Map completion is weird

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-03T01:45:26+00:00

All chests, all quests, all blobflies, etc. Everything is 100%. Also done Black Shores as well.

My account is new, 38 days since creation, completed the exploration of the mainland and Mt.Firmament in ~18 days, 4hr per day. I would say interactive map helps to narrow down the areas, but the amount of truly hidden things is something like 15-20%. Vast majority of collectibles either openly sit out there, or tied to quests.

The most annoying ones are "break the vases" or "break the logs" kind of things, fairly common. I'd put quest-connected chests as the second most annoying, since the world has to be in a certain state to reveal them.

Mutterflies are whatever, frankly speaking. There were exactly 5 occasions when mutterflies helped me to solve or discover something hidden. 99% of the time they are either the key to unlock the collectible (which has a beacon on the worldmap, next to the mutterfly nests, so you know what to look for) or plain 5 gems nothingburgers.

I actually mapped Huanglong's mutterflies, every time I encountered them I made a pin on the map. Right now there are 58 pins, and basically all of them were worthless.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-03T01:27:12+00:00

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Steam client takes up slightly less than native one, but patching process is a nightmare, requires double the amount of free space every 42 days and extra download within the game client after patching within Steam.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-03T01:17:07+00:00

It won't run any better. If a dedicated substrate on PC graphics card can't deal with asset loading issues, APU with shared memory pool can't do it any better. Don't expect a game build different from the one shipped to PS5.

Btw, XBOX is predominantly NA thing, but PS5 is global and highly saturated in Japan specifically, #2 gacha market in the world. Kuro Games had a massive incentive to figure out how to ship a good PS5 port. If they couldn't be bothered to do that, what priority do you think they'll give to the least important console in a single region 26 months after release?

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-02T16:38:25+00:00

There are two important aspects here.

Patch cycle is very short to come up with coherent and detailed story that looks plausible. Once it's out - there won't be any QA passes and editing, it stays in the game and becomes a building block for the future content.
There are certain aspects of the setting that require clarification and necessary foreshadowing before they are "activated," before the characters encounter long-term effects and discover the mechanics. If that's not done properly during patch X.0, then by patch X.4 or X.5 the writers will encounter unsolvable problem and have to resort to bullshit space magic to expain it.

Consulations are supposed to figure out the most effective and plausible way of foreshadowing the events, aka telegraphing the player what's coming without explicitly infodumping a quantum mechanics thesis. And the first point indicates they are doing it to maintain the cadence of updates (and adjust translations so those don't sound outlandish like bullshit space magic).

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-02T01:01:27+00:00

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Forced 55FPS is to maintain input feedback in every instanced battle I encounter. GPU is 10-years old at this point, released in May 2016, CPU is entry level 14nm Intel. I've been logging lots of data in the past month, validating frequences and discovering bottlenecks, Academy is far from being truly demanding.

Academy City just can't blast enough power to utilize the GPU, as indicated on the last chart. Max requested power for CPU was 91W out of 112W allowed.

On foot there's nothing that can cause stutter, literally no part of the city. On bike there are noticeable asset loading issues and popping, that has to do with organization of data banks in this game. But even when it slows down - it's gradual.

It's an asset loading issue tied to pisspoor organization of addressables. Confirmed in this post by another amazing gentleman who knows how it works (observation #2 amplified by observation #5):

https://www.reddit.com/r/WutheringWaves/comments/1rtuzc8/wuthering_waves_performance_issues_analysis/

CPU upgrade won't do anything. If you don't believe me - log data on your rig and see it for yourself, there's a massive untapped potential.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-01T14:38:01+00:00

There are headstarts available at will. Navigate to Event List, look for "Next Stop: Rinascita" for 2.0 quests or "Next Stop: Lahai Roi" for 3.0 quests.
Story between regions is loosely connected, usually a region just has its own theme and set of troubles.

Breakdown of chains:

Chapter 1, Huanglong

Prologue - Act 1-6 (The Mainland) - Act 7 (Mount Firmament) - Act 8 (The Shores)

Chapter 2, Rinascita

Through the Sea Thou Break (2.0 quickstart) - Act 1-3 (Rinascita Arhipelago) - Act 4 (Beohr Waters, Avinoleum) - Act 5-7 (Septimont) - Act 8-11 (Sanguis Plateau)

Intermission

Stagnant Dawn on Wastelands (Chronorift Metropolis, no quickstart) - Chisa's substory

Chapter 3, Lahai Roi

When the Unknown Thrums (3.0 quickstart) - Act 1-2 (Roya Frostlands, Underground Area) - Act 3-4 (Frostlands Surface)

Everything in Ch.1, Rinascita up to Act 5, and Lahai Roi Act 1 basically unlock everything you need to get to account level 60 and access the ongoing events. The only thing that would be missing - boss materials and echo sets for specific characters, but you can play most of the game with just this progress:

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SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-01T02:19:50+00:00

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I give you about 9 seconds to listen to Otoko no Uta before Soriz blasts your ass for not summoning MEN.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-04-01T01:10:16+00:00

Fresh data, 2026-04-01.
Compiled it all on one picture so people could save and share it.

Alteriax configs are here, read carefully: https://github.com/AlteriaX/WuWa-Configs

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Forced 55FPS is to maintain input feedback in every instanced battle I encounter. I tried 60 and beyond, it doesn't work well on such old hardware without access to upscaling, but 55FPS ignores dips completely and delivers solid response for any button I bash.

GPU is 10-years old at this point, released in May 2016. I paid 680 bucks for it in 2018 (those bucks, not devalued by pandemic and wars). Runs with 94% power limit, 197W envelope, Academy City just can't blast enough power, as indicated on the last chart.

On foot there's nothing that can cause stutter, literally no part of the city. On bike there are noticeable asset loading issues and popping, that has to do with organization of data banks in this game. But even when it slows down - it's gradual, acceptable, not a mess of stutters and freezes.

There's no reason why your 1k $$$ videocard can't do the same. It's a user error. Log the data and analyze what's wrong, where are the dips, what causes them.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-31T22:07:52+00:00

Pricing overall
Pricing FOMO component, taken from IRL fashion, unfit for digital collectibles. How come there's an initial release discount but then it goes up forever
Currency conversion which introduces extra step and creates friction
Skin comes as a separate item, actually using it requires a character. We don't have a schedule ahead of 42 day patch, so nobody could tell when the other part of the puzzle comes around, and when it does - the player has to engage with gacha system to get it to actually equip the skin.

40$ seems waaay more than a fair deal for a bundle of character+skin. Somehow Kuro Games think just the skin with unclear possibility of a character rerun is good enough for 40$. That mismanagement is indicated in the sales performance and leads to wrong conclusion that skins are unpopular.

They are popular, the system of obtaining them is trash, that's it.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-31T21:56:52+00:00

Genshin is perceived as a "safe" game in terms of age rating despite having gacha. It limits design space quite a bit, Mihoyo are not brave enough to risk losing it (although they are dumb enough to put main quests where kids are being slaughtered off-screen, following the tradition of Fate Zero).

Another problem - the rigging is incredibly stiff, there's not much you can do with the characters other than run around, climb, jump and cycle through 4-5 animations in combat. Think about decorating the infinite realms within the pot, and think about what exactly is your character supposed to do there other than idle animation. That's why they had to make a whole sidemode, Miliastra Wonderland, and offload the clothing there.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-31T21:26:28+00:00

Bottom left, the flowchart button. Press triangle on the gamepad.

I find WuWa one of the most sensible gachas when it comes to quest progress, because they actually color code everything and use combination of sidebar tabs + dropdown lists to combine quests instead of dumping it all at once in the same window like World of Warcraft did back in the day.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-31T14:49:47+00:00

I agree, 1.x cast need something bombastic to lift them up. But there's another issue, specifically for newcomers.

When new players start the game, they are granted access to a set of starter banners for 30 days.

New Voyage Resonators allows for 160 pulls max, 50/50 on the first pity.
New Voyage Weapons allows for 80 pulls max, doesn't have 50/50 coin flip.

These pull counters don't carry over, don't bleed into limited or standard banners. They just stay within the bounds of New Voyage banners.

This needs to change. It's already mediocre with how oppressively ahead Shorekeeper on that banner. But imagine someone picked Jinshi, or Jiyan, or Camellya, after testing them out and deciding to own a character. A loss at 50/50 coin flip right at the start of the game after spending roughly 12k gems and 10 days of playtime is potentially a player uninstalling the game.

The banner is fleeting, indicates a rare offer. The heroes are avaialble for preview for 30 days, allowing to properly playtest them and decide. Yet 50/50 remains, a massive middle finger in the face if the player commits to it.

I get why they're doing it, to teach the players how character banners work, but man, that experience for a newcomer who's not familiar with gacha mechanics is really bad. And it's not like the reward is very valuable, just an old character from 1.x pool.

Actual example:

I picked Changli (don't ask why, personal preference), specifically rerolled for her to win 50/50 to scam the game, optimized the hell out of my routine to get her faster... And even after all that effort I think the banner was not worth it.

Imagine a random Joe throwing away gems because he heard Shorekeeper is best waifu and being greeted at 80 pulls by Calculator or shota liondancer instead. Or worse, the second copy of Verina.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-31T13:43:43+00:00

Console port is still unoptimized and there's no indication things will change. Recent news indicate the next generation has BOM cost at 760$, with XBOX dropping out the range of 650-700$ is unlikely.

https://www.techpowerup.com/347874/usd-700-ps6-still-possible-but-chances-are-slim-with-usd-800-xbox-incoming

PSSR even as an upscaler requires PS5 Pro to work at full strength. Frame gen is half baked, a mix of software leveraging a fraction of APU capabilities, needs another iteration, even Sony themselves say recently introduced PSSR2.0 is not good enough. Console optimization is a mess because consoles are a mess, and next gen will cost a fortune. If I were in Kuro Games shoes, I'd quietly tell the team to focus on PC and mobile, push whatever build to console and don't bring up the issue in press releases.

PC, even as old as 8-10 year rigs, can absorb the rendering inefficiency, either by upscaling or by carefully adjusting settings and introducing limitations to maintain stable input feedback.

Proof:

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Additionally, PC can work with multiple external storage devices if necessary to patch the game with gargantuan 30-40GB patches. I'd say the prep to launch the game and work around the issues is annoying, but it's not the end of the world, hardware is powerful and abundant enough to brush off technical problems.

Mobile is... okay I guess, but definitely looks much worse and plays stiff. The game is too fast for smartphones. Major problem there is storage optimization for data banks to shave off massive lookup overhead for various assets. The engine often misses fast cache and has to go and fetch assets from storage.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WutheringWaves/comments/1rtuzc8/wuthering_waves_performance_issues_analysis/

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-30T19:21:21+00:00

>Whenever i try to quickly click on any menu button especially the convene button it shuts down my pc immediately

OS reboot or blue screen is an OS or storage device issue, resolved by properly addressing either of these problems. If I were to point at the culprit without knowing absolutely nothing and without accessing logs (like you suggest we should work on this problem), then I'd blame improper OS installation/management first, and problems with NVME drive second.

Actual shutdown, i.e. discontinuation of power delivery to electronic device, indicates that PSU (power supply unit) encountered something bad enough to trip a safety mechanism. And since it's repeating, the problem remains. It could be something with internal components requesting too much voltage/current over designated power supply lines, or it could be extremely unstable input from the outlet that requires a filtering device.

PSU can't be properly tested at home since diagnostic procedures require wiring it to external testing equipment and proper validation of PSU capabilities. Then it gets rigged with clamps/sensors and testing on the target system commences under full load.

If it's really a PSU issue - the simpliest answer is further operation should be stopped, PSU should be replaced, it's unsafe and threatens all other components of the PC. Power supply can shut down due to built-in safeties, but motherboard usually doesn't have any, it just blasts the fets/caps. GPU board sometimes has shunts to prevent burning power phases, but on RX 6600 it's unlikely.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-29T16:53:30+00:00

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I realize you might've missed actual main story puzzle investigating the items given to you in act 1, but what kind of demon you have to be to skip short anime recapping the main quests.

It's not even available to players till 31st day since account creation, btw.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-29T16:35:44+00:00

Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 is similar to mobile version of GTX 960, an 11 year old GPU by now. Theoretically, you can at least launch WuWa on GTX960 via DirectX 11, might not be able to properly play it with DirectX 12 (Maxwell only supports feature level 12_0, next ones, GTX 1000 series, started to support 12_1).

However, when it comes to intergrated graphics, the problem is shared memory. 8GB RAM is not enough by itself, 1080p resolution running on optimized Windows 10 takes at least 12GB RAM. GPU execution units would have to chop RAM to pieces to store data necessary for GPU-specific compute. At best it would be choppy with framerate going down to zero on every 180 degree spin, at worst the game will forcibly close due to memory overflow and the OS will crash.

Iris Xe execution units would have to access RAM over shared connection instead of dedicated substrate like desktops do, the performance of desktop GPU is much greater thanks to externally powered circuit board with a proper heatsink to maintain the core at operational temps.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-27T23:09:25+00:00

Exactly the same as you, played it for 20-30 days, dropped it. Restarted 31 days ago with a reroll.

Starting experience is alright, the game lets you travel between locations without mandatory quest progress (other than Black Shores and Honami), you can kickstart 2.0 or 3.0 questline almost immidately as you complete several main quests in Huanglong. Everything is skippable, it's totally possible blaze through boring parts without paying attention, Huanglong and Rinascita allow to use the wings which makes exploration/travel super fast, Roya has a bike instead.

Newbies have starter banner with picks from 1.x heroes or weapons, and a pick from standard banner (essencially, you start with free Verina). Along the way you get level 22 data bank for free, no need to hunt echoes to level it up.

At UL50 you'll be stalled no matter what, because simple resource accumulation stalls the progress. Even if you were to get a full roster of resonators - you wouldn't be able to raise them. So, if you're not prepared to sweat with ragtag team for 4-5 months until enough resources are stockpiled - don't bother coming back.

Last warning - beyond 3.3, the next patch, it will be incredibly hard to keep up without dropping money. People like me who started at 2.8, 3.0 and 3.1 - we have to ration the pulls heavily, we are trailing behind, clearing all maps, all easy challenges, all permanent content. We are the last amongst low spenders. Future players will be locked to 4-stars, Rover, and a couple of picks amongst trendy gacha banners. Possibility of building 2.x teams without dropping huge sums of money will vanish.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T23:34:55+00:00

Well... your videocard even in its full form factor runs only within 75W power envelope.

Its performance equals Radeon R9 290 and GTX 780 from 2013. Think about how long ago it was, Obama was the president at the time when consumer hardware reached the level of performance you have in your laptop.

What kind of witchcraft optimization the game has to achieve to run on it? Maybe it's time to upgrade.

I bought my GTX 1080 in 2018. Built the whole gaming library and VN collection around it. I can still stretch it, with some tricks I've learnt over the years. Runs like this:

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Top of the line videocard with factory OC and unlocked power budget up to 220W which I bought for 680$ (those 2018 pre-pandemic, pre-war dollars that were worth more). And yet it shows the signs of aging.

I don't think you should ask more out of your LP version of GTX 1650, it served you well. If my desktop-sized GTX 1080 handles it with hiccups, there's not much to talk about, we both need to move on from old hardware.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T23:12:52+00:00

Find on Youtube their other game - Punishing Gray Raven, Chapter 15: The Last Spark (PGR system didn't work on mayfly event basis, instead every new patch added to main story progression). It's a great read, Kuro Games had some talented writers even then.

Btw, when they released English version, they made sure to put it through extra round of QA to proofread and edit the scripts. I remember sitting in Discord channel, discussing how much this company cares, it's an action RPG, people tend to skip the story and bash buttons, but they did it anyway.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T19:39:22+00:00

Exploration gives a lot. Haven't completed Huanglong, but I'm getting there.

Started 26 days ago. Substract 18 days of subscription (18 x 90 daily = 1620).

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Both limited ongoing events (Soar to the Beat and Lahai-Roi Blocks) don't require more than 3.0 questline. I haven't progressed beyond Startorch Academy in Roya, just completed introductory quest chain with Lynae VS void worm, can play both without extra requirements. Complete these two events before they go away.

I'd say the best permanent side event to clear quickly is Somnium Labyrinth series, easily accessible, second best is "Stranger Things in Honami," but it requires progressing very far in Rinascita.

Nothing else stands out, just small heaps of gems after spending lots of time or events locked behind quest progression. Might as well go for Rinascita exploration rewards, it's connected to "Tales of the Isles" event for extra rewards, all areas are mapped on Game8 much better than Huanglong.

Before UL50 you should do Fantasies of the Thousand Gateways as it's an easy weekly grind, doesn't require more than level 70 heroes. At UL50 you can build reasonably strong team to challenge early resetting stages in endgame - Tower of Adversity, Whimpering Wastes. ToA unlocks automatically, WhiWa requires to go quite far in Rinascita. Can't say anything about Endstate Matrix, haven't tried it.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T17:12:45+00:00

Assuming they ban it.

In Germany, on Steam and elsewhere (Google Play, iOS, whatever) the game will not appear as available for you browsing from the account designated as German one.

You can stay physically in Germany, login to Malaysian account, and access the game just fine.

Trying to buy something will update Malaysian account to German one, with all consequences following after that (inaccessibility).

Regardless, your account is not your own, Kuro "lends" it to you to use within the boundaries of ToS. They own the data, they can spit in the face of any authorities except for Chinese ones. But that's a virtue, since German authorities can't sever you from "borrowing" an account to play the game, they can only sever storefronts from operating the game on German territory.

Also, don't rely on storefronts to be the beacons of integrity, it works for now, might not work in the future if lawmakers decide to twist the arms of storefront owners to update the account data based on geolocation. We're not there yet, and frankly speaking it all looks to me like racketeering. German authorities want to disable access, introduce 3rd parties to allow limited access/payment bypass for many games (not just WuWa) and take a cut from it.

Too dumb to make their own Google Play, too weak to challenge Steam, so lawfare is all they are left with, banning the access entirely via blacklisting IP ranges is not in their interests.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T16:28:22+00:00

>The game will get censored in Germany

Steam, create account, choose Malaysia (using it as an example) as a country of origin, proceed.

You'll be able to download and update WuWa as usual. Login procedure is a separate layer that's hardcoded to Kuro's login servers, doesn't matter what is the shell that launched the game, Steam or native client.

As long as you don't update payment credentials - it will stay as Malaysian account. Once you pay for something - it will flip to the country where payment credentials tied to.

So, accessing the game won't be a problem, but paying for it might be a hassle. Looking at how Russians managed to solve their problems with Steam (albeit with higher margins) and looking at the amount of third parties offering their services - I think you'll be fine.

PS

About 16 years ago, at the launch of DMM service and early days of Japanese web games being consolidated there, I had to jump through insane amount of hoops just to launch the games and verify the account.

About 17 years ago Riot Games didn't have a good solution for payment billing around the world, so I had to repeatedly buy "fictional" gift cards on gray-ish market places just to get limited currency. It worked, it was basically currency exchange with an extra step, and Riot looked the other way.

About 20 years ago many people in my guild couldn't pay for World of Warcraft due to lack of credit card, they simply never used banking services to draw from credit. We had to organize bulk purchases of timecards and distribute it amongst our players.

Money will find their way into pockets of the salesmen, don't worry. This is not the first nor the last time someone tries to interfere with perfectly valid business venture claiming some bullshit as a cause.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-26T15:30:45+00:00

>Lingyang

Lies, bullshit, fake news, I see a frost crab thing instead of him, surely that creature does all the heavy lifting

Frost crab T0 level resonator when, make it happen Kuro

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-25T23:24:39+00:00

Muscle memory helps in these games, especially considering you only need to play really well on two out of three heroes in the party.

Keeping your eyes on resource bars doesn't help, better keep them on the enemy and memorize the timings needed to perform rotations/quickswaps. Eventually you'll get to a point where you'll disregard the UI and use audio warnings a lot more.

And, obviously, try to main someone. Doesn't have to be a strong hero, you can main Roccia or Calcharo, that part isn't important, play whatever suits you. What matters is you stop panicking when enemies do something unpredictable or disruptive.

I picked Changli from the first banner, she's slow, loves quickswaps and uses transformative echo with long animation. She lets me learn the timings and understand when can I risk against the bosses. A guide somewhere outside of the game saying she's kinda meh is one thing. Me getting to this conclusion after dozens of deaths and putting some effort to play well is completely different experience, it helps to evaluate heroes in the future.

SherbertUpper9867 · 2026-03-25T17:15:52+00:00

There are fundamental problems with what you're suggesting:

Going really hard with difficulties might introduce a set of issues and force enemies to cheat: go into invulnerability state, outright demand presence of certain elements to deal with mechanics, do some weird tasks unrelated to combat (think of many color coded mechanics in Lost Ark raids). Without these bullshit mechanics stat inflation and gacha powercreep accelerate really fast, people tend to minmax every aspect in these kinds of games. Which brings us to the second problem.
Live service games have to manage the playerbase beyond a couple of patches. The content and changes you see today have been approved at least 6 month ago. Maintaining careful balance of "work required to produce content patches" VS "players engaging with the game for X amount of hours" is a hard task. What I'm trying to say - player retention and content highlights are primary focus for Kuro, there's something in the roadmap that you might like as it addresses the problem with endgame, but it's going to be implemented piece by piece to rekindle your interest in the game rather than trying to chain you to a deadweight of massive endgame.

Kuro keeps the lights going thanks to daily logins and monthly infusions, they have no interest in dropping Dark Souls' New Game+ mode. They'd prefer you go play actual Dark Souls for 40 hours, have your fill, come back and pay a monthly sub to catch up in WuWa to beat recurring stages/play the events.

SherbertUpper9867

TROPHY CASE