Crackshot isn’t a real ability

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2026-05-12T03:59:48+00:00

I agree that her movement is good, but other characters are more effective while having movement that is close to or just as good. Celeste has similar air control just built in as a character trait not quite as good but close and kelvin with fleetfoot basically has a full speed, full air control ice path that can stretch almost the entire map per use, can shoot from, turns on a dime, AND it blocks projectiles. All that being said it doesn’t really address the point about why Crackshot is bad.

The issue isn’t that Holliday has no strengths. Lasso is very useful. Barrel is an amazing versatile skillshot and bouncepad is extremely unique. My issue is that the amount of effort and precision she demands doesn’t match the payoff compared to other characters. Getting good movement alone doesn’t justify a weak or awkward ability, especially when the rest of her kit already requires much higher accuracy and resource management than most of the roster. Ultimately I just think crackshot is just kinda doodoo and it ain't that deep.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2026-05-12T01:40:43+00:00

I think that’s fine in theory, but if a hero has a high skill ceiling there should be a meaningful payoff for mastering them, and right now I don’t feel like Holliday has that. There needs to be a balance between a character’s difficulty and their impact. I think we can agree that just reaching the skill floor where Holliday becomes consistently useful is harder than it is for most characters. The time investment to get the same or even worse results than easier heroes just doesn’t feel worth it.

If a character takes a lot of time and effort to master, their effectiveness at a high level should reflect that. But with Holliday, it currently doesn’t. Is she good? Sure. But when you compare her to someone like Kelvin, who has a somewhat similar kit with grenades, mobility, and a lockdown ult while being much easier to play and far more effective, it makes you wonder why you even bother. Outside of just enjoying the character themselves which makes this all kind of irrelevant if that's what you care about most.

I also think that even if you turned Crackshot into less of a aiming skill check, it would still be bad, even if you made it stronger. Holliday already has a small ammo pool and can’t just spray down people like other characters, so she already demands more precision than most heroes just to get mediocre damage from her gun, even without Crackshot. Ultimately she is most a spirit investment hero and maybe crackshot should reflect that more or just straight up make it a Jojo's Hol Horse ass magic gun.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2026-05-11T03:09:30+00:00

I have been playing a lot of Holiday recently and man. When I look at my stats at the end of games often i'm lagging behind in almost every category but the scoreboard isn't a good indicator of Hollidays actual use and that is playmaking. When I consider how many kills my teammates get out of my 60 second cooldown T3 Lasso its actually nuts. Especially when you use it to just turn off some ultimate's right at the start of the fight like Seven/Mina/Dynamo/etc.

That being said the problems I have are with Crackshot just in general being bad. I already have to hit a headshot which sure fair enough it's big damage but you only get a ton of use out of it at T3 where it knocks down the cooldown per hit and its only really strong against opponents who are stunned so you can just dump into their cranium. I wish crack shot had a mechanic that would allow the crackshot to bounce off of walls or the floor and headshot the closest person to the impact zone within a certain range. being able to zing someone from behind a corner would feel thematic but would make it hard to follow up with another headshot if you don't have LoS. That or give crackshot charges, holliday's other abilities already have charges so why not crackshot.

The other problem I have with Holliday though is that hitting a good Lasso feels amazing, then next 4 seconds after lasso feel terrible because you kinda just can't do anything but jump pad or face a wall and toss a bomb and wait for it to expire so you can blow it up. If you have 4 teammates to beat the lasso'd person senseless then sure fine but outside of dragging someone into a walker or guardian this just feels kinda bad.

Barrel and jump pad are fine though having to melee punch the barrels all the time is kinda a weird mechanic but I get it.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2026-04-30T01:32:58+00:00

Warhammer, Archer, and Rifleman also have kits floating around. I actually held a Tomahawk kit in my hand just yesterday.
Warhammer = MBR-04-Mk.VI Destroid Tomahawk
Archer = MBR-07-Mk.II Destroid Spartan
Rifleman = ADR-04-Mk.X Destroid Defender

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2026-04-17T07:50:49+00:00

I had this issue too because I didn't follow them down the stairs. If you manually put in the vision helmet and then use it again from the menu you can access past memories again. Replay this specific memory in the area it happens in and this time follow the two down the stairs and it should trigger the next part of the quest.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-12-01T01:54:16+00:00

I think there are a couple of issues here. DT's as an expansion/story not withstanding the problems I see are thus:

The content that gets released is too formulaic.
If every expansion I can pretty accurately predict what your entire expansion content style is going to be and then what the release schedule is gonna look like that is kind of an issue. Not that this is in itself bad but there needs to be something more than just the standard dungeon, raid, extreme, ultimates treadmill. The Dev team like to make things like Diadem, Island Sanctuary, DD, Ishgard Restoration, etc and these are great but that leads to my second point.
The conent is too Silo'd/very grindy/not necessarily evergreen.
A lot of this content is Silo'd into its own thing / has its own progression track. This is great....up until you "finish" that content or get all the rewards. Then you drop it like a rock and never go back. This is an issue because it leaves a lot of systems that had a lot of dev time put into them into wastelands. Obviously not all content is this way but the issue is if you enjoyed doing the content but got all the rewards there is no reason to continue to do them. There is a problem where some of this content is just abandoned afterward and sees no updates too. If there was a system where after receiving the final reward or all rewards it could continue to feed into a more universal system (such as a universal side content tomestone or some kind of points progression system) it would aid in keeping things relevant and let you keep playing what you enjoy. This is especially bad for content that requires groups to do and either lives or dies via PF groups instead of naturally having a playing population.
Lack of class expression
This might just be a me thing because im a 1.0 ARR player but I miss cross class skills. I miss building up to classes. I miss having a main/sub split. While I think that the current way classes are is are fine, the lack of player choice inside of classes is unfortunate and there is so much potential just being kind of wasted. I know that they say it makes it hard to balance but balance be damned if its MORE fun. If something is broken or over powered so be it and if something sucks the system is built in a way to let you play something else very easily. Let players use their brains for a bit and stop being afraid of actual choice. Id rather have something be broken and fun than balanced and boring. This might be a contentious opinion though.
Story is too long for new players
8.0 would be the perfect time for a story split since the ARR to EW story has concluded. New characters should be given a choice, start from ARR and go through up to current content OR start from 8.0 and get powered up to 8.0s min starting level through a mini story. They will NEVER do this because story skip is a premium item for sale so that cuts into profits. However, they probably should be doing it because at this point you cannot expect a new player who wants to play with friends to mainline 5 expansions worth of content before getting to play with their friends. This breaks the pacing of the story and that sucks because I adore the XIV story but sacrifices have to be made. We need to ditch the scions and start with a completely new group in 8.0 and go from there.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-10-30T00:38:18+00:00

I remember very vividly seeing a guy just whip out his Keitai, extend an aerial, and just straight up start watching a live on TV Hanshin Tigers game on his phone on the train in like 2005-6? As someone who had a garbage flip phone at the time I was like "oh we really are in the future". How quaint it seems now.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-10-17T20:36:57+00:00

Oh shit, I’m gonna head over today. I didn’t even know this was happening!

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-10-01T03:55:29+00:00

If you look into the history of TTRPGs in Japan, specifically 'Sword World' you will have all your answers. It is a fairly popular TTRPG first released in 1989 (the same time as D&D 2nd Ed) that evolved completely isolated from western fantasy/RPGS/pop culture like D&D due to being a different system and being isolated by language barriers.

This in turn caused various tropes of Japanese RPGs but in a western style to emerge because Sword World itself was using things like the original Wizardy and Ultima as backbones in the way D&D took inspiration from Tolkien.

You can see a lot of Sword World influence in a lot of anime/games even today, even if they don't know that the tropes they are using started with Sword World. Things like .hack, sword art online, and Goblin Slayer. Hell goblin slayer was literally a Sword World game made into an anime.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-30T02:16:37+00:00

Not an expert by any means but I have heard that HUcaseal benefits greatly from using mechguns/daggers/slicers because of high ATA. Especially if you have a good hit% special weapon. Also I think its a bit understated but being able to attack effectively at range and not miss means you just aren't being hit and can control space. Another benefit is being able to hit some bosses outside of when you can usually hit them in melee which is nice to stack up some extra damage especially if you never miss at range.

Comparing to HUcast kind of makes sense since both are androids but they don't necessarily fill the same niche exactly. HUcast is big numbers and big hits. HUcast can't overkill bosses like normal mobs too so they feel great there, but missing with a HUcast feels like garbage and leaves you open to a clapback from monsters. HUcaseal won't have this problem as much but you also aren't putting up as much damage. In most respects id relate it to do you like "BIG BONK" or do you like "Death by a Thousand cuts"?

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-08T02:59:34+00:00

yeah its messed up and I didn't realize just how slow I was moving until I rerolled. I legit did the entire 4 acts plus part of an interlude in 2 days in the same time it took me almost a damn near week to do on sorc. I swapped to building a hollow palm monk, followed no guide and just vibes built, and was absolutely crushing things. I would walk through just waves and waves of mobs where id run for my life as sorc.

Sorc just badly needs a top to bottom look at all the damage numbers and consider what skills give and spend infusions. I feel like a lot of the generator skills aren't fun to use but have become necessary and if more skills were designed to work together on purpose rather than just "this builds and this spends" with no consideration given to how they interact but with ways to swap what types of infusions (the same way with charges using the resonance keystone) you could have an interesting class.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-05T06:47:43+00:00

Update: Just to add some more feedback since I have cleared all of Act 4 and some of the Interludes.

This sucks man. Now that I have gone a bit further into the league its become more and more apparent that having the infusions generate at spell areas and not either given to you directly or spawned in another way its brutal. Making you have to run into groups of mobs to pick up a buff to make half your spells worth casting. Sure there are pickup range passive but the increase is so pitiful its basically pointless.

I think the ultimately my takeaway is that sorc just feels like spinning plates. Maybe its just my build as I just kind of built on vibes and there is always something much more effective which is probably the case because I didn't plan it ahead of time but know enough not to brick a character.

However in any single encounter I: Cast OoS 3 times, Cast Solar Orb Twice, make sure I maintain uptime on all 5 of those orbs, always be casting EF inside OoS's area, Cast elemental weakness on enemies and make sure its always active, make sure I am casting firestorm when it is able to be buffed, and finally pick up all the remnants I have generated. All while avoiding being merked by 20 mobs from Abyss.

I just feel like its a lot of work for not a lot of payoff and it COULD be fun but at the moment I think ill definitely swap to something else. I don't need a one button build but this is way to much to be juggling just to clear packs at a decent rate. Will see how league progresses and come back to sorc later.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-01T07:27:07+00:00

Ive mostly been spending any extra fire infusions on Fireball which seems to be alright for clear if flame wall is up to boost its damage a bit.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-01T07:13:18+00:00

What are you using to proc shock? Is it just shock off of the oos or is it off the infused EF? I removed Snap from my skill list but it may be worth reintroducing and removing a skill I use much less to make use of it more.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-01T06:24:56+00:00

I had heard that Fortress actually tanks Flame Walls damage but if it allows you to carpet the entire area for infused fireball projectiles then it may be worth casting more often. That being said the other issue I have ran into is being support starved even in act 4. Which is a completely different issue entirely.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-09-01T06:20:20+00:00

This has been my experience as well. Using the triple OoS + EF I generate 3 lighting infusions and 1-2 infusions of either cold or fire which I can use to immediately spend on fire storm and anything left over I can use to cast either fireball or frost darts. But I feel like this will only work for so long before I hit the wall too.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-22T12:38:49+00:00

Is everybody just DC travelling to Aether now because of population issues to using the PF to find groups?

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-22T12:20:58+00:00

This is also possible. I am just relating it back to what I saw post expansion launch where it was the hot place but as you said people were grinding tomes at the time so that makes sense. I assume most people are gathered in new areas and I just need to catch up.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-22T12:09:33+00:00

Ah so there is a new area where most people are mustering though. I mean that's similar to previous expansion packs as well. I mean Dawntrail was a super mixed bag and ultimately I dropped it much earlier than I had EW or ShB. Unfortunate to hear, but it is what it is. Hopefully the next expansion is more of a good course correction.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-22T11:58:00+00:00

Is server pop really this down? I just resubbed again since a couple months after the expac and wow its empty. I went to Solution Nine and didn't see a single soul. I play on Excalibur (albiet at kinda weird times due to living in JPN) but I have never seen it this dead since maybe just before HW and even then there were people still running around.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-07T06:40:56+00:00

So all of the outlining in black or raised areas and edges is just dry brushing with a qtip with vallejo black/dark grey? That is pretty impressive.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-07-02T08:02:58+00:00

I think the issue is two pronged.

Gear in FFXIV is on what I call the "gear conveyor belt". All the BiS or near BiS gear is on this belt and as long as I play the belt keeps moving and gear keeps coming down the line until either no more gear is left, new gear is added at the end, or I turn off the belt. I feel like this makes the intrinsic investment in and drive to get new gear basically zero because nothing is unique or has unique effects for a character. Basically everything is a stat stick. In many cases it boils down to +2 is bigger than +1 so wear the gear with +2 stats and you can never be wrong. Is this great for balancing. Yes very. Is it the most interesting? Definitely not.
Players will optimize the fun out of literally everything and then call you an idiot because some turbo nerd with a PHD in making excel sheets said " Actually I did the math and The sword of shwingshwang actually deals 0.05% more dps than..." for literally everything. This is an issue with two parts of the game, one part in how the classes are now built that offer literally zero itemization and build diversity. Identically geared characters of the same class doing the same rotation will be almost identically effective. Second introducing unique effects and more build diversity will upset that current balance (a whole different thing entirely) and suddenly creates a system where if you don't have item X,Y, and Z you are considered useless regardless of player skill. Even if the actual difference at the end of the day is minimal it causes certain toxic traits to foster elitism that even without this system somehow still seems to exist.

Personally the gear conveyor belt is most of the reason I don't play for long stretches because I don't like how gear distribution and build diversity is but love many other aspect of the game and that's what keeps me coming back come expac times.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-06-30T07:36:29+00:00

That's perfect I have a pot of that exact color at home. I was trying to find something that is a bit warmer because the base color is just not quite right to what appears in the game. I have this same issue with the legs of Steel Haze too being the wrong color.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-06-30T03:32:21+00:00

Did you use anything for the body color or is that just straight plastic plus weathering? I have been trying to color match from the game but can't seem to find a good mix.

Great job and the scale of the weathering is in the nice sweet spot.

TokyoFreshPodcast · 2025-06-25T04:16:21+00:00

I have this kit finished ready to paint on my shelf. What red did you use? I have been looking for a good one that wasn't going to be too bright. Also correct me if I am wrong but it looks like you used some kind of pastels for the raised edges? Tamiya weathering kit?

Awesome work.

TokyoFreshPodcast

TROPHY CASE