It may take some time before we get *perfect* Team Members for Sandrone, but I'm damn sure going to give her the BEST she can have on release!
C6 Qiqi? Absolutely.
C6 Yae Miko? Of course. Triple Crowned and Level 100.
C6 Nicole? Why not. Level 100 just because, too.
After weeks of Doomposting and Hypeposting, we've all had a chance to actually play with Nicole for a few days (some even getting a *workable* Artifact Set).
Now that she's out, how is everyone feeling?
Did she turn out better or worse than you expected? Enjoying her on Teams you didn't plan? Regretting your decision to pull?
Don't ask about the Cons on the rest of the Team...
She really is perfectly happy with so little.
Ill end up with more ER as I prefarm for Sandrone, but she already has everything she needs right out of the gate.
512 was the correct number for C6 (astonishingly low), and freaking 67 was the correct guess for R1...
Winners have been awarded. Lootbar ( lootbar.gg/a/Dlg90C for anyone interested) even confirmed the transactions went through!
Fun side note, on my path to C6, I got a double at the end, getting an extra Stella, so I went ahead and took my Nicole to 100 as a celebration. It's my 3rd time getting a Double on a C6 (Eula and Navia being the other two). Yes, the rich get richer.
Anyway, for anyone interested, I figured I'd tell a short story on *why* I did the giveaways, posted the memes, did the countdowns, etc.
When Nicole was first seen in the Trailer for Nod Krai, I liked her. She looked nice enough, but I wasn't hyped. When we met her in game, again, she seemed interesting enough, but I wasn't sold. Honestly, she was probably going to be a skip.
Then, her kit leaked and I realized how absolutely broken she was going to be (at all levels of investment). It's *rare* for me to pull a character for their kit alone, but she was just *too* broken for me to ignore.
I posted a throwaway comment about how her kit looked great, but had me worried about Powercreep because she was just so absurd. The reply I received was something like "why? She's mid. Bennett is better."
At that point, I realized that hype was low, people were GREATLY underestimating her (and as always, *greatly* over estimating Bennett), and it wasn't just "Doomposting". People genuinely didn't seem to get her kit.
For whatever reason, I decided to just go all-in and be Nicole's Hype Man. No idea why. It just felt entertaining.
Anyway, the rest is history. It's been hype posts, combatting ridiculous misinformation, and doing Giveaways. Now, I have my perfect Exodia roster for Arlecchino, and it's time to move on to the next thing.
For anyone pulling for Sandrone, I'll see you over at her Subreddit next. She's the next character I've honed in on, and I'll do some Giveaways there, too.
Best of luck, Angels!
The Leaks Subreddit has died down a bit, but here's the interaction from the top posts of the day, broken down as Upvotes / Comments
Sandrone: 1.7k - 632
Yae Miko: 2.2k - 837
Cyno: 1.2k - 442
Wriothesley: 1.7k - 475
Mizuki: 873 😢 - 228
Qiqi: 1.5k - 521
Diona: 1.0k - 172
Beidou: 1.4k - 246
Yae Miko is still VERY popular apparently, despite releasing so long ago and having so little screentime recently.
Sandrone: Scales off of Attack, and benefits from it greatly.
Yae Miko: *Massively* Buffed, and is an off field character who scales with Attack and doesn't snapshot. Also *needs* a shield, even with her low Field Time.
Qiqi: I never thought I'd see the day.... Also *Massively* Buffed and hungry for Attack stats.
The "New Meta" may already be starting!
I'm not much for pulling rituals or superstitions, but this seems like a chill spot to log out tomorrow, then jump back in when the banner goes live.
Everyone else feeling the same?
She's the missing piece of my Arlecchino Team, and I'll finally be fulfilled and happy once I have her....
Like, seriously? Having a POC shooter is only going to increase challenges for these already marginalized communities. A White shooter would have given us an easy suspect to rally against, bringing our communities closer together.
This just seems like a missed opportunity, and another example of systemic racism.
Shielders are just the best.
I've been up since 4am, running on about 5 hours of sleep. After working all day, I finally get a chance to take a break. Time for lunch, a few beverages, and then some Spiral Abyss.
Mildly buzzed and running on fumes, it was still easy breezy with zero stress and no damage taken.
No skill or focus needed. Just casually Unga Bunga and grab the clear.
Furina made healers valuable, but the shielder meta has dominated since 1.1, and it isn't going anywhere.
I've been playing for a few weeks, mostly just doing the Test Dummy (the thing that got me to play initially) and then PvP.
Today, I decided to actually play some of the games. I stuck with the ones that were ranked higher, as there's obviously a lot of junk in the mix (expected for User Generated Content).
A few takeaways...
First, I was surprised at how good some of the games were. Like, *genuinely good* and a lot of fun. There were some absolutely gorgeous and well-planned parkour-style games that were actually a lot of fun. I didn't think I'd like them as much as I did, but they were actually kinda great.
There were also a lot of good minigames that took advantage of existing systems to come up with something creative. I wouldn't mind seeing a lot of them adapted and added to future events.
Coop is essentially a wasteland, though. Even things like PvP matchups take forever. There's definitely potential, but the pool of players looking for coop is really small.
Overall, I feel like it's improved quite a bit as people get used to the tools, but I can still see why people would want to have it as a separate game altogether. I had fun with it, and will definitely play more when I'm bored and looking for something else I do (or just for the DPS Dummy), but it still doesn't feel like it's integrated into the main game at all.
The general consensus is that Spreadsheets don't account for dodging and Circle Impact, and that *actual* DPS numbers are equal or better in most situations, and that the gameplay improvements are more than worth it.
We are in the final stretch now, and it's time for one more (actually, 2 more) Welkins!
Here's how it works. As soon as Nicole drops, I'm going to C6/R1. I've got the pulls ready, and I'm doing this in a single wishing session.
Welkin 1: Guess how many pulls it takes for me to get C6. I'm starting on 59 Pity, no Guarantee, and I've lost 1 50/50 since my last Capturing Radiance.
Welkin 2: Guess how many pulls it takes for me to get to R1. I'm starting from exactly 0 pity.
Rules: Welkin goes to whoever gets the closest without going over *first* (try not to I guess a number someone else has). One guess per person. You can make both guesses on the same comment. You need to also give your UID and Region so I can award the Welkin.
Disclaimer: Welkins are coming from Lootbar ( lootbar.gg/a/Dlg90C for those interested) this time! If you've been blacklisted from 3rd party sites, there's nothing I can do about that. I'm doing what I can to keep doing Giveaways for fun, but I'm just one guy.
Best of luck to everyone!
We're here, Angels
1 week is all that stands between us and Nicole. In 7 days, we'll be looking at the final minutes of the Nefer and Lauma banner, sitting through Maintenance, and then we *all* get Nicole in a single 10-Pull.
Shout Out to the Second Welkin Winner, who guessed within an *astonishing* 17 Fatui on my total kill-count. THAT was impressive!
For the FINAL Welkin I'm giving away, I'll post up the rules on Saturday and run through the release of Nicole's Banner! This one should be fun!
Nicole's artifact demands are fairly easy. You'll like just need Attack/Attack/Attack with heavy ER Substats, then Attack % Substats and some ER on the Feather and Flower.
Going in with 2 Transient Resins, all of your Condensed + Daily Resin, an off piece, and the ability to craft a piece can potentially get you a workable set on Day 1.