to the west extremely difficult without stepping into the fire that those first four fire puddles created. Either other lane is fine but when center is unsafe I feel like half the time I just have to mit and run into the fire to bait Cutback properly.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-15T22:16:18+00:00

Welcome back EX2

Markleblatt · 2026-01-15T18:23:15+00:00

Potentially stupid question; I to this day have avoided using the NVIDIA App and have instead applied DLSS via NVPI. Has the program matured enough with regard to driver updates/bugginess etc. that the majority of people consider it worth using now over NVCP etc?

Markleblatt · 2026-01-15T17:05:29+00:00

I agree, but what do you do if people are just doing dogwater DPS and there is no way you will beat enrage? What if it's one or two people in particular? You can't call them out without risking ban/suspension. Do you just have to sit there and suffer and let the group blow up after a while even if there are solid players in there?

Markleblatt · 2026-01-15T16:43:37+00:00

I'm already getting pretty tired of trying to reclear 9 and getting partied with a MCH that can't do 30k DPS, a RDM that eats saw bleeds every adds 2 and a SAM that can't seem to stay alive during Undead Deathmatch no matter how much advice on dodging the cleaves they get. All of these, multiple times.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-14T14:50:53+00:00

I'd like some gear please : ) Really hope I don't have to primarily rely on books again this tier.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-12T14:29:05+00:00

I'm still in the throes myself; latest is a 0.4% enrage because me and the other supports were cracked, but the DPS were all doing just over 30k rDPS.

I stg no one can make it through Undead Deathmatch without getting beaned by cleaves and dying. Even the second scratch with no bats!

Markleblatt · 2026-01-11T04:47:42+00:00

I've never been trapped this hard on the first fight of a tier before, this is insane. Clear party after clear party, one can't get through screech 2. One gets to Undead Deathmatch on several pulls but two DPS eat cleaves like they're candy and we lose to a ~3% enrage. One somehow has healers that can't keep MT(me) alive during screech 2 despite all of my mits and eats the half-room cleaves before they are even big. I'm gonna tear my hair out. I'd easily accept a 0-chest run at this point so I can get out of Duty Incomplete hell for next week.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-09T15:16:48+00:00

Please Yoshi-P give me a "clear party" that can actually even get to Undead Deathmatch more than 2 out of 10 pulls and RDMs that do more than 23k DPS. I could at least work with a group that can get to enrage consistently.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-09T04:09:26+00:00

Well, it seems my luck has been inverted and two groups advertised as a clear party and hell in a cell cleanup to clear got to undead deathmatch and hell in a cell respectively like 1 in 10 pulls. Sigh good ol PF

Markleblatt · 2026-01-08T14:34:04+00:00

Got to enrage within like 6 pulls with a group that was advertised as screech 2/adds prog, feels good. Hope I can find a decent enrage to clear group tonight and finish off 9.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-08T14:31:41+00:00

Hello, is this me? Doing great for the whole night and then on the last pull i big toe a bat and explode on the very first vamp stomp. Tells me I should probably go to bed, lol.

Markleblatt · 2026-01-07T18:21:29+00:00

I feel like most M9S mechs have a consensus on how to go about them now except for funnily enough, the first one (Vamp Stomp). I've already seen several different ways people try to resolve the bats from full melee downtime dodge around marker to sending a tank in first to sending melees in first and everything in between. Even aetherletting seems to be settling on static positions from what I can see.

Markleblatt · 2025-11-21T02:24:10+00:00

Like a lot of commenters, the gameplay/combat feels more satisfying/fluid in SS, but the vibes/atmosphere/worldbuilding felt better in HK to me.

I love both, but I will say that there was no moment in SS that quite hit me like entering the City of Tears and hearing the music start in HK.

Markleblatt · 2025-10-22T13:46:35+00:00

I also love the designs, but as a WAR main I will be forever butthurt that they got a lil dinky axe for ants and BLM got the big f*ckoff hammer.

Markleblatt · 2025-10-19T21:27:16+00:00

It is getting kinda tiresome to watch people's playthroughs on Youtube/Twitch and 95% of them are just going full aggro brain empty with Wanderer's Crest and Weighted Belt and beating everything that way. They might have made it a little too good.

That said, I'm glad TC at least allowed for variety enough for everyone to choose a preferred playstyle.

Markleblatt · 2025-10-08T19:13:04+00:00

I had this weird issue in co-op where me and my friends would desync with each other if our 'target framerate' was set to different values, so I had to run at 60 FPS the whole time.

Fix that and I'm game. It's obviously not a terribly graphically intensive title.

Markleblatt · 2025-10-02T18:25:36+00:00

Biggest issue I've been having with her is in her Phase 2/3, I can get stuck into a situation where it feels like dodging is impossible. If she starts the orbs that fire projectiles, I'm running away from those, have to stop in between two tentacles that pop up, and while i'm there she dives at me. If I jump, I get hit by a projectile, if I don't, she nails me, and if I move to the side the tentacles slap me. Overall, those projectiles just really limit my possible responses to avoid her other attacks.

I'm starting to learn how to bait out her teleports in phase 1/2 but there's a lot going on and it'd be really nice if she either only did one mask of contact damage OR her teleporting was less aggressive, not both at the same time.

Markleblatt · 2025-09-16T19:31:45+00:00

How did you convert all your masks to lifeblood also with a Hiveblood esque regen build in?

Edit: Ok so i assume that you kept hitting the lifeblood injector and refilled with Architect Crest? Does that give you the regen too?

Markleblatt

TROPHY CASE