Club: Fate/Grand Order Club

NP 2 Rikyu and NP3 Keisuke in about 250 SQ, quite a good haul!

Ciel's kit looks really good. Also, she can AoE farm...:

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Things like Grail front have been a great addition in terms of new game modes.

I am not saying it should copy the other games. What I am saying is, it's time FGO did something big.

Personally I'm fine with how FGO is. I wouldn't want it to copy something from the other games. Each game should have something unique to it that makes me want to gravitate to it. I don't want a game that has everything because then there would be no point in playing the others.

I am playing Nikke, Azur Lane and DBZ Dokkan Battle. FGO needs to copy something from their books, because the game is really outdated. No matter how many updates they do, it always feels the same. It needs something big.

Reading that update, that means not only do we get all our coins back, but we also get to keep all casted Grails? Assuming most people spent these Grails already, does that mean we literally pickup 50+ free Grails and all the coins used to cast them? That's quite the walk back if yes.

On the "Curious what build you're using?" Arc farming, I was under the impression you were referring to non-Koyan farming since your Koyan was max bond, hence those combinations that all lack BG.

A slight update: Predictably, F/GO is #1 on the income charts today. Regardless of the vocal dissatisfaction, whales still whale, which will undoubtedly please Aniplex and convince them they are doing something right.
EDIT:

Praise be to vocal dissatisfaction. ...Though I'll hold off on singing praises until these changes are realized in practice.


The standard double Koyanskaya + Atlas uniform setup. W1 skill 2, W2 2x50%, W3 CD reduction into skill 2. Plug Edison instead of Atlas uniform if needs must for extra damage, though that has not come up often.

Why would anyone use a different strategy with her unless forced to? Running BG (or 6 event CEs) without a swap and not caring for enemy wave composition is the whole reason I've found Arcueid so comfy and praised her looping specs so much.


It is more scuffed than that. Since I cannot unlock append 2 my only option is double Oberon + 50% charger + Summer Chloe to cover for the missing 10% charge.
- W1 skill 2, W2 10% Summer Chloe + 70% Oberon + 20% Waver/Reines/Oberon, W3 30% Waver/Reines +70% Oberon or 50% Waver/Reines + 50% Oberon.
On top of requiring a lot of button pressing and the high cost limiting party and CE options I can also only use 1 Oberon's skill 3, thus slightly lowering the damage output on the final wave. Turn 1 damage is also very low since you only get Arcueid's own buffs + Summer Chloe's skill 3, and some stages have high enough wave 1 enemy HP for this to be a problem.

Summer Chloe's bond CE makes things a bit easier as it lets Chloe swap out on turn 1,
- W1 10% Summer Chloe + 70% Oberon + 20% Waver/Reines, W2 skill 2, W3 30% Waver Reines + 70% Oberon.
Of course, this sacrifices a CE slot for the convenience.

If the first wave has 3 enemies there is some flexibility in being able to bring 2 50% chargers instead of double Oberon,
- W1 skill 2, W2 30% Chloe + 50% charger + 20% Oberon, W3 50% charger + 50% Oberon.
The other issues remain, however.

Digesting the commentary, but for the most part agree. Two immediate tangential questions:


Curious what build you're using?
1. W1 MLB scope / W2 skill 2 / W3 double 50% support
2. W1 50% support (30% if append 2) / W2 skill 2 / W3 double 50% support with plug
3. Third option


Same question here. Trying to think through how this is possible... EDIT: double Oberon... right, #2 below
1. W1 append 2 + 80% support / W2 skill 2 / W3 remaining 20% on first support + plug 70% Oberon gets you to 90%... what am I missing?
2a. W1 append 2 + 70% Oberon + 10%/50% support / W2 skill 2 / W3 plug 70% Oberon + 40%/50% support
2b. W1 append 2 + 50% Koyan + 20% Oberon + 20% plug Oberon / W2 skill 2 / W3 50% Oberon + 50% Oberon

Entirely unsurprising. The game has been in a downward spiral for years, lacking innovation both in gameplay and the technical aspects (UI especially) despite all the frustratingly obvious avenues for it. The increasing corporate greed since Aniplex have gotten their claws into DW/Lasengle does not help any, either, especially given the ecosystem F/GO has ended up with due to its poor monetization strategy. By "poor monetization strategy" I mean that there are only 2 kinds of regular spenders in F/GO - those who only go for GSSRs and whales with almost no in between, because there is no point. This is reflected in the current strategies to squeeze more profits out of the playerbase - Destiny Orders target those who spend only on GSSR, and the append/coin system targets whales and completionists who are now expected to get 8 copies of a limited SSR Servant, 15 copies of a limited SR, and over 30 copies of a general pool SR to max them out. Realistically, it's even more if you do not want to wait months or years for that Servant to hit bond 15. Lasengle have ample opportunities to make that spender pool healthier but keep ignoring them, likely out of Aniplex' fear of undercutting their current profits. Aniplex themselves care little for F/GO itself, Fate/ in general, or Type-Moon as a business partner, and so they favour sacrificing the players' goodwill and tarnishing the brand name to better line their pockets now instead of later, just like most corporations in the game industry. ...But I digress.

Before moving on, I would just like to add that many people, myself included once upon a time, would have been inclined to spend more liberally in the game if pity carried over between limited banners. As is, the high immediate cost of going to pity is a very effective way of ensuring people who are not comfortable spending over $400 in one go will hold onto the $100 that they may have been comfortable spending if they were tangibly rewarded for it, be it now or a few banners down the line, instead opting to throw their money into other games that cater to them better.

...Also, I might have been a bit too critical in respect to gameplay. Last year's Grail Front and LB7 have been bright spots, quite fun to go through, and refreshingly novel experiences so it is not all doom and gloom. Still, as most events show Lasengle are very disinclined to experiment and take risks, preferring to stick with releasing the usual farming simulator ad nauseam with just slight, "safe" deviations in the vein of the current NA summer event's idle resource gain.


tl;dr: Skill good (if with caveats), coins bad.

It is a disaster in the making with no upsides to it. I expect that, just like they have done after Skadi's release and then again after Summer Skadi's release, Lasengle will start balancing future Servants with that append in mind, thus making it a necessity instead of a luxury. Servants' skills will do more, allowing for higher damage output compared to current options, but at the cost of higher skill cooldowns. Buster Servants in particular will suffer as they are most reliant on cooldown reduction for looping. And so dawns a new era of powercreep.

In the immediate sense, it is an ongoing and completely unmitigated disaster that is making even the most carefree whales indignant. This is not an issue they can resolve by throwing money at it as the Servants they may want to max out are not even available to summon at the moment (which is a, frankly, stupid oversight by Lasengle that could have been easily mitigated with an Anniversary selector banner featuring any SSR you pick as the rate up). Additionally, the Grail Casting system puts coins of Servants you have fully maxed out at the top of the list, and there are people who have thrown those coins into the grinder because of this creating further grievances, and there seem to be no plans on refunding coins wasted in such a manner. Welfare Servants now do not have enough coins to fully max out, and there are no solutions being offered. And as a cherry on the top, the new UI feature that gives you shortcuts to places where to farm materials in the skill upgrade screen showing a blanked out "summon more copies" option as the source of additional coins is just plain insulting.

As for Arcueid... I have Grailed mine to 120 at first opportunity. I have never regretted that, and this update will not change the fact. It will certainly not take away the contentment gained over the years from clearing any sub 90+ node in the game in minimal time with minimal effort. That said, yeah, it is frustrating. She is bond 13 right now, and I only have 20 of her coins. Even if I get her to 15, I won't be able to unlock any appends unless I get another copy. Heck, even if I get another copy from the GSSR* right now I will be short on coins. Though, honestly, it is a bit of a moot point as Arcueid farming has been dead to me ever since Koyanskaya's bond 15 - using a bond 15 Servant in any repeatable content just feels like a waste, Buster has much fewer options than Arts, and Black Grail Arcueid teams without double Koyan are a pain in the butt to run, especially since i do not have her second append unlocked, either. (I wish Servants with max bond would at least give the same benefit as Mash when fielded. +5% bond points to the team is not much but it isn't nothing.)

*I've opted to try for Summer Skadi on the GSSR instead, and I've actually gotten her. All the better to daishouri with Summer Okitas.


It's both Summer Ereshkigal & Space Ereshkigal... SS Ereshkigal? Oh, and also apparently Anki, aka the Universe before it separated into sky (An) and earth (Ki) per Sumerian creation myth, thus keeping on with the annoying tradition of attaching deities to familiar faces instead of bothering to make them their own character. Thanks, Lasengle, I hate it.

...Like, couldn't they have at least appropriated a deity that made a modicum of sense for this purpose, like Inanna? That second ascension even looks and sounds like a fusion of Ereshkigal and Ishtar, which is pretty much what Inanna is. But no, apparently drawing on the rich and vast source that is mythology is too much of a task for them these days. While I am on this topic, and because I've finally sat down and read the NA Summer event, Skadi is a goddess of bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. What do we do with her summer version that is being featured in a summer event at the North Pole? Oh, of course, let's put her in a swimsuit, never even mention skiing, and give her the powers of her ex-husband Njörðr even though we have retconned their marriage to better sell a "pure" waifu who totally has never been romantically involved with Odin, either, no way, no how.

*sigh* Why am I here, just to suffer?

They've also done the same thing with Ereshkigal in that Christmas debacle with Nergal, which is both denying a mythological marriage to sell a "pure" waifu and appropriating another deity's authority just because. I've thought myself desensitized to this kind of thing, and yet this frustrates me anyway, probably a run off effect from the cumulative displeasure from all the other things F/GO has dropped on us today.

Anyway, putting a lid on that rant, SS Eresh is interesting, if in a most frustrating way. Her climax affection gauge, taken straight from a porn game dating sim, is actually fun to play with, at least in longer battles. The parasocial nature of it, however, is unpalatable. They have even disabled the mechanic entirely when you are borrowing a Support SS Eresh so that some mentally ill person does not feel sad over another player filling their imaginary waifu's climax affection gauge. But, hey, gotta take good care of those paying customers, am I right?

Aside from that, she is a fairly standard Arts damage dealer with a powerful kit, especially in longer battles thanks to the premium CD reduction on her third skill resulting in her having annoyingly short skill cooldowns. (To be clear, I find it annoying because Takasugi has paid for even a 1 turn CD reduction with unreasonably long cooldowns on his very basic skills.) Her class affinities also make her a solid omni-looper if well invested into despite not having any Arts or NP gain buffs. ...Seriously, she should have been just a Summer Servant as every Summer event since forever has had a premium Arts omni-looper. Ciel would have made much more sense as the Anniversary Servant since they have already made Arcueid one.

In terms of aesthetics, though? She is amazing, and I am tempted to pull just for her second ascension (because it feels more like Rin proper or Ishtar than Ereshkigal) and Extra Attack animation. Just look at this,


All in all, this is arguably the worst anniversary ever (at best tied with the 6th one for introducing Servant Coins in the first place), and my one solace, my single guiding light in the dark, is Summer Xu Fu. Here's to hoping she is a mini-Skadi or mini-Koyanskaya just like her OG self is a mini-Castoria. Quick and Buster are way too restricted in their team formations, and that needs to change. Even if she is not, though, no biggie; she is cute, and that alone is already enough for me. ...Though, there is of course the hurdle of actually getting her. Given how much I am looking forward to her and how much I dislike Nastasia I have full faith that Murphy will ruin my day come 14th.

Well, FGO is no longer top 10 on mobile sales in 2024...

What do you make of the append 5 CDR skill?
1. Other than the obvious statement of an Arcueid power spike... given the expensive coin cost, this is a huge money grab.
2. Did you already spend all your coins to 120 Arc? I am very glad I stopped at level 100 and said "the super grails can wait" -- I now have 85 coins at bond 5, so bond 9 will give me enough coins for append 5.
3. Any other thoughts on append 5?

Separately, thoughts on Summer Space Ishtar?

So, F/GO has teased some Summer Servants before the Anniversary again...


This year is truly the year of stealth collabs... Not sure if I like that or not as it means they are relying more on the stregth of familiar faces to boost sales, which is never a good sign. Then again, you will not see me complain about a Ciel in my summer.

edit: The SR Servants revealed are Xu Fu and Dobrynya. I am very keen on the former, both in terms of design and coping for her to be an alternative to Skadi for Quick teams like OG Xu Fu is a "Castoria lite" for Arts. The latter for me is meh, whatever, though it's a bit intriguing - she may be just a random solo pick but if Lasengle are sticking with last year's trend then we might see a Summer Koyan on the second banner. (The bunny and fox symbols on her coat are Koyanskaya's logos, which implies her involvement with the event in some form and gives a bit more credence to such speculation.)

The lucky men with summer outfits this year are Bartholomew, Percival, and, to my great elation, Karna. Though, I have to say... while I love Karna's new look a lot, even with all of my fondness for him and Pako I cannot help but concede that Percival is the real winner of the three. Despite the simplicity of the outfit that sculpted musculature really draws the eye. ...This might just be the hottest design F/GO has ever produced.

She has like 1 or 2 artworks but they aren't full body just the face.

That would be super intriguing if true. If I recall correctly, Altrouge has never been officially drawn before, right? Meaning this would also be her first official concept.

Someone has taken a long look at the new anniversary logo, compared it to the 7th anniversary logo, and made a compelling argument for Altrouge being this year's Anniversary Servant.


My comments in parentheses.

Additionally, Altrouge is number 9 on the list of the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors, and this is F/GO's 9th anniversary. It's hardly a credible point to linger on by itself but it is just the kind of excuse TM would use, and combined with the above reasoning it's enough for me to subscribe to the idea. If it pans out I'll be quite intrigued because we know barely anything about Altrouge. She does not even have a confirmed appearance, speculation about her looking identical to Arcueid aside, but despite this she is very disproportionately popular.

NP1 Skadi after 2 multi's, NP1 Wu after 3, NP2 Skadi after 5, and NP2 Wu after 7. I am very happy this summer with the rolling!

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Thanks, I guess it made up for my GSSR and Pick 9 as those were both utter trash.

I am writing about this almost a week after the fact but it cannot be helped - my birthday rolls had left me reeling for a while.

I have commited to making at least a multi on every banner of interest to me as part of my birthday celebration, more on Summer Melusine's since I want to 120 her. As a spicy extra Berserker Artoria Caster has gotten an extra opportunity to apper as I have been saving Cnoc na Riabh's bond level up for months waiting for that banner. All in all, the rolls have been quite good but also quite terrible - gold Servant rates have been amazing... but the SSR rate up rate, not so much.

Starting with my final attempts at Hibichika... As a side note, I have tried quite hard to get them, commiting a bit over a hundred rolls to their banner over the course of the event, and all rolls made before my birthday have had absolutely awful luck, amounting to 1 copy of the 5* event CE and 2 of the event 4* CE. On the bright side, that luck has certainly changed in the span of a multi, and I have walked away from the event with a second copy of Summer Kiyohime and 3 copies each of the 4* and 5* event CEs. The daily disappointment button takes the cake, though, having given me a shiny, rainbow-clad Odysseus, who is now NP3. Why does this man have to keep spooking me?

Moving on to summer reruns, my Berserker Artoria Caster rolls have been quite great, getting me a final copy of Atalante to make her NP5, my third copy of Summer Chloe, and a second copy of Summer Suzuka. (...Okay, admittedly, Chloe was from a daily single the day before but, eh, I'll count her anyway.) And last but certainly not least, on my first Meluko multi I have gotten 3 copies of UDK Barghest. Unfortunately, she has been at NP5 since last year so this has been a bit underwhelming after all the gold orbs. Aside from that, my Sith has jumped from NP2 to NP4, which is much more interesting, even if I don't use her much. I have also gotten my first ever copy of Summer Break (the Tezcatlipoca CE) along the way, which I am most enthused about - not having it after last year's 200 rolls on Meluko's banner has never stopped feeling weird. And then I got a Europa and stopped.

2 off-rate SSR Riders in a row. Alas, I am slain.

And on the NA side, my final tally on Arcueid's banner is 1155 SQ worth of rolls with only NP1 Arcueid. I really should have stopped after that lucky rainbow on the 7th multi...

Damn. July so far has been such a contrast to June, which is notable for such highlights as NP2 Summer Okita Alter, Tiamat on my first multi after topping up, NP2 Beast Nero, Old Man of the Mountain from a daily single, Kama from the one multi I have thrown her way, and, of course, NP2 Bakin in 2 multis...

Oh well. Here's to hoping August will bring good tidings again. 🍷


Congrats! That is some amazing luck. May she serve you well.

I am writing about this almost a week after the fact but it cannot be helped - my birthday rolls had left me reeling for a while.

I have commited to making at least a multi on every banner of interest to me as part of my birthday celebration, more on Summer Melusine's since I want to 120 her. As a spicy extra Berserker Artoria Caster has gotten an extra opportunity to apper as I have been saving Cnoc na Riabh's bond level up for months waiting for that banner. All in all, the rolls have been quite good but also quite terrible - gold Servant rates have been amazing... but the SSR rate up rate, not so much.

Starting with my final attempts at Hibichika... As a side note, I have tried quite hard to get them, commiting a bit over a hundred rolls to their banner over the course of the event, and all rolls made before my birthday have had absolutely awful luck, amounting to 1 copy each of the 5* event CE and 2 of the event 4* CE. On the bright side, that luck has certainly changed in the span of a multi, and I have walked away from the event with a second copy of Summer Kiyohime and 3 copies each of the 4* and 5* event CEs. The daily disappointment button takes the cake, though, having given me a shiny, rainbow-clad Odysseus, who is now NP3. Why does this man have to keep spooking me?

Moving on to summer reruns, my Berserker Artoria Caster rolls have been quite great, getting me a final copy of Atalante to make her NP5, my third copy of Summer Chloe, and a second copy of Summer Suzuka. (...Okay, admittedly, Chloe was from a daily single the day before but, eh, I'll count her anyway.) And last but certainly not least, on my first Meluko multi I have gotten 3 copies of UDK Barghest. Unfortunately, she has been at NP5 since last year so this has been a bit underwhelming after all the gold orbs. Aside from that, my Sith has jumped from NP2 to NP4, which is much more interesting, even if I don't use her much. I have also gotten my first ever copy of Summer Break (the Tezcatlipoca CE) along the way, which I am most enthused about - not having it after last year's 200 rolls on Meluko's banner has never stopped feeling weird. And then I got a Europa and stopped.

2 off-rate SSR Riders in a row. Alas, I am slain.

Damn. July so far has been such a contrast to June, which is notable for such highlights as NP2 Summer Okita Alter, Tiamat on my first multi after topping up, NP2 Beast Nero, Old Man of the Mountain from a daily single, Kama from the one multi I have thrown her way, and, of course, NP2 Bakin in 2 multis...

Oh well. Here's to hoping August will bring good tidings again. 🍷

After 1,000 SQ, I've got NP3 Summer Ibuki and NP11 Erice! Pretty good haul, and awaiting Skadi.

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