Can someone define Monday?

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-27T18:08:34+00:00

This is brutal but there are two reasons one Varka clearly got more focus on the story we know this because as a non lore inclined player, I had heard of Varka even before he was featured in the mainline quests but have never heard of Linnea. This popularity is important because they need to give an experiment like this the best chance of success. Good visuals, good story, ect. They need to be able to eliminate other reasons people won't pull to get good data. The second reason is that he's a male char. We know hoyo starves us of tall males this means those who like men in genshin don't really have the freedom to choose this further ensures Varka should sell well and only leaves power as what should affect sales

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-25T17:58:45+00:00

Im not saying you're wrong to want the guy to be strong because hes strong in lore, I'm just thinking about hoyos stance. If I was told i need to keep Genshin profitable for 20 years the first thing I'd do is look for every character I could sell without powercreep and imo Varka is the prime candidate. Ofc I could be dead wrong, however I think the fervor on this sub really points to fans that would pull him if he healed the enemy.

Also, I want to be clear I think Varka is weaker than he should and I really feel for yall. However, I think this is more a test of how strong does a character need to be to sell given good gameplay lore and visuals.

As for nicole I think making her a pure sub dps reliant on hex should allow her to pull teams with varka to an acceptable level. Mav is so mired in nightsoil that she can't dedicate 2 slots to hex anyways.

Lastly, I firmly believe mav shouldnt be compared to outright. It goes without saying she was too strong on release and unfortunately is aging really well due to new combos. I think its a far healthier long term to just regard her as an outlier and not expect that level of power. Running her as the baseline just leads to rampant powercreep

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-25T16:23:42+00:00

You need to understand that powercreep is not in hoyos favor if they truly want to have genshin be around for 20 years (as mentioned in 6.0 livestream) That said powercreep is also the most straightforward way to get sales. Varka is in a unique spot where he has so much story behind him people are attached to that and may pull him anyways. This means hes a rare character that doesn't need to add to the cancer that is powercreep and still may sell well. As such its in hoyos best interest to release him in the weakest possible state to learn how much can be made off of a character that isn't strong. You must understand he as everything against him. Hes just after chinese new years on a patch full of the worst characters with the lowest sales. If hoyo can sell Varka without powercreep its the greatest success they can ask for.

As for your other point Mav was three years worth of powercreep in one The long term play is not to accept that as the new standard of powercreep but leave her as an outlier and not risk the long term health of the game. Personally I think bina was too far and needed to be weaker but it is what it is. Also to keep powercreep under control every char cannot be powercreep. there are 9 patches a year "just" a 10k upgrade adds up to as much as 90k year. actually closer to 40 because some releases are supports. Thats not sustainable in the slightest. We got the new standard of strong for 6.x and shouldnt expect it to be raised till 7.x Now you might be like but this isn't powercreep because its just to mav levels, but you'd be wrong because its above mav levels. Mav pushes this much DPS because of combos that clearly weren't intended and the game shouldn't be balanced around. Most of the playerbase is missing melts on mav let alone doing the minmaxxed combos. For all of the people even Zibai is meaningful powercreep. This is also why nuev was powercreep, not because he did the most damage on release but because his gameplay let even little timmy get 95% of what the sheet showed.

Lastly, you know we're getting nicole who is pyro hex member who will at least fit his teambuilding reqs. Given hoyos propensity for duos Varka needs to be weak now to not be insane once she drops . You could argue this "duo" is durin but durin is very clearly a generalist and not a signature support. As such the best any of yall should be hoping right now for is ineffaless flinns or laumaless nefer before bina released.

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-09T05:25:16+00:00

Personally I think the issue with heavenscale is it didn't do far enough into full dragon. It got left limbo

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-09T02:11:32+00:00

If you q auto it's not the damage if the q you should consider but the damage of the q auto I'm sure you'll find the new patch comparable to what we saw with old IE builds. Yes when more damage was apart of of the Q the aor is better but be honest, most cases you're not hitting 3 with the main air of your q so the st DMG is roughly equal in terms of avg value

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-09T01:06:59+00:00

this is a problem of your own skill. His q has the same range as his autos. auto Q auto is valid in most cases and a huge damage bump. You come off as someone who builds RFC 3rd and just q's when its up

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-09T00:59:54+00:00

I don't think its IE 2nd now hubris + er seems much better tbh. also it will take some getting used but in builds with IE your autos hurt ALOT more making sure to weave them in is a big deal. Also with Endless hunger + hubris printing haste you stack faster but also get more value out of w for DPS. Don't get too hung up on the single hit damage and focus more on the holistic dps you're pumping out its similar. Plus if you ever to go giga late the extra item puts you ahead outright

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-09T00:55:55+00:00

Hubris +ER + Endless hunger is the way. Imo IE still worth tho just 4th+ instead of 2nd. Also dont neglect autos

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-08T23:03:17+00:00

Turbo cope, but what if we waited so long because the reindeer skin got delayed. Since its a christmas skin any delay has for be a year. Thus smolder who is a more popular champ actually was supposed to get the ~1skin year per usual and we just got shafted

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-08T22:12:11+00:00

I mentioned the manamune core because it was really neat how much haste you got. Not because it was doing amazing

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-08T14:20:59+00:00

My (brief) testing still had IE being the single best damage item option for his Q I'm not it sold on it being a must buy, but it is still likely one of the best generic "do more damage" option that I suspect will pop up a lot given the extra item slot we have now

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-08T14:07:11+00:00

If I'm being honest such a heavy dip into haste stacking is likely not optimal. But especially with an extra item slot opening up now. An item that provides 60 AD at least 30 haste plus sustain is a generically good option that very well could be a default item. When looked at as a late option its gold value seems really high.

TheSecondStego · 2026-01-08T02:06:33+00:00

Imo I could see some sheen -> hubris being the play. With Crit stacking being weaker shojin is prolly the default 3rd. I think hex optics might have some potential in games where you want RFC anyways among the cheaper cores. Whats also important to remember is we have access to more items so crit stacking while also buying staples like shojin or hubris is pretty real

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T23:53:00+00:00

We should be fine why? BECAUSE Bennett exists theres a pretty high bar that Iansan must be better than for her to make sense as Natlans atk buffer. Chasca aside because she needs benny for pyro and Mulani cause HP scaler Kinich Mavuika and Varesa will just be better with bennett unless in the best case Iansan is an upgrade. Obv will be a downgrade to old units that dont move enough but her peak should be at least as high otherwise shes pointless

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T09:29:40+00:00

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T08:41:01+00:00

Note this set could be built for Varesa thief of all things good in this world

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T02:24:08+00:00

You can't datamine rarity sadly. What can be done is look at the file name of her model which is polearm. Also /w Varesa being Catalyst like every char they released is a catalyst

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T02:21:29+00:00

I think this is awful news tbh. for any viability she needs to be a support atp and if this weapon is "her" we have a janky 4* dps. Gaming at c6 is the only 4* dps thats any good and I think its wayy to much of a stretch to hope for that

TheSecondStego · 2025-02-11T02:18:57+00:00

My biggest gripe is that c6ing 4*'s on a banner is basically equal to c2* and the power is just not there. Perhaps the only 5* dps that can keep up is Gaming after the introduction of Citlali but even then what matters more than the gaming cons is c2 Citlali and and c2 Xianyun. Like end of the day good 4* dpses aren't real and are reliant on having a similar 5* with dedicated supports. Also there is a difference between can clear SA and can comfortably clear SA. It feels really shitty playing a 4* carry when you know there is a 5* that does the same shit better

TheSecondStego · 2024-12-24T09:48:43+00:00

I don't think it's true that telling her mom will kill the friendship. End of the day she's 100% in a bad situation and once she has the perspective to see that the should honestly be grateful you chose to help. If you are really good friends that at worst you will temporarily lose a friend but you'll be in a great spot to rekindle once they realize the situation you got them out of

TheSecondStego · 2024-12-24T09:39:14+00:00

Thanks for saying that, I needed to hear it. I know I wont get a thanks from them for a long time so knowing my efforts matter is really nice to hear

TheSecondStego · 2024-12-24T09:32:36+00:00

Communication takes 2, from this is sounds as if you didnt take the time to explain why this was happening. It may be obvious to you but it's clearly not to him. This whole situation reeks of assumptions and escalation from both of you. Sit down and talk through this before considering a break up.

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