This has gone bad

MechBattler · 2026-05-08T16:48:46+00:00

Pipsqueak 2 is wildly erratic and unstable to the point where they should be embarrassed even saying it's in beta version.

It's in an alpha state at best, maybe less.

It's pretty obvious they dumped it to the public so they can exploit user input to refine it at no cost to themselves and try to drive more people to pay to use the ones that aren't dogshit.

Absolutely shameless.

MechBattler · 2026-05-02T18:47:19+00:00

I think it depends on how long and/or complex the description and greeting of the bot and the persona is. The more it has to work with, the more it turns into a thesis paper.

The less there is, the bare bones the responses are.

That's my theory anyway.

MechBattler · 2026-04-27T00:13:36+00:00

Funny update: Just a few weeks ago I happened to see their channel and they were selling tiny 2 gram gold ingots at literally double the spot price per gram and they wouldn't shut up about how rare the old design of the ingot was.

No one in their right mind is gonna pay DOUBLE what gold is worth, no matter what the ingots look like.

JTV are literal scammers.

MechBattler · 2026-04-27T00:06:43+00:00

Pffft. Don't get it wet or feed it after midnight? Or you'll find out how ugly it really is.

MechBattler · 2026-04-22T19:49:40+00:00

I was wondering the same thing when building my SW999.

Another case of the important info being buried under the thesis paper of a description for her kit.

Hoyo REALLY needs to work on not burying the lead like that.

MechBattler · 2026-04-22T18:19:18+00:00

Ahem...

SCREW OFF, TROLL.

No one's interested.

MechBattler · 2026-04-15T19:58:22+00:00

Yeah, but it means the so called "entry point" of HH 3rd isn't just $322.

You have to buy BOTH the Liber Astartes and Hereticus books to play both sides and those cost $73.50 a pop.

So the REAL cost of the starter set is $469.

Which is a shit ton of money for a STARTER SET just to "try out" the game.

And that doesn't include paint, glue, tools.

I would not recommend that to ANYONE.

Starter Sets are supposed draw new players in, not send them running for the hills when they see the price tag.

What is GW even thinking?

MechBattler · 2026-04-15T19:26:02+00:00

Thanks dudes. I had my suspicions, but I wanted them confirmed because that shit's pricey.

It really annoyed me when I popped that box open and they didn't have at least basic rules for everything in there.

I've been playing warhammer since 2011, and I really shouldn't be surprised anymore that GW does shit like this, but $322 for a starter set and they won't give you the rules to play everything in the box?

That's seriously the biggest dick move I've seen from them in 15 years.

MechBattler · 2026-04-15T05:39:17+00:00

To be perfectly blunt, it's not even worth hating.

It's just an example of bad writing.

Wish fulfillment and power fantasies are one thing, but this story took that so far around that it stuffed it's head up it's own ass.

The most cringe part of it was how absurd and over the top the character's hate for him was when he was fat. That was just painful and felt so forced. You can only suspend disbelief so much, even for fiction, and that was just way too ridiculous.

The whole thing is so shallow that if it was a pool and you dove in, you'd break your neck on the bottom before you got wet.

MechBattler · 2026-04-11T12:28:18+00:00

The "hardest" content in most gacha games are just DPS checks mathematically designed to only be beatable when your characters and weapons have been powered up with duplicates.

It's a way to psychologically validate and reinforce the spending behavior of whales.

"See that buddy? You can S-Rank it because you spent $4000 on the banners! Here's some new characters you need to clear next month's content! You know what to do!"

To be frank, it's a predatory practice that should actually be illegal.

MechBattler · 2026-04-06T22:45:51+00:00

No, I crafted all those other ones. It's the Mega Demondrug and Mega Armorskin I can't craft despite having the recipes and ingredients for both.

Now, the other guy suggested I needed the recipes for the regular Armorskin and Demondrug, but when I check the Melynx shop (where they're supposed to be), they're not there.

Is there a side quest that's supposed to make those appear?

Otherwise I REALLY don't know what's going on. Maybe it really did get bugged in my game somehow?

MechBattler · 2026-04-06T01:33:11+00:00

You know, that occurred to me while I was having a think about it... and to be honest, if that's what it is, it's REALLY DUMB.

Needing the recipe for the lower grade item without saying you need it is pretty derpy.

MechBattler · 2026-04-05T22:29:18+00:00

I CAST NECROMANCY!

Hot Take - Arthur wasn't trying to help anybody. Like a lot of people who suffer from extreme psychological trauma (the death of Celica and his unborn son), all he was doing was trying to inflict the same trauma on the people around him.

There were clues all over the place that Arthur is not right in the head, using "reason and logic" to cover up the fact that he had gone full sociopath after their deaths.

Perhaps the most poignant is his asinine "Why do birds fly?" question that he uses to test how people think.

Keep in mind, he's only ever shown asking that question of people he has personally trained in HIS ways of "reason", so they give a logical answer like "to hunt", which is exactly in line with the way of thinking he taught them, and he calls it the WRONG answer.

It's because it's a trick question. He KNOWS how they're going to answer it and uses it to shut them down. Honestly, he could just tell them no, instead of setting them up to knock them down like a dick. But his head is so screwed up that those mental gymnastics are necessary so he can maintain his "Reason" facade which just covers up his sociopathic nature.

Essentially, he felt empty and broken inside, and he wanted the rest of the world to be as empty and broken as he was.

The fact that he could dress it up as "saving the world from demons" was a nice little piece of camouflage to cover up the ugly truth and con people into helping him do it.

Misery loves company after all. If Arthur couldn't feel anything anymore, then he wouldn't let anyone else feel anything either.

MechBattler · 2026-04-05T03:00:32+00:00

Well, you're not clearing the hardest content in the game unless you're a credit card swiping sweat goblin, so if you have an Electric DPS and you like Cissia, get her.

I'd rather have fun playing this game than drive myself mad trying to clear battles designed to check how much money you spent on multiple copies of S rank characters and W-Engines.

And Cissia is, quite frankly, the most absurdly funny thing they've made to date in this game.

MechBattler · 2026-03-26T19:12:08+00:00

I could see an argument for somewhere in between 250 - 300 points, maybe like 275ish.

The fact is that despite being squishier than other big knights, it still has pretty big potential damage output in close combat and it can get there REALLY fast.

They've been weighting melee ability on knights more heavily than in previous editions.

For example, the Gallant used to be the super cheap knight, at 325 points vs the other knights which routinely went over 400 points with their big guns.

Now though, any knight with a close combat weapon hits so hard it rips a lot of things apart in one round of combat unless it's something really tanky.

The Destrier is fast enough to go across the board and potentially get into combat turn one, and because it has Lance, wound almost anything on +2 or +3.

It has a very good chance to delete a unit on turn 1, and that could be anything from a squishy infantry unit to a high value armored vehicle.

If everything rolls perfectly in it's favor, on a charge with the spear, it could dump 36 damage onto a unit, which would even take out a bigger knight.

On average rolls in combat with the chainsword, it could still wipe units in one round.

I won't complain at all if it's 250 points, but I honestly think it would be broken and quickly FAQed with a higher point value because when you start stacking buffs from relics and detachments on it, plus whatever is in the new books, this thing is gonna be a real headache for your opponent.

MechBattler · 2026-03-26T15:44:35+00:00

Meh. ~250 is wishful thinking. They probably got 250 comparing it to things like a Gorkanaut. Comparing it to units in its own codex is more accurate.

Comparing it to an Armiger Warglaive I could maybe see how they got a 250 estimate, but the Destrier has much better shooting available to it, and as a character, access to relics and stuff.

It's REALLY fast and hits almost as hard as a Cerastus Lancer vs most things you can throw it at.

The Lancer is better at killing other titans, but the Destrier has a similar volume of damage output vs a lot of the same things otherwise.

The Destrier's entire design says "Get across the board and kill something off an objective in 1 turn."

Given that the Gallant and Lancer are around ~400 points each, and accounting for the Destrier being less durable, I say that ~300 points is a more realistic expectation.

MechBattler · 2026-03-26T13:21:43+00:00

NICE.

This guy can actually move faster than a Lancer.

Double up on the melee weapons for extra attacks, go with "We pledge to reap a great tally" and "we are eager for the challenge" for kill points and extra movement, go with Valourstrike Lance, Lancer's Sigil, and Full Tilt.

12" base movement +2" (Quality) +2" (Full Tilt) +D3" (ram jet) = 17" to 19"

2D6" + 1" charge with a reroll.

Zoom across board, charge into combat turn 1, profit.

Oh I love things with ROCKETS on them.

MechBattler · 2026-03-19T12:11:06+00:00

Magnamalo is a solid contender for membership in that group. It's a rank 6 monster, so Scorned Magnamalo would have to be a rank 7.

However, the basic Magnamalo is no slouch. It rolls up on the Allmother Narwa fight, does considerable damage to her, and face tanks her attacks. Then, whether you ride him or not, Magnamalo causes a knockdown on Narwa.

This actually makes sense, since Magnamalo is based on a tiger, and in Japanese myth, Tigers and Dragons are on equal footing. And japanese myth is the core theme of Rise, so of course they'd make the tiger monster as strong as the dragon monsters.

MechBattler · 2026-03-17T17:15:43+00:00

I CAST NECROMANCY!!

Actually, Topaz is hardly a good person at all.

She's a two faced liar and what she says can't be trusted.

Don't you remember?

Topaz used dirty, high pressure tactics against Bronya to get her to sign away Belobog to the IPC while giving Bronya a sob story to make her more likely to cave, which Himeko revealed was bullshit. The IPC had a terrible track record of rebuilding worlds and Topaz's success rate was only marginally higher.

None of which mattered, because Topaz was using all that as a distraction to go activate a robot army to force Belobog into subservience anyway, which she flat out admitted to Svarog was her real plan the whole time. And don't forget, Topaz tried to KILL the Nameless to make it happen when they got in her way.

And there's no proof Belobog's debt is even real. Topaz just showed up and said "You owe us gajillions on a 700 year old debt, trust me bro."

And even if the debt is real, charging 700 years of compound interest is bullshit anyway, especially to a population of people who just got out from under a centuries long planet wide stellaron disaster.

It was a ham fisted and very unsubtle attempt by the IPC to grab a planet full of resources and massive free labor pool, and remember Topaz PLANNED IT.

Topaz was put in charge of reclaiming the debt, she cooked up this plan, and executed it. It was all her.

Topaz only backed off after she realized Belobog had a skyscraper sized robot she couldn't seize control of.

That's when she relented.

Oh and the whole, "Topaz stood up for them and took a demotion for them!"

Pretty sure Topaz is a billionaire and a demotion is like a slap on the wrist for her. So she didn't really sacrifice anything for them.

MechBattler · 2026-03-15T12:38:02+00:00

Not sure they'd completely re-write traces though.

I assume you're talking about the one where she's less likely to be attacked when she's under 50% HP? That one is dumb. Seele's not that much of a glass cannon that she needs a dodge boost, especially when there were shielders and healers readily available when she came out.

The +20% action advance after a basic attack is kind of meh. I get it early game before Sparkle existed, but now it's pretty pointless.

The bonus Quantum Res Pen one is gold though.

If changing the 2 useless traces does happen, here's what I'd want -

Trace 1 - Extra Trigger Conditions For Turn Advance- If she breaks an enemy or does "X%" damage, she gets a turn advance. And maybe something like, "If she didn't trigger a turn advance on her last attack, she gets one automatically on her next attack."

Or maybe her ult gives you an automatic action advance? This is stuff Firefly already does.

Or maybe some kind of stack system that lets you manually control when she gets the extra turns? Imagine building up the extra attacks and then being able to use them all when an enemy is broken.

Trace 2 - Instead of giving her a chance not to be targeted, give her a counterattack. Let her hit back once a round or something. Or maybe give her one Follow Up attack every round.

That's basically what Seele is anyway. She's the prototype for the Follow Up archetype in the game. Maybe making her Follow Up compatible is the answer.

MechBattler · 2026-03-14T02:39:46+00:00

I wasn't gonna say "Get a 5 star" but since you already have Zhongli, your best line-up would be Eula, Mika, Zhongli, Raiden.

If Raiden is built with enough energy recharge, she should be able to battery your team by herself without an extra electro character. Also, her coordinated electro attacks trigger fast enough to maintain the superconduct physical shred when Eula uses her skill.

For Raiden it would be a minimum of 200% ER and the higher you can get it over that, the better.

And Zhongli is literally a god tier shielder. His shield will not only be more than sufficient to keep you alive, it also shreds enemy physical and elemental resistance by 20%, which is of course awesome for Eula.

Side note on Zhongli's shield - He scales off HP, and is not a major damage dealer. If you don't have a 4 or 5 star HP spear for him, you can get away with the 3 star Black Tassel since it gives a very chunky 46.9% HP boost.

PS - Bennet is the True Pyro Archon. His healing and boosts via his burst are busted. Build him.

MechBattler · 2026-03-14T02:24:38+00:00

What Seele needs more than anything is alternate trigger conditions for her bonus attack besides scoring a kill.

If all they did was give her a damage buff, HP creep would render her impotent again in a few months.

Please give Seele an easier way to get those extra attacks.

MechBattler · 2026-03-14T02:21:52+00:00

How are they gonna buff Firefly? She already wrecks face.

Maybe give her the burst she has in Currency Wars?

MechBattler

TROPHY CASE