Gummy the boneshatter (alter) S1: Defense up by 150%. S2 : Third hit deals AOE damage, stun and heals Gummy by a 30% of the damage dealt. S3 : Gummy consumes enemies while the skill is active.
fake, needs at least 5 more paragraphs of text explaining the same thing but in a more convoluted way that makes you want to die midway through your reading
Now this is a topic I can't pick a side, the old AK was more straightforward on how each archetype was structured and meant to work, while the current is more on niche/dps heavy, resulting to more unique clears and antics. Like I still remember when chapter 7 came out, fighting patriot and using schwarz just because she's one of the few operators that actually deals damage to him, because thats what her archetype was meant for, to shred high armor enemies. But the with the variety of new niche and archetype also made the current game more fun with the introduction of nicheknights(Birb Supremacy btw). So I'll probably stay neutral for now.
Honestly I love the way things have been going. I enjoy the new class concepts and weird tactics they bring to the table while the old characters are still 100% viable.
Specter Alter is a Specialist too, with the stats and skills of a Guard, heck with skill 3 you ignore the dollkeeper part entirely. I do enjoy how versatile new units are though.
As someone who has been playing Arknights since year one, I started mere weeks before the first contingency contract even, I can confidently say that the game is in a much better state now than it was before (Yostar’s current scheduling disaster not withstanding). I remember the old meta of “throw the big 3 into your team and win” (SilverAsh, Eyja and Saria), they were the best of the best meta operators, but now we have so many powerful operators across the classes that even nicheknights clears of even harder content has become possible when it just wasn’t before. As long as HG don’t do anything stupid like implement PvP or try to “balance” content around needing the newest operators this game has changed for the better.
Problem is that HG is doing JUST THAT Had you seen SSS or Fire under the sand events? They are BEYOND unbalanced so that broken operators cant breeze trough them It made every other operator almost useless
@@kyarumomochi5146 I would like to highlight that SSS is broken mechanically. And it doesn't exactly judge if the normal meta ops are good or not. For example the best OPs in SSS would be characters such as Passenger and GG. However those 2 aren't really in the contention for broken ops for the normal mode (GG could be but there are far more in the broken tier really). Similarly operators like Thorns and Ling, considered broken in standard content, struggle in SSS. Again this is due to how they designed SSS. SSS should not be considered an indicative of what their design philosophy is, events should. One of the best operators for Fire Within the Sand is Dorothy. Someone who is not considered broken and not even in the mind of most of the casual players (her delay non withstanding). So no, SSS and Fire within sands aren't balanced around "Broken" operators. They just end up promoting types of operators which may or may not include other strong operators. Besides for SSS, the farming doesn't even need you to clear all floors (and you only need all of them cleared once for some bonus rewards) and for Fire within the sand I'm pretty sure you don't need characters like Dorothy. Would the characters good at said mode make it easier? Probably. But it's not like we haven't since the start of arknights been doing stages without "optimal" operators. You use resources you have to find a solution to a problem. And yes, some problems may not be feasible for your account level or strength, however it does not mean the balancing of the game was at fault. It could simply be other factors. HG balance wise has done a good job at balance cause even with strong operators dropping that may or may not powercreep old ones, the old ones aren't really rendered "useless". People harp on how "Pozy does higher damage than Schwarz vs x boss" but it doesn't really mean I can't use schwarz if i have her. Would she do less damage against said boss than pozy? Maybe. But if at the end of the day she does kill said boss doesn't that mean the job she is meant to do still can be done? Same is true for other cases of "powercreep" usually. Other cases which may not be covered can end up being improved or fixed by modules. TL;DR The game isn't perfect, but as of right now it hasn't delved into any problematic areas (Besides Limited banner amounts being high with spark being the same but that's not the point here) EDIT: further context on SSS being broken It follows an extremely hostile design for anyone who is physical oriented. As the levels of difficulty increase defense and hp, but do not touch res. This leads to any arts unit that ignores or decreases arts res finding it a breeze. Chars that spam CC such as gnosis , Jaye , mizuki , etc would also find their usage higher due to the fact that buying time will lead to your arts dps doing more damage. This is why SSS has such a different metagame from most of the normal game. It's entirely designed in an imbalanced way. And it shouldn't be taken as an indicator of game design as most events before and after did not follow such an imbalanced approach.
@@blacklusternolegs Mate you kinda took my comment wrongly also had you never heard of "Meta compass" before? Thors is good in general content not CC IS or similar things as its litterally not his niche same thing with Ling SSS is just fundamentally broken and you either need a strong BROKEN carry like Irene or absurd synergies with absurd RNG with less stronger operators Also please dont tell me FUTS isnt balanced around broken operators lmfao game throws 50 big bobs at you with stat increase on day 3 and one of the bosses on the event has 700k hp Litterally everyone in CN is in agreement that HG is making absurdly hard events to cope with how strong the meta is Dorothy is used in FUTS because of her utility not because she is broken You can go open ANY is3 max difficulty or Most day clear on FUTS and you will see the same operators texas alter Mlynar etc and etc as they more than REQUIRE broken operators to make it clearable Litterally CCs themselves that existed since start of the game are proof that game is INDEED balancing stuff around broken operators and trying to limit them Weird that you are arguing against something that so widelly agreed up on
@@blacklusternolegs Also for your powercreep argument See you are not understanding what powercreep means Powercreep doesnt mean that X operators existence makes Y operator UNUSABLE it makes it so that Y operator is still usable but MUCH LESS practical and stronger then X operator and content gets harder around X operator wich effectively limits Y operators performance This is WHAT powercreep is And its why pozy mlynar texas alter and many completely powercreep their old archtype counterparts
@@kyarumomochi5146 "Thors is good in general content not CC IS or similar things as its litterally not his niche same thing with Ling" Just because Thorns does not see usage in max risk CC, does not mean he has not seen usage in CC at all, as he is one of the better ops to be used in daily risks. He is also one of the strongest to start off with, especially if you are utilizing a start such as VG + Guard. My point of bringing it up was to show that specific operators are better in some places and not in others due to roles prioritized in said areas. Which shall be followed up on in "SSS is just fundamentally broken and you either need a strong BROKEN carry like Irene or absurd synergies with absurd RNG with less stronger operators" Yes I did say that SSS IS fundamentally broken. And note that this "fundamentally" broken mode asks you to use specific kind of operators, namely ones that can spam their skills, benefit off of fast attacks, are arts oriented, ignore res/lower res, have slowdown/cc, or all of the above. Basically acting like some events and other content where specific things are better than others but taken to an extreme. This still doesn't make the mode good btw, however the mode does NOT require you to completely finish it to farm module materials. "Also please dont tell me FUTS isnt balanced around broken operators lmfao" If by FUTS you mean FWTS then atleast from what ive heard from individuals playing CN, its not a event for newcomers. Now does this mean meta ops are required or not is hard for me to say without playing it. From what I have heard it is a points based system of farming, so you do not ever need to go beyond day 1 even to farm the event out. Just that day 1 spam farming is slow as hell. "game throws 50 big bobs at you with stat increase on day 3 and one of the bosses on the event has 700k hp" To quote my CN Friend who had some choice words after reading your comment "fwts does not "throw 50 big bobs with stat increase on day 3" and all the bosses have 500k+ hp in there because you're not meant to instakill them. who wouldve known that better units are better and people use better units more you can literally beat futs by just helidropping units + dorothy unironically after building up your base and getting all the upgrade all buildings(even outside of main base) have more hp/def, less dp costs main base has more hp/def, also using food correctly is key to making your life even easier in futs like theres -8 dp +10% atk and guess what thats one of the easiest foods to make. literally instantly make any unit good instantly with just that alone" "Dorothy is used in FUTS because of her utility not because she is broken" Uh.... Yes her utility is great thats why she was highly recommended for that mode. "You can go open ANY is3 max difficulty or Most day clear on FUTS and you will see the same operators texas alter Mlynar etc and etc as they more than REQUIRE broken operators to make it clearable Litterally CCs themselves that existed since start of the game are proof that game is INDEED balancing stuff around broken operators and trying to limit them" This argument is so flawed I do not know where to start. Firstly. IS3 Max Difficulty is not required. Neither is CC Max. IS3 you require at most Difficulty 7 for the relevant content and for CC you require Risk 18. These things have been done,atleast CC side by literal teams that arent even E2ed in some cases. You can argue those "non e2 teams used such broken ops" but I am pretty sure I need not explain how feeble that explanation is. Alternatively you can go watch guides on how people beat them using 4*s, nicheknights. CC from a LONG Time for the "Required rewards" category has been doable by several ways not needing multiples of "broken operators" if any at all. Secondly if you want to argue that IS3 max and CC max is proof that they are balancing stuff around broken operators then its a flawed argument simply because of the fact that these are optional high risk endeavors built for people who want to push themselves. A game being "balanced around something" usually means that whatever said "something" is, is required to be done to experience the content the game offers. None of the events in general are balanced around using only the "broken"/"meta" operators. Especially not to the point where your entire team HAS to be them. There are several clears not only on YT but also billi billi showing low rarity clears, and for particularly hard challenges, 1 support 6* clears. This should highlight how this game isn't exactly balanced around the "broken"/"meta" operators. Optional Hard content is simply a challenge for players. It should never be considered the norm or assumed to be how devs are balancing the game around, especially when none of the standard events such as Reed event, MH event or the like follow a similar "Power" scaling. Powercreep doesnt mean that X operators existence makes Y operator UNUSABLE it makes it so that Y operator is still usable but MUCH LESS practical and stronger then X operator and content gets harder around X operator wich effectively limits Y operators performance " I .... literally said this? My point I highlighted was that people treat powercreep as the end all be all, whereas the "Powercreeped" operators are still usable in content. Is it harder to use them than their "powercreeped" versions? Possibly. Not impossible however.
powercreep is also a very handy tool to shorten the gap between veteran and newer players. veteran players had to slowly build their strength forced to use old units (which were the only ones available at the time) to clear contents newer players have the option to only roll newer stronger unit, letting them catch up with the meta. veteran players obviously have undeniable advantage becuse their roster will be more complete which allows specific clears that requires older units powercreep makes a game friendlier towards new players, but it also could piss off veterans since it might make them feel like they wasted resources on older weaker units (even though they had no better choice back then)
For noobs player like me, its impossible to complete hard stage without OP Operator. I know there is a lot of low star guid out there, but i want to complete the stage with on my own.
@@Rar830 I mean...using a guide to have a reference for what you might need to clear the stage isn't bad. but following to the letter is (I still do it at times because christ almighty some stages take so much time to clear through trial and error...)
It's true that almost new unit is DPS DPS DPS WHOOOOOO So far, it's not feeling too overwhelming. But I do notice that I rarely take any medics besides Honey & NG. And the meta team comp you showed as an exapmle, easily relatable. Either way, they do it better than many other gacha games. I'll stick with their Design PCreep over FEH's nonsense.
it's really the opposite of year one for NG, back then ppl laugh at those who E2 her as their first or 2nd choice of medic, bcs she's literally not worth it generally to have Shining is way better. but then now everything need NG in high risk content
Arknights has changed. It's no longer about archives, nicheknights, or events. It's an endless series of Contigency contracts, fought by Surtr and Ling. Arknights--and it's consumption of my wallet--has become a well-oiled machine. Arknights has changed. Limited operators carry level 3 modules, use chapter 12 mats. Skins on their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Orundum control, Originite control, LMD control, Battle record control…everything is monitored and kept under control. Arknights…has changed. The age of rushed schedule has become the age of no events, all in the name of global players from getting dorothy, and he who controls the dorothy, controls my wallet. Arknights…has changed. When the map rotation is under total control, CC becomes routine.
Dont forget that Oripathy means NOTHING anymore We litterally never seen oripathy as a disease for more than 2 years Its just a racism tool if anything
I just want a 6 star Defender Protector that just has insanely high amount of Def, Hp, and block count (and maybe 5 Res) but absolutely have the lowest damage, making them only used to block enemies and take damage.
I mean, i think its criminal that they didn't make an hunting horn bard 6* unit for the MH event colab. As a hunting horn enthusiast i think its one of the most unique weapons in the game, i wouldn't say iconic but instantly recognisable, despite us dooters being like 0.0005% of the player base.
I started playing exactly because of guardnights because I thought it was an interesting take on the tower-defense formula. Just drop people directly on top of the enemies and watch them kill instead of building turrets around a straight path. Because of that, I kind of like the new design philosophy of independent operators.
Playing IS2 extensively made realise that the game is actually still very balanced. Medics are needed to clear a lot of stages and yes mudrock stomps everyone but her 34 DP cost makes her such a bad choice for fast stages and I see myself leaning towards much cheaper alternatives.
IS2 Is honestly a really well balanced roguelike on its own. Every class is good, some whose absence can make certain stages way harder, and funnily enough I find medics and defenders saving the most runs. Like that lost puppet boss? That stage sucks if you can't either stall the boss indefinitely or out heal the mist and arts damage onslaught, but part of it being balanced is that the stage is still clearable without them. Defenders/Medics also make those lancer stages easier, since not many easily obtained operators want to tank 2-4 lancers in a row, or can even survive that without heals.
Not to mention IS2 monthly contracts which is literally atm machine because you can literally use target operators at their full power for free (hehehe E2 max level M3 unlocked modules) and easily get to target destination (home remnant or something) without any extra healers or defenders
Defenders were Guard-ified to the point that Guardknights was made obsolete as a niche. Edit: Wait, I can count up to 1 since that is Skadi's rank in popularity rankings.
The guard-ification of AK is imo, mainly targeted to new players. Afterall, self-sustaining units that deals big numbers is very easy to understand and deploy, instead of having to y'know... understand the game, strats, niches, synergies, calculations, etc. Just carry a flagpipe + mountain and boom, that's the first half of the round cleared, it literally cannot be more braindead than that. And for veterans, the new powerful units is filling more niche roles they need for high risk CC clears that newbies won't even touch. So yeah, both sides kinda win overall... as long as they pay up for the new units because stronger units means the game have to scale to them or it'll get too easy.
I wanted to say i dont like the "guardification of Arknights" but then i remembered my favourite unit is Gladiia, who is one of the most offensive case of turning "Specialist" into Guard, lol
I treat AK like a card collecting game.. i collect characters i love, build them, and beat stages with them... so it's not affecting me that much, i've played for 2 years and 6 months rest in between, i still love and catch up again no problem i love Arknights ❤️
How to make defender class shines again: 1. Turns them into Guard 2. 3. 4. 5. Make an enemy which can't be damaged by every operator except the one block them and it needs to be an operator with 3 block
First of all, great video, loved the editing. So, this is all unconfirmed as far as I'm concerned, but I'm fairly sure Reed's name about being a flame shadow is the idea that, because she is a firestarter and/or causes explosions, you'll see her exactly as that, the shadow on the flame (because she's blocking the light, all you see is her black silhouette)
Isn't "design powercreep" just a new word for "metagame"? The video itself is clear that the old units didn't get worse, nor did they get replaced by more powerful versions of themselves. The meta simply evolved from favoring highly specialized units to more flexible ones. This is the real change, and it affects more than just medics and defenders. Across the board the metagame for all classes is moving from specialization to flexibility. Gone are the days when you needed a specialized physical or arts damage dealer depending on the enemy's def of res. New DPS operators tend to offer either a blend of both arts and physical damage OR their damage numbers are high enough to blow through even the toughest enemy defenses. I think this move towards flexibility was at least partially meant to facilitate the advent of RNG game modes like SSS and IS. When players can't guarantee having specific units on their team, it becomes that much more important for operators to be a jack-of-all-trades that can fulfill a variety of functions. Perhaps the only specialization that is rewarded in the current meta is resistance to arts damage. This keeps Nightingale in the meta, but it's a bit of a hilarious twist as well because resistance to arts damage was one of the only specializations that was NOT relevant during the early days of Arknights.
@@kyarumomochi5146 Powercreep has a specific meaning, and while it is related to the metagame it is not the same. Powercreep happens when a unit that previously represented the apex of its niche is rendered obsolete by the introduction of a new unit that occupies the same niche but provides more benefits. As an example, we can take a niche that is currently not relevant in the meta at all - ability to attack allied operators. Maybe Aak is currently the best character for attacking allies, but the niche of attacking allies is not relevant in the meta. However, if Arknights were to come out with a new operator that attacks allies more times or deals more damage then that would represent powercreep within the niche of attacking allies regardless of whether attacking allies was ever relevant within the Arknights metagame. By the same token, we can imagine that perhaps Arknights might enter an era where maps have lots of high ground and barely any low tiles at all. If that happened then the meta would be dominated by ranged units and the relevance of melee units would fall... but none of them would be power-creeped because power-creep isn't meta! They are completely different things!
Great video! Though honestly? Had it not been for the classes splitting off into subclasses, I'd even argue that Direct Powercreep already existed from the very beginning of the game. Guard Skadi got immediately powercrept by Hellagur in every single way. At the time, he had better survivability (even though Skadi can be directly healed), better 1v1 dps, better 1v3 dps, better boss killing, was a better helidrop option even without the faster redeployment, etc. It wasn't until HG decided to make Abyssal Hunters synergy crazy strong that Guard Skadi was able to pull out of her rut of living in Hellagur's shadow. What I'm trying to say is, anyone who thinks Direct Power creep doesn't exist didn't really think about the power differences between Skadi and Hellagur early on in the game. Really liking your latest videos. Keep up the great work, fellow Doctor!
I do gotta say that with the Guardification of AK some units literally never got a chance to show their stuff, like the Abjurer girls. The only class that hasn’t gotten Guardified yet is Supporters, to an extent. For a lot branches this current period of the game, it’s hard for them to sell themselves to players as they are considered more of a hindrance for players rather than the other way around. I feel that if a player wants to get anywhere serious in this game I feel like Guardification really limits player freedom on those occasions, especially when it comes to general operator discussion. Im fine with this powercreep as of right now because HG is still releasing some ops that are not apart of it and still play within the rules of their branches, such as Proviso and Harmonie. Funnily enough most of these characters not following the trend are 5 stars.
Random fun fact : in the MH Collab if you put the Palicos in your assistant UI you can understand what they're saying.. I shit you not the meow's are translated to sentences.
I've been a causal player who has taken many breaks over the long 3 years I've been playing arknights and I personally like this change. while I do see faults in it like how everything is a "race" of best dps/self sustain niche. I must say that I much prefer this over what could've happened. The amount of unique versatility you can have now and being able for it to work rather than having very specific operators doing certain things. (like how you needed a schwartz basically to kill high defense bosses) to now having all different kinds of characters who can do the thing we all need to di(kill enemies) in their own fun way. Me looking at the alternative all I see is using way too much brain power for the average person to clear a normal stage. Which would in turn have less players and make the company less money. So instead of making everything a huge headache, it is limited to high risk and the new characters all being able to contribute to being able to get the job done with dmg while still having it be a challenge and rewarding. Which if you think about it is a very hard thing to balance and I think they are doing it pretty well.
10:45 metagame keep changing but sussurro still awesome, thanks supah very awesome Honestly I'm in neutral side since I don't think this design powercreep is that bad. Heck even in nicheknight context, design powercreep still exist. Like the case when I use kjera/minimalist more often than absinthe in my welfare niche. But, if my operators are getting stronger, then my job as a doctor is to use them in their best power. That's why I always go for optimization when it comes to clear stage (and for content too), and aims to get higher possible risk in CC with my own niche. I like that sussurro sticker btw but I'm not in US 😔
Probably cope but maybe it'll go the other way sometime in the future. Maybe they'll make bosses and stuff so extremely unkillable you'll have no choice but to stall them while your epic 6* gamer units try to chunk health off of them. But then again, if stuff like this happens you start creating unfair gaps between f2p and whale players, which ak has thankfully been largely good at NOT doing so far. I didn't experience old AK but it does sound like a fun time, maybe I'll throw my surtr in the cupboard and try to use some older units and see how that goes
And Doctor proceeds to proclaim the outmost importance of declaration of Terra's history from the top of his lung: "I am... The Arknights Oh yeah also YES! I am 𝓐𝓽𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓬"
Gummy is my primary heal defender in IS and generally the first operator I recruit with defender vouchers. Cheap hope cost and gets the job done of clogging up a lane without needing a medic. Most of the other good options for clogging up a lane without a medic are 6-star options which cost tons of hope.
I usually skip ad/sponsor segments whenever TH-camrs do it but, you're an exception. You're insanely entertaining and I'm happy that I found ur gold content. Keep up the good work👍
To be honest, I do like the "modern" Arknights with its varied subclasses. It makes the game more interesting imo. I remember back in the day I had 1 squad of 12 operators that I brought to everything and they'd usually get the job done. But now I actually have to use more units, which keeps the game more interesting. Though, it is a bit sad that some of those original units are outclassed (for example, I don't really see myself ever using Red again once Texas Alter comes out). On the other side, a powercreep I don't like as much is the boss powercreep. I understand that as our operators become stronger, the bosses have to keep up to not get steamrolled. But even so, I remember the days when FrostNova was the only boss with 2 HP bars. And now every boss has it. If I remember correctly, he last new event boss on the Global server that didn't have some form of 2nd life bar was the big boss from Under Tides. Even worse are the proliferation of bosses with multiple annoying mechanics (Break the Ice, Guide Ahead, Stultivera Navis, etc.).
the problem with this is that AK already establish that "guard-fication" and players ARE expecting new operator to be of that style to some degree. the formula has been set and will keep evolving. we're at a point where stalling is not beneficial and faster clears more rewarding. its now more focu and geared toward more Damage This is a tower-Offense game usually tower-defense game is about endurance and survival, as long as you have 1HP, you still win. but in AK, you are punished heavily if you leak enemy into the blue box; losing 3-star clears and eats up your Sanity. this becomes a habit even into the lategame. fortunately some game modes, its ok for HP leak. but this gamemode usually doesnt cost any Sanity also doesnt help that when new operator doesnt perform as the players expectations, trying to change the current formula or something, the character doesnt sell well. from business standpoint, discouraging them to make similar mistake, go back to where it works and start building from that safe foundations. medic no longer useful if the only thing they know is heal. also like what you mentioned, Operators are more self-sustaining and dont need extra healer, instead put more damage dealers in your squad. defender is useless if they only know to defend and cant kill enemies or heal/ debuff. fast attack are worthless when enemies nowadays have 1000+ DEF, so its more burst + big dmg centric than before. even Myrtle falls abit since all she knows is DP gen, while Elysium and Saileach offers more support and Bagpipe/ cantabile can deals dmg at the same time gives DP each new operators are expected to do more than what their role, class is supposed to do. if they only know one thing, they are look over by players, especially for support type of operators but unlike the upcoming Mlynar, he only knows to do deal dmg, its what their class are supposed to do and players wants him because he does big dmg. so it is fine if Operators only know to one one thing, as long as it a dmg oriented kit. the other upcoming units like Dorothy and Stainless offers more variety and IMO fun gameplay, but they are stuck between Mlynar and Texas Alter who does BEEG Dmg
here's a funny that hints at this continuing So you know Liskarm and Blitz right? Defenders with a sidearm that gives them 2 range in front and ranged attacks? And how so far they just have been categorized as normal defenders? Well I heard things that apparently since some time these two on CN are their own archetype now. Don't remember the name of it but still, the implication here is clear: More Gun
yeah, Blitz and Liskarm are part of the Sentinel branch on CN, and according to JP patch notes, the two of them will be changing branches next week on global
This is something I've been talking about with my friends a lot and I can't help but see it as a good thing for the most part. A lot of old, meta operators are kind of boring in their execution, or break the game in ways that can't really be designed around. A lot of the old super meta operators (regardless of if they've fallen off) like Thorns, Blaze, Mountain, Exusiai, and Schwarz are really one note to use. Yeah, Pozy is much more powerful than Schwarz in most situations, but she's also a lot more *interesting.* But with interest comes complexity and with complexity comes a barrier to entry - you need to do a lot more to a lot more with Pozy to get the same level of value as you would out of just throwing Schwarz down and popping S3. Because of this, I think that the new operators have to be more powerful to be attractive - why spend brain cells to learn all the weird ways you can use Gavial the Invincible or Spalter when operators like Blaze and original flavor Specter could do their "thing" better. And I think we can see that with these two operators - Gavial is pretty much objectively better than Blaze in 99% of situations, and that's great, because Blaze is really boring to use! But, because Spalter is a lot weaker (without modules) there's almost no reason to use her as a unkillable blocker unless you have endgame levels of resources to shovel into an Abyssal Hunters team. And for the operators that are still effective, like SilverAsh, most of them break the game in other ways. There can almost never be a balanced redeploy time or invisible enemy modifier in maps because of Eagle Eyes and Leader (SA's talents) swinging those modifiers so much. If you don't have SA, dealing with these modifiers is much more difficult. And if you do, they become much easier. The most recent CC event on global (I don't play CN) was my first time going past risk 30. SA was in my squad to help with the redeploy timer, and I only deployed him once. To tank a cannon shot. For players that don't have SA levelled these two modifiers become much, much worse, and there's not really a way to design around that. Of course there are other things that can reduce redeploy times and reveal invisible units, but none of them do it quite as well or as easily as SA. The recent CN 6* guard, Qiubai, seems to fall right into this pattern. She powercreeps on Thorns in design and power level, but I can't help but see this as a good thing. Thorns was my first level E2 90 operator, and Destreza was my first M3 skill. Despite that, I've come to despise Thorns. He feels like turning on easy more for 90% of maps and there's no way to use him in any clever way. You put him down, activate his S3, and unless you're fighting really durable enemies or you absolutely have to interact with mechanics, he kills every single thing on the map with no input. And honestly, it's not like old operators are getting worse. Schwarz still kills pretty much everything that enters her attack range - she was my damage carry for getting ending 2 in IS2. Blaze still shreds any trash mobs that stand in her path. Thorns is still... Thorns. And for operators that haven't been properly powercrept by their replacements (SA with Mlynar, Mudrock with Penance, Specter with Spalter) they still do things that are very viable, so there's no reason to feel "left out" or like you're being left behind if you don't have the most powerful shiny toys. Perhaps the only exceptions to this are CC and IS, and maybe SSS, which are leagues in difficulty above anything else and geared towards endgame players with lots of operators. Even then the plethora of players much better than me prove time and time again that there's no need to have the most powerful operators or the highest level operators to clear these. Ultimately I can't help but feel like I have much more fun using more complicated operators. They open up many more strategies on the our end and allow for stages to be designed with mechanics that are more complex than Big Bob. That's not to say I agree with everything HG has released, but I see operators like Ling and Kalt to be more of exceptions than anything else. Especially since there's no official competitive angle to Arknights to necessitate always having the "best stuff."
Sorry but many of the operators you listed are already powercrept SA no longer breaks the game in half He is not even close to doing so That title is Mlynars
@@kyarumomochi5146 That's why I draw attention to SA's talents as opposed to his damage. There is no operator in the game that provides as much utility in specific situations as SA. In fact, there are only five operators who can reveal invisible enemies - - SA, via Eagle Eyes talent - Tsukinogi, via her S1 - Elysium, via his S2 - Scene's summons - Horn's S1 (which can't target invisible units by default so it's almost pointless) Out of all of these, SA is the only one who has completely unconditional invisibility reveal, and covers by far the largest AoE. That's not to say the other operators are bad, Elysium especially is quite effective here, but Monitor still only has a 15 second duration and can only reveal four enemies at a time. Again - it's not bad at all, it's really strong! Especially since it reduces def as well. But it's still extremely accurate to say that SA's Eagle Eyes talent provides utility that very few other operators can even touch, and certainly gives him a place that Mlynar literally cannot occupy. This is why I think that Eagle Eyes is a design problem, because so many challenges (especially in CC) rely on "X unit is now invisible" which SA essentially removes as a challenge. Because of this utility, Mlynar *has* to powercreep SA in some ways. Even disregarding that, saying that "SA no longer breaks the game" is just plain false. It's not as if Mlynar's release made SA do less damage somehow - he's just as effective as he always was, and nothing is going to change that. My overall point is that powercreep is necessary to make new operators viable, and I see them as sort of a "fixed" version of old ones. I don't think that any operator would ever be released with a talent like Leader (SA's other talent, which reduces redeploy time by 10% before potentials are added) or Eagle Eyes because they affect the game in such a fundamental way. And if I had to pick between most of the new operators and most of the old ones, I would personally pick the new ones. There's nothing really exciting to me about entirely invalidating a risk tag because I happen to own SA so invisibly straight up doesn't matter, just like there's nothing exciting about placing Thorns and waiting for Destreza to charge. All that said, I don't think simple operators are bad, and I ultimately like the contrast that's being created between operators like SA and Mlynar, because they each have a unique tactical role. SA isn't holistically the best operator to take in many cases because there is now a character that does more AoE physical damage than him, but at the same time, Mlynar can't provide the utility that SA does through the Eagle Eye and Leader talents. That's what I want to see - more choices in team composition.
@@twigtwig3110 1) Invis enemies are like 0.3% of all enemies in arknights 2) You litterally ONLY need to worry about invis enemies in CC wich if you are not aiming for 25+ risk hardly matters 3) Dps matters a ton more than anything SA provides
@@twigtwig3110 Also SA doesnt break game anymore as all enemy def is higher than normal He isnt as good as he used to be because enemies are actually tough and unbeatable in simple helidrops now Either cope with what everyone agrees or continue whining about how Mlynar doesnt mathematically beat SA
When I started playing (2 years ago) only medics and defenders fell out of the gacha (hello pot 6 shining) and my gameplay was really similar to tower defense. But then I got surtr, thorns and mountain and the game turned into a spawn kill everything. And the saddest thing is that with each new event, the developers make enemies more tenacious, more armor, more resistance, because of which you no longer need to come up with tactics, just do more damage.
Fantastic video. But if it is about being a discussion, i would love having a next part looking into enemy designs as well. Since AK is a tower defense game, i think the "gameplay" makes for very straightforward changes in reguard to the evolution of the game. If we want to make the enemies feel engaging we need to add stuff on them. Oh they're invisible. Oh they shoot a fireball from across the map and ramps up. Oh they hit like trucks but only if your back is in front of shadows, etc. Every event, a new enemy is born alongside a few operators. Every time something new is added, it ADDS to the already existing complexity of the game. They can't just makke damage sponges or nuclear lauchers. they need to tweak adding strange variables. Which makes for an even wider design-powercreep.
English is not my first language and I may have gotten some ideas intertwined and badly explained my thoughts. But I think this type of design-powercreep (in regards to enemies) encourages possessing multiple Operators to respond to many different types of scenarios. Some operators are just plain OP (Surtr) and basicaly fit any situation, but appart from these occasions I think it pushes players to experiment. Wherein new operators become interesting: new stuff to play around with. Especially when they conveniently fit exquisitely well in the new event they just released with.
They other aspect i somewhat touched and did not expand upon is the fact that AK is a tower defense game. There's three core elements you can apply in a TD run in order to succeed. Deal more damage, Block more enemies and have utility to control the enemies (CC, buffs and debuffs). The most effective matter to clear a TD lvl will always be more DPS. Safer, faster and especially flashier. Which is why in my opinion AK is veering more and more towards a DPS meta. They know this is what players want. Efficiency. So now their baseline seems to be OK: EVERYONE IS A DPS NOW. EVERYONE IS VIABLE FOR EFFICENCY. BUT THIS ONE IS TANKY. THIS ONE SLEEPS. THIS ONE ALSO HEALS. So basicaly out of the 3 base elements they can put on a unit, be it DPS, Tankiness and Support, they now makke it everyone can DPS and now they can create operators with strange and fun gimmicks without fear.
I agree, I feel like by comparison to other gacha's Arknights has much more potential for creativity, which isnt being used. Stuff like the water in Dossoles was a smart idea, having only ranged tiles be unaffected while penalizing lane holders. I remember their being a stage where a fireball floats around and somebody cleared it using only 4 snipers. Or the poison fog, turrets etc. There are occasional enemies who do interesting stuff like stun or bind, the suicide bombers, invisible enemies, freeze, emperors blade farts. If every stage had a bunch of stuff like that it would be pretty interesting.
To be fair there has been some regular powercreep in Arknights. Ennemies did get beefier after chapter 7 and dealing over 2, even 3k dmg on hit went from exceedingly rare to pretty standard for DPS focused units. That being said, I guess the biggest issue with modern Arknight content isn't necessarily about our own operators getting better kits, but rather our opponents not evolving at the same pace. Now yes each new batch of content brings in new mechanics and unique enemies, but apart from specific stages, most of the time it doesn't really matter because the brunt of the assaults are some variation of basic melee and ranged trash mobs accompanied by a few quirky elites. Enemies simply can't provide enough incentive to rely on options other than offense, and I agree that it's a difficult question for HG to answer. How do you make enemies that reward defensive playstyles without endlessly repeating Mudrock's colossi or some other variation of absurd stat based foe?
I started last month and am still very much lacking a lot of options. I'd be thankful for Hoshi at the moment. And my first Top Op from Recruitment today was Siege. Not bad by any means, but not necessarily an upgrade when I have Texas and Myrtle already. At least I can skimp out on E2 with her. But it's still very interesting to see how the game has evolved and where it might be heading next.
SIege is way more tankier than Texas. The way to play with Siege is to drop her on the ennemy spawn since she can take the hit. And the more ennemy that die close to her the more she can loop her S2 doing good damage. So any mission with lots of spawn like the slug she just keep looping her s2 giving good dp. She does fall a bit in the later stage but you can do lots with her.
Funny enough, Siege's new module now gives her a new spot in the meta as a vanguard lane-holder. DragonGJY made a really detailed breakdown of it, and its performance in practice is quite impressive.
I started the game during Sulfura Navis (IT WASN'T EASY), after much spamming I'm level 78 now and while I never played the old meta, I strongly feel the newer gameplay style of operators are way more interesting and fun to use. My favourite character is Nian. Now, Nian, is, to put it bluntly, the most obscenely fucking boring operator I've ever used, she's so insanely unflashy and dull that it withers my dick and balls to see someone place her on the battlefield even when she's my literal favourite character, after borrowing her as a support unit lots. I just don't care too much for Pozemka as a character, but she's really satisfying and fun to play and use neurons to decide on the best place to maximise her DPS with her talent and typewriter. Also it's interesting to talk to older players that haven't quite shifted the meta in their head. I really believe that Blaze is one of the most mediocre 6*s in the game, and is like totally average and meh, but many players will still insist on her being an 'S tier character', even the gamepress tier list had her in S+ until a few months ago, in the same tier as Surtr, which is just, an absolute joke to be honest.
Gavalter is basically just better Blaze, but i find her vastly more fun to play both with S2 and S3, compared to just Blaze s2 which was basically just turning battles into an idle gacha to an extent. I also think Myolner is much more interesting than SilverAsh because of his charge attack mechanic and 0 block. Same with Spelter (+XModule) and Specter S2. Penance has crazy shields, but no healing and can only keep up those huge shields by being fed fodder mobs continously. Compared to Mudrock who can also auto battle with S2 plus 20% health from shields. Im not saying most of these characters are better, I just think their more interesting and less 1 note.
I remember playing through this game with Myrrh as my main medic and Siege and Provence as my only dp sources. Times really have changed, and I can't say I love or hate the direction Arknights is going, both sides have their charms.
I really can't say I like the shift in operator design over time since it affects difficulty design as well. Arknights is power creeping too quickly, with new powerful operators either being too versatile (self-sustain, damage, tanking) or doing ludicrous amounts of DPS. It's going to affect how the game will challenge players in the future since the game needs to contend against powerful operators, which in turn makes them mandatory for clearing challenging stages. Furthermore, with all the emphasis on giving meta ops strong DPS, it funnels players to a "kill them faster" strategy, which will make the game grow stale faster. What I terribly want to see is a proper balance patch (which I know Arknights won't ever do). Not just on operators, but on enemies and mechanics as well. Since Arknights is against nerfs, I would love to see the less meta operators buffed (the module system sucked) with edited skills, the generic skill 1s replaced, and maybe even better stats. And I want to see enemies also buffed, to keep up to the sharp power increase of the operators. While the complex mechanic-filled enemies (Emperor's Blade, Andoain, etc) can mostly be left alone, the more straight-forward bosses like Patriot is in dire need of a proper buff to stay relevant in the constant operator power creep. And through these changes, normal Medics doing their job of healing will phase back into relevancy as enmity self-sustain becomes a proper niche rather than meta. Obviously, this will have massive implications throughout the game, especially auto-battle and needing to reclear old stages and many other aspects that I have yet to think of. But I believe yearly (or every two years) balance patches is necessary to maintain the longevity of the game quality. Of course, this is all just an ideal pipe dream and this comment will be lost, never to be seen by anyone at Hypergryph, so fck me I guess.
Kinda impossible with the rumor of the Chinese anti fraud/gambling(?) law prohibiting "false advertisement" of products, in which straight nerfs and buffs kinda fall on that category somehow since it makes the products--in our cases, operators--is "different" than what they're marketed as. Take my word with a grain of salt tho, I just heard this as a rumor from long time ago. But seeing Arknights ultimate stubbornness in rebalancing things since releasing Surtr (and only to double down by releasing the broken Texalter), this might as well be the truth
Honestly this is fine since game doesn't force you to pull for characters to complete stages, but some ops like Bagpipe, Myrtle, Exu, SilverAsh, Specter and etc can't be replaceable due their talents and mechanics Even new Gavial alter can't replace Specter and her tactics, new ops just add new tactics for your game experience, Penance can't replace Mudrock because they both got different shield mechanics, Irene replaced some ops, but funny Ch'en s2 and talent can't be replaced, only new supporter Stainless but he will be useful in different tactics Even new ops is pretty op, it's doesn't force you to pull for them to use (fortunately) it's just giving people new tactics and make their experience easier
Ugh. Grindblue Fantasy.... The powercreep in that game is so real. Thank you for reminding me again why I dropped it in favor of Arknights. Something about Arknights I really love that most games in this genre are completely bereft of is just how many characters you can use at once. 12 Operators in a single stage plus 1 borrowed Op?? Everything else limits you to something like four characters at once. The difference is just crazy, and it has a huge impact on the number of ways you can choose to play the game.
I completely gave up on hypergryph balancing. Every new six star is godawful design wise, so I instead decided to make my own balance by only playing with operators that have well designed kits with meaningful downsides, like Andreana, Absinthe, Franka or Liskarm. I do not care about banners anymore. It feels so much better when you do not depend on a third party to dictate your fun. Also, the "design powercreep" thing is not entirely correct. Yes, new operators have more features and are oriented towards damage, but that is not the problem. The problem are the numbers. Texas alter's kit would not be broken if she didn't have such high damage multipliers. Same for Yato, Mlynar, Penance, Surtr, Ch'en etc. The design is not the problem, it's the inflated numbers, and, with each release, those numbers are more and more inflated. This is DIRECT statistical powercreep.
Yato isn't inherently broken, sure she's a fast redeploy nuke with S3, but she's essentially doing what Ch'en S2 did before, she's more useful in speedfarm clears than she is in actual content Mlynar is broken yeah lol, but you still have to wait 20 extra seconds to get the most out of his first activation, and the fact that you can't pause his skill, makes it so that he rewards timing above all else, it's not as easy to use him as the videos may make it seem on youtube Penance absolutely isn't, you need to get hit 30 times to be able to use her bread and butter skill, which might not seem like a big deal, but it is when Penance's survival depends on a massive pool of HP that stacks on top of itself (without any defensive stats) + she's unhealable, although having Blemi on the field will mitigate that entirely since she's a well designed operator, but soloing 7-18 doesn't immediately make you broken since you rely on mines to kill Patriot on his first phase anyways The game is very much designed around Surtr and Chalter recently so I would say they've toned their power down at this point, Surtr isn't able to output as much damage as she used to due to enemies having higher RES than usual (see every event past Chapter 9) and Ch'alter being heldback due to map mechanics, too short of a range or better suited alternatives that take up the already limited ranged tiles on the map (see CC9, CC10)
Hoshi and Shining will always be my preferred Defender and Medic, meta be damned. It's nice that there's still so much flexibility in being able to clear most content so I can use my favs just because in most cases.
Honestly its great that they decide to make some experiments, but it really hurts when the new OP characters are always 6* it would be nice if the new 5 or 4* was a meta unit more often, the lasts that became "meta" were Cantabile (thats only because its a new niche), Blacknight and La Pluma(new niche). And again, having new niches is nice, but it would be great if they use an already existing subclass and make something new(in the subclass) instead of just making them deal more damage then the one before, for example, Sideroca can heal herself while Astesia can increase her block, or Beanstalk being used as a pseudo defender and Blacknight dealing arts damage.
It also comes down to their enemy design and stage gimmick/feature when making these new characters. They need to design a new mode that does not center around dps too much
im still emo about the 2 ridiculous executors that sent phantom to the grave. ngl it slightly turned me off from arknights, but i still love the game, so i'm trying to continue to love it by ignoring them.
Yes I do agree with you, while more operators are designed with new or different gimmicks and niches than before where the design was just who does the most damage, but now it looped back around because they are so Potent that any overlap will draw comparison
it's shame that niche player feel that way but, it's good thing for normal players, the game will die if doesn't evolving, alot more cool and interesting clear being done in results and many new strategies opens up to discover.
At least keep the guardification until my reaper Siege with +2000% atk dmg, -5 res tradeoff (can be healed by other units module), perma uptime skill comes out. after that i don't mind diversifying it down a little. TBH i don't mind it, as long as they keep stages interesting but doable with lower rarity operators, mechanics unique and great characters rolling. im also pretty curious where the story goes and when the base will finally go out of beta.
Lumen was such a beacon of light for new and interesting medics after so long, then they instantly shit on that with the bore that is incantation medics; also this "nicheknights" epidemic is getting out of hand.
Well in my case i really don't mind with how the operators are "slightly" leaning more towards more DPS archetype. Some events also had their own gimmicks to overcome each new operators in their events so that they wouldn't be too broken. I mean yeah there's Ch'alter dealing a wide spread watergun with a ridiculous amount of damage but what if there was a stage where you tried to deploy Ch'alter and the stages had some enemies from certain events that might be able to counter her? For example the stun snipers from HoTSF event where they will be able to deal a stun towards your Ch'alter before she even manages to get her S3 ready, what's even more of a problem is that stages not only consists of stun snipers to counter Ch'alter but also whipped up several enemies from Dossoles such as the corrosion casters. If those two get paired up it'll be a problem for sure but then again not all of us will solely rely on Ch'alter to solve every stages since we also had our very own strategies on how to cover and overcome each stages.
Also, I wonder if the advertised shop really has the permission of the artists to sell their stuff. I've seen the Surtr one before on Pixiv so that's kinda murky... Know anything about that? Especially since the "About Us" page just says "Test test".
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Awesome, great that you payed heed to that. Thank you for the response! I'd definitely throw some money at them if they shipped to the EU. Maybe some day ～
Honestly i agree with many parts of this video but i have an argument to make *Arknights is actually quite right with theor powercreep* Yes i understand powercreep is seen as a horrible thing but it actually refreshes the gameplay loop of the game and is a norm for many gacha games I do agree that HG entered an absolute powercreep spree with Texas alter Mlynar Pozyomka and etc but the things they powercrept were more than THREE years old at that point I feel like some of the powercreep is justfied in sense that they cant keep a niche relevant forever But penance absolutely breaks how defenders are meant to be played and I LOVE IT Also about guardification of the game Honestly its just kinda hurting the game a ton Everything is DPS orianted And things that arent DPS orianted (Lin) are borderline terrible compared to other newer operators
I'm not sure how Horn could be seen as 'guardification of defenders' when she's really a bloody aoe sniper you can put on a ground tile. I also disagree with your idea of 'design powercreep' resulting in older units becoming outdated because 'the game isn't designed around them anymore), when (imo) it should really be seen as a 'design *expansion* ' where (most, see below) new operators simply enable different strategies without making those old strategies with those old operators unviable. Case in point, it's been almost 4 years since the last aoe medic has been introduced, but that's not really a problem if aoe medics as an archetype already feels full and varied enough as it is. So if a new medic isn't an aoe medic I'm not going to think that I should never bother with them anymore and only use this shiny new medic instead. (Kal'tsit should 100% have gotten her own archetype though lmao) If anything, I feel there's been a bigger trend of 'feature-creep' that goes more into direct powercreep than design powercreep, where those new best operators are the best because they can do *more* than their older counterparts to leave them in the dust until modules can (hopefully) change things up. Like why does Surtr have extended range, multi target and massive hp bonus with guaranteed invincibility when non-module Skadi doesn't? Why can Saga generate dp on S3 when Siege couldn't on hers if both turn them into guards? Why does Irene get both a hefty defense ignore, pseudo-bind and aoe damage on her S3 when Ch'en's limited to single target on hers if both S3's have similar hits and multipliers? Why can Texas Alter just delete enemies while still providing a reliable stun when Phantom can only stun through rng and do tickle damage in the process? Those are the kind of comparisons that make me worried about the future of AK if (future) shortcomings of an operator will only ever be addressed through modules (which let's be honest are basically a third promotion if a lv3 module from scratch requires more lmd than E1 and E2 promotions combined).
![The MOST UNDERRATED Operator [Arknights]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pBUjZz_rCPU/mqdefault.jpg)
![The MOST UNDERRATED Operator [Arknights]](/img/tr.png)
They should make a module for Gummy wherein for every heal she does a random enemy in the map just straight up vanishes.
💀
Gummy has a habit
Huh, so that was the secret ingredient that she mentioned the other day.....Meh, I'd still eat the food that she made
does she just fucking kill and cook the enemy
@@alphaneumerics yes
Shining is my favorite medic. I'm excited for Shining the Swishy Swoosh.
Susulo >
Susulo
The word "Susulo" might roughly translate into "your t*ts" in Indonesian
@@myliemut1558 Well, valid
@@myliemut1558
Susu loe.
It can be "Your milk", so don't be horny yet.
After they turn to guard, they turn to thorn. It's all thornification all along
Theres no thornifications gor good months now going into a year, and god finally that meme is dead, its soo low effort and isnt funny anymore
Gummy the boneshatter (alter)
S1: Defense up by 150%.
S2 : Third hit deals AOE damage, stun and heals Gummy by a 30% of the damage dealt.
S3 : Gummy consumes enemies while the skill is active.
Skill 1 needs to be ATK Up y
S3 sounds like gummy becomes chomp in plants vs zombies
Kal'tsit:
Prevention is better than cure. Therefore, if I kill my enemies before they touch my operators, that makes me an effective healer.
fake, needs at least 5 more paragraphs of text explaining the same thing but in a more convoluted way that makes you want to die midway through your reading
Now this is a topic I can't pick a side, the old AK was more straightforward on how each archetype was structured and meant to work, while the current is more on niche/dps heavy, resulting to more unique clears and antics. Like I still remember when chapter 7 came out, fighting patriot and using schwarz just because she's one of the few operators that actually deals damage to him, because thats what her archetype was meant for, to shred high armor enemies. But the with the variety of new niche and archetype also made the current game more fun with the introduction of nicheknights(Birb Supremacy btw). So I'll probably stay neutral for now.
Honestly I love the way things have been going. I enjoy the new class concepts and weird tactics they bring to the table while the old characters are still 100% viable.
I like the new AK, straightforward mechanics/archetypes are boring and repetitive.
I'm ok with the new arknights, but please, tone down how much damage those new unit can deal. It's unnessary ridiculous.
I love the new arknights. I think if everything was like it was back then I might have not found any interest in it last September when I started
@@_Kettenkrat Tbf, outside of Chalter recently at least. Not every operator since (outside of Mlynar) has as high of a consistent damage.
It's not only Defenders being guard-ified too. Gladiia is pretty much a guard that can DPS, pull and tank with her module.
imo that's just they AH bo er showing, unless they start doing that with other classes, AH can be its own thing
Not just gladia
Almost ALL specialists are just turning into guards
Specter alter? Check
Texas? Check
Gladiia? Check
Guardification is just insane
Specter Alter is a Specialist too, with the stats and skills of a Guard, heck with skill 3 you ignore the dollkeeper part entirely. I do enjoy how versatile new units are though.
As someone who has been playing Arknights since year one, I started mere weeks before the first contingency contract even, I can confidently say that the game is in a much better state now than it was before (Yostar’s current scheduling disaster not withstanding). I remember the old meta of “throw the big 3 into your team and win” (SilverAsh, Eyja and Saria), they were the best of the best meta operators, but now we have so many powerful operators across the classes that even nicheknights clears of even harder content has become possible when it just wasn’t before. As long as HG don’t do anything stupid like implement PvP or try to “balance” content around needing the newest operators this game has changed for the better.
Problem is that HG is doing JUST THAT
Had you seen SSS or Fire under the sand events? They are BEYOND unbalanced so that broken operators cant breeze trough them
It made every other operator almost useless
@@kyarumomochi5146 I would like to highlight that SSS is broken mechanically. And it doesn't exactly judge if the normal meta ops are good or not.
For example the best OPs in SSS would be characters such as Passenger and GG. However those 2 aren't really in the contention for broken ops for the normal mode (GG could be but there are far more in the broken tier really). Similarly operators like Thorns and Ling, considered broken in standard content, struggle in SSS. Again this is due to how they designed SSS.
SSS should not be considered an indicative of what their design philosophy is, events should.
One of the best operators for Fire Within the Sand is Dorothy. Someone who is not considered broken and not even in the mind of most of the casual players (her delay non withstanding).
So no, SSS and Fire within sands aren't balanced around "Broken" operators. They just end up promoting types of operators which may or may not include other strong operators.
Besides for SSS, the farming doesn't even need you to clear all floors (and you only need all of them cleared once for some bonus rewards) and for Fire within the sand I'm pretty sure you don't need characters like Dorothy.
Would the characters good at said mode make it easier? Probably. But it's not like we haven't since the start of arknights been doing stages without "optimal" operators.
You use resources you have to find a solution to a problem. And yes, some problems may not be feasible for your account level or strength, however it does not mean the balancing of the game was at fault. It could simply be other factors.
HG balance wise has done a good job at balance cause even with strong operators dropping that may or may not powercreep old ones, the old ones aren't really rendered "useless". People harp on how "Pozy does higher damage than Schwarz vs x boss" but it doesn't really mean I can't use schwarz if i have her. Would she do less damage against said boss than pozy? Maybe. But if at the end of the day she does kill said boss doesn't that mean the job she is meant to do still can be done?
Same is true for other cases of "powercreep" usually.
Other cases which may not be covered can end up being improved or fixed by modules.
TL;DR
The game isn't perfect, but as of right now it hasn't delved into any problematic areas (Besides Limited banner amounts being high with spark being the same but that's not the point here)
EDIT: further context on SSS being broken
It follows an extremely hostile design for anyone who is physical oriented. As the levels of difficulty increase defense and hp, but do not touch res. This leads to any arts unit that ignores or decreases arts res finding it a breeze.
Chars that spam CC such as gnosis , Jaye , mizuki , etc would also find their usage higher due to the fact that buying time will lead to your arts dps doing more damage.
This is why SSS has such a different metagame from most of the normal game. It's entirely designed in an imbalanced way. And it shouldn't be taken as an indicator of game design as most events before and after did not follow such an imbalanced approach.
@@blacklusternolegs Mate you kinda took my comment wrongly
also had you never heard of "Meta compass" before?
Thors is good in general content not CC IS or similar things as its litterally not his niche same thing with Ling
SSS is just fundamentally broken and you either need a strong BROKEN carry like Irene or absurd synergies with absurd RNG with less stronger operators
Also please dont tell me FUTS isnt balanced around broken operators lmfao
game throws 50 big bobs at you with stat increase on day 3 and one of the bosses on the event has 700k hp
Litterally everyone in CN is in agreement that HG is making absurdly hard events to cope with how strong the meta is
Dorothy is used in FUTS because of her utility not because she is broken
You can go open ANY is3 max difficulty or Most day clear on FUTS and you will see the same operators texas alter Mlynar etc and etc as they more than REQUIRE broken operators to make it clearable
Litterally CCs themselves that existed since start of the game are proof that game is INDEED balancing stuff around broken operators and trying to limit them
Weird that you are arguing against something that so widelly agreed up on
@@blacklusternolegs Also for your powercreep argument
See you are not understanding what powercreep means
Powercreep doesnt mean that X operators existence makes Y operator UNUSABLE it makes it so that Y operator is still usable but MUCH LESS practical and stronger then X operator and content gets harder around X operator wich effectively limits Y operators performance
This is WHAT powercreep is
And its why pozy mlynar texas alter and many completely powercreep their old archtype counterparts
@@kyarumomochi5146
"Thors is good in general content not CC IS or similar things as its litterally not his niche same thing with Ling"
Just because Thorns does not see usage in max risk CC, does not mean he has not seen usage in CC at all, as he is one of the better ops to be used in daily risks. He is also one of the strongest to start off with, especially if you are utilizing a start such as VG + Guard. My point of bringing it up was to show that specific operators are better in some places and not in others due to roles prioritized in said areas. Which shall be followed up on in
"SSS is just fundamentally broken and you either need a strong BROKEN carry like Irene or absurd synergies with absurd RNG with less stronger operators"
Yes I did say that SSS IS fundamentally broken.
And note that this "fundamentally" broken mode asks you to use specific kind of operators, namely ones that can spam their skills, benefit off of fast attacks, are arts oriented, ignore res/lower res, have slowdown/cc, or all of the above. Basically acting like some events and other content where specific things are better than others but taken to an extreme.
This still doesn't make the mode good btw, however the mode does NOT require you to completely finish it to farm module materials.
"Also please dont tell me FUTS isnt balanced around broken operators lmfao"
If by FUTS you mean FWTS then atleast from what ive heard from individuals playing CN, its not a event for newcomers. Now does this mean meta ops are required or not is hard for me to say without playing it. From what I have heard it is a points based system of farming, so you do not ever need to go beyond day 1 even to farm the event out. Just that day 1 spam farming is slow as hell.
"game throws 50 big bobs at you with stat increase on day 3 and one of the bosses on the event has 700k hp"
To quote my CN Friend who had some choice words after reading your comment
"fwts does not "throw 50 big bobs with stat increase on day 3" and all the bosses have 500k+ hp in there because you're not meant to instakill them.
who wouldve known that better units are better and people use better units more
you can literally beat futs by just helidropping units + dorothy unironically
after building up your base and getting all the upgrade
all buildings(even outside of main base) have more hp/def, less dp costs
main base has more hp/def, also using food correctly is key to making your life even easier in futs
like theres -8 dp +10% atk and guess what thats one of the easiest foods to make.
literally instantly make any unit good instantly with just that alone"
"Dorothy is used in FUTS because of her utility not because she is broken"
Uh.... Yes her utility is great thats why she was highly recommended for that mode.
"You can go open ANY is3 max difficulty or Most day clear on FUTS and you will see the same operators texas alter Mlynar etc and etc as they more than REQUIRE broken operators to make it clearable
Litterally CCs themselves that existed since start of the game are proof that game is INDEED balancing stuff around broken operators and trying to limit them"
This argument is so flawed I do not know where to start.
Firstly.
IS3 Max Difficulty is not required.
Neither is CC Max.
IS3 you require at most Difficulty 7 for the relevant content and for CC you require Risk 18.
These things have been done,atleast CC side by literal teams that arent even E2ed in some cases.
You can argue those "non e2 teams used such broken ops" but I am pretty sure I need not explain how feeble that explanation is.
Alternatively you can go watch guides on how people beat them using 4*s, nicheknights.
CC from a LONG Time for the "Required rewards" category has been doable by several ways not needing multiples of "broken operators" if any at all.
Secondly
if you want to argue that IS3 max and CC max is proof that they are balancing stuff around broken operators then its a flawed argument simply because of the fact that these are optional high risk endeavors built for people who want to push themselves.
A game being "balanced around something" usually means that whatever said "something" is, is required to be done to experience the content the game offers. None of the events in general are balanced around using only the "broken"/"meta" operators. Especially not to the point where your entire team HAS to be them. There are several clears not only on YT but also billi billi showing low rarity clears, and for particularly hard challenges, 1 support 6* clears. This should highlight how this game isn't exactly balanced around the "broken"/"meta" operators.
Optional Hard content is simply a challenge for players. It should never be considered the norm or assumed to be how devs are balancing the game around, especially when none of the standard events such as Reed event, MH event or the like follow a similar "Power" scaling.
Powercreep doesnt mean that X operators existence makes Y operator UNUSABLE it makes it so that Y operator is still usable but MUCH LESS practical and stronger then X operator and content gets harder around X operator wich effectively limits Y operators performance "
I .... literally said this?
My point I highlighted was that people treat powercreep as the end all be all, whereas the "Powercreeped" operators are still usable in content. Is it harder to use them than their "powercreeped" versions? Possibly. Not impossible however.
8:00 You forgot to mention that thanks to Myrtle, all Vanguard OPs have small but still present HP regeneration
+Saga has her talent and Saileach skill can heal, and both of them are meta
@@Xiol02 to be fair, saga's healing is one time use per deployment and not that many ppl use S2 for sailboat (I like calling saileach sailboat)
@@sidekic1109 Fair, fair statement i think.
powercreep is also a very handy tool to shorten the gap between veteran and newer players.
veteran players had to slowly build their strength forced to use old units (which were the only ones available at the time) to clear contents
newer players have the option to only roll newer stronger unit, letting them catch up with the meta.
veteran players obviously have undeniable advantage becuse their roster will be more complete which allows specific clears that requires older units
powercreep makes a game friendlier towards new players, but it also could piss off veterans since it might make them feel like they wasted resources on older weaker units (even though they had no better choice back then)
For noobs player like me, its impossible to complete hard stage without OP Operator. I know there is a lot of low star guid out there, but i want to complete the stage with on my own.
@@agustdofficial8945 Same man, I'd rather use meta than have someone else beat the stage for me.
@@Rar830 I mean...using a guide to have a reference for what you might need to clear the stage isn't bad. but following to the letter is (I still do it at times because christ almighty some stages take so much time to clear through trial and error...)
It's true that almost new unit is
DPS DPS DPS WHOOOOOO
So far, it's not feeling too overwhelming.
But I do notice that I rarely take any medics besides Honey & NG.
And the meta team comp you showed as an exapmle, easily relatable.
Either way, they do it better than many other gacha games. I'll stick with their Design PCreep over FEH's nonsense.
it's really the opposite of year one for NG, back then ppl laugh at those who E2 her as their first or 2nd choice of medic, bcs she's literally not worth it generally to have Shining is way better. but then now everything need NG in high risk content
Arknights has changed.
It's no longer about archives, nicheknights, or events. It's an endless series of Contigency contracts, fought by Surtr and Ling.
Arknights--and it's consumption of my wallet--has become a well-oiled machine.
Arknights has changed.
Limited operators carry level 3 modules, use chapter 12 mats. Skins on their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities.
Orundum control, Originite control, LMD control, Battle record control…everything is monitored and kept under control.
Arknights…has changed.
The age of rushed schedule has become the age of no events, all in the name of global players from getting dorothy, and he who controls the dorothy, controls my wallet.
Arknights…has changed.
When the map rotation is under total control, CC becomes routine.
What do skins have to do with a character's abilities?
@@justanotherweirdo11 im pretty sure this is sarcasm considering chapter 12 isnt even out yet
@@justanotherweirdo11 It is a parody of solid snakes speech in metal gear solid 4
@@marekdroppan7389 I see
Dont forget that Oripathy means NOTHING anymore
We litterally never seen oripathy as a disease for more than 2 years
Its just a racism tool if anything
Ah yes. Gummy, the Flesh Devourer with her on-kill sustain will be aweaome.
you wild for this that was foul 💀💀💀
Everything was born from Guards and they will return to Guards.
I just want a 6 star Defender Protector that just has insanely high amount of Def, Hp, and block count (and maybe 5 Res) but absolutely have the lowest damage, making them only used to block enemies and take damage.
walnut from PvZ
Man had plans on DH-EX-4 fr fr~
@@tomatomaki isn't the PvZ stage DH-EX-4?
@@VonTachyon
I'm stupid.
Tutel! (Cuora?)
I mean, i think its criminal that they didn't make an hunting horn bard 6* unit for the MH event colab. As a hunting horn enthusiast i think its one of the most unique weapons in the game, i wouldn't say iconic but instantly recognisable, despite us dooters being like 0.0005% of the player base.
I’m with you all the way brother. 🤝
As a fellow based Hunting Horn user I do indeeds agree chief
I started playing exactly because of guardnights because I thought it was an interesting take on the tower-defense formula. Just drop people directly on top of the enemies and watch them kill instead of building turrets around a straight path. Because of that, I kind of like the new design philosophy of independent operators.
You'll love it when Texas Alter and Yato Alter comes out then. Texas melts bosses and Yato clears out the trash.
@@zchen27 Yea, they're amazing. The only problem is that they make phantom look like a joke.
1:03 it feels like every video you insult my queen frostleaf why.
not my fault sorry oomfie the higher powers want me to
Playing IS2 extensively made realise that the game is actually still very balanced. Medics are needed to clear a lot of stages and yes mudrock stomps everyone but her 34 DP cost makes her such a bad choice for fast stages and I see myself leaning towards much cheaper alternatives.
IS2 Is honestly a really well balanced roguelike on its own. Every class is good, some whose absence can make certain stages way harder, and funnily enough I find medics and defenders saving the most runs. Like that lost puppet boss? That stage sucks if you can't either stall the boss indefinitely or out heal the mist and arts damage onslaught, but part of it being balanced is that the stage is still clearable without them. Defenders/Medics also make those lancer stages easier, since not many easily obtained operators want to tank 2-4 lancers in a row, or can even survive that without heals.
Not to mention IS2 monthly contracts which is literally atm machine because you can literally use target operators at their full power for free (hehehe E2 max level M3 unlocked modules) and easily get to target destination (home remnant or something) without any extra healers or defenders
@@user-pv5ek2kb7r I had to upgrade ops I don't usually use for general content just for IS
Defenders were Guard-ified to the point that Guardknights was made obsolete as a niche.
Edit: Wait, I can count up to 1 since that is Skadi's rank in popularity rankings.
The guard-ification of AK is imo, mainly targeted to new players. Afterall, self-sustaining units that deals big numbers is very easy to understand and deploy, instead of having to y'know... understand the game, strats, niches, synergies, calculations, etc. Just carry a flagpipe + mountain and boom, that's the first half of the round cleared, it literally cannot be more braindead than that. And for veterans, the new powerful units is filling more niche roles they need for high risk CC clears that newbies won't even touch. So yeah, both sides kinda win overall... as long as they pay up for the new units because stronger units means the game have to scale to them or it'll get too easy.
That ALSO aplies to all veteran players and Meta tough?
4:00
I've seen many sponsor segments in my life but this is truly the best ever
I wanted to say i dont like the "guardification of Arknights" but then i remembered my favourite unit is Gladiia, who is one of the most offensive case of turning "Specialist" into Guard, lol
I treat AK like a card collecting game.. i collect characters i love, build them, and beat stages with them...
so it's not affecting me that much, i've played for 2 years and 6 months rest in between, i still love and catch up again no problem
i love Arknights ❤️
This is actually a cool sponsor. I will be using this. Also, I love your vids' very stylized and funny
How to make defender class shines again:
1. Turns them into Guard
2.
3.
4.
5. Make an enemy which can't be damaged by every operator except the one block them and it needs to be an operator with 3 block
First of all, great video, loved the editing.
So, this is all unconfirmed as far as I'm concerned, but I'm fairly sure Reed's name about being a flame shadow is the idea that, because she is a firestarter and/or causes explosions, you'll see her exactly as that, the shadow on the flame (because she's blocking the light, all you see is her black silhouette)
Isn't "design powercreep" just a new word for "metagame"? The video itself is clear that the old units didn't get worse, nor did they get replaced by more powerful versions of themselves. The meta simply evolved from favoring highly specialized units to more flexible ones.
This is the real change, and it affects more than just medics and defenders. Across the board the metagame for all classes is moving from specialization to flexibility. Gone are the days when you needed a specialized physical or arts damage dealer depending on the enemy's def of res. New DPS operators tend to offer either a blend of both arts and physical damage OR their damage numbers are high enough to blow through even the toughest enemy defenses.
I think this move towards flexibility was at least partially meant to facilitate the advent of RNG game modes like SSS and IS. When players can't guarantee having specific units on their team, it becomes that much more important for operators to be a jack-of-all-trades that can fulfill a variety of functions.
Perhaps the only specialization that is rewarded in the current meta is resistance to arts damage. This keeps Nightingale in the meta, but it's a bit of a hilarious twist as well because resistance to arts damage was one of the only specializations that was NOT relevant during the early days of Arknights.
Yeah but you have to admit that presenting new terms and definitions in every video is much cooler
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH That's fair
So they got... powercrept??
@@kyarumomochi5146 Powercreep has a specific meaning, and while it is related to the metagame it is not the same. Powercreep happens when a unit that previously represented the apex of its niche is rendered obsolete by the introduction of a new unit that occupies the same niche but provides more benefits.
As an example, we can take a niche that is currently not relevant in the meta at all - ability to attack allied operators. Maybe Aak is currently the best character for attacking allies, but the niche of attacking allies is not relevant in the meta. However, if Arknights were to come out with a new operator that attacks allies more times or deals more damage then that would represent powercreep within the niche of attacking allies regardless of whether attacking allies was ever relevant within the Arknights metagame.
By the same token, we can imagine that perhaps Arknights might enter an era where maps have lots of high ground and barely any low tiles at all. If that happened then the meta would be dominated by ranged units and the relevance of melee units would fall... but none of them would be power-creeped because power-creep isn't meta! They are completely different things!
Great video!
Though honestly? Had it not been for the classes splitting off into subclasses, I'd even argue that Direct Powercreep already existed from the very beginning of the game. Guard Skadi got immediately powercrept by Hellagur in every single way. At the time, he had better survivability (even though Skadi can be directly healed), better 1v1 dps, better 1v3 dps, better boss killing, was a better helidrop option even without the faster redeployment, etc. It wasn't until HG decided to make Abyssal Hunters synergy crazy strong that Guard Skadi was able to pull out of her rut of living in Hellagur's shadow. What I'm trying to say is, anyone who thinks Direct Power creep doesn't exist didn't really think about the power differences between Skadi and Hellagur early on in the game.
Really liking your latest videos. Keep up the great work, fellow Doctor!
thanks oomfie smooch
AH synergy literally making Skadi unkillabke and strong enough to kill god
Skadi is literally a shonen protagonist. The only thing that makes her strong is the power of friendship
@@themoistlad For how they treated Skadi for the past few years? I say she absolutely deserves the broken AH modules.
@@astupidlylongnamethatstoolong and they will get more than that trust me
Holy hell.this is a gummy certified video from me
I do gotta say that with the Guardification of AK some units literally never got a chance to show their stuff, like the Abjurer girls. The only class that hasn’t gotten Guardified yet is Supporters, to an extent.
For a lot branches this current period of the game, it’s hard for them to sell themselves to players as they are considered more of a hindrance for players rather than the other way around.
I feel that if a player wants to get anywhere serious in this game I feel like Guardification really limits player freedom on those occasions, especially when it comes to general operator discussion.
Im fine with this powercreep as of right now because HG is still releasing some ops that are not apart of it and still play within the rules of their branches, such as Proviso and Harmonie. Funnily enough most of these characters not following the trend are 5 stars.
I think you forgot that Ling exist.
@@_Kettenkrat That’s why I said to an extent lol. There’s also Stainless.
Random fun fact : in the MH Collab if you put the Palicos in your assistant UI you can understand what they're saying..
I shit you not the meow's are translated to sentences.
In MH you also understand what the Palico is saying in the same way. It is assumed the MH people thought Doctor and RI the Palico language
Who IS Palico? The sad reality being a global player
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH you can add that to your next facts video
@@glitch5048 cat assistants in monster hunter universe
not really an arknights thing
I've been a causal player who has taken many breaks over the long 3 years I've been playing arknights and I personally like this change. while I do see faults in it like how everything is a "race" of best dps/self sustain niche. I must say that I much prefer this over what could've happened. The amount of unique versatility you can have now and being able for it to work rather than having very specific operators doing certain things. (like how you needed a schwartz basically to kill high defense bosses) to now having all different kinds of characters who can do the thing we all need to di(kill enemies) in their own fun way. Me looking at the alternative all I see is using way too much brain power for the average person to clear a normal stage. Which would in turn have less players and make the company less money. So instead of making everything a huge headache, it is limited to high risk and the new characters all being able to contribute to being able to get the job done with dmg while still having it be a challenge and rewarding. Which if you think about it is a very hard thing to balance and I think they are doing it pretty well.
Feels a bit weird to see my own tweet in a youtube video
omg it's tums can I get an autograph
Oh c'mon, Nearl, The Radiant Knight sounds awesome.
The only good one
lmao shining feel of yet she is still my most deployed unit. also design powercreep is a good way to summarize it
10:45 metagame keep changing but sussurro still awesome, thanks supah very awesome
Honestly I'm in neutral side since I don't think this design powercreep is that bad. Heck even in nicheknight context, design powercreep still exist. Like the case when I use kjera/minimalist more often than absinthe in my welfare niche.
But, if my operators are getting stronger, then my job as a doctor is to use them in their best power. That's why I always go for optimization when it comes to clear stage (and for content too), and aims to get higher possible risk in CC with my own niche.
I like that sussurro sticker btw but I'm not in US 😔
Simply move to the US for a week, order it, and move back
You forgot Nightmare !
She was the OG at launch healer / dmg
This video was absolutely hilarious, thanks for making my day.
Duelist Guards vs the new Fast Redeploys sure is something
In resume, and to quote a certain bug: Change is good.
It may be for everyone, but it is needed.
Probably cope but maybe it'll go the other way sometime in the future. Maybe they'll make bosses and stuff so extremely unkillable you'll have no choice but to stall them while your epic 6* gamer units try to chunk health off of them. But then again, if stuff like this happens you start creating unfair gaps between f2p and whale players, which ak has thankfully been largely good at NOT doing so far. I didn't experience old AK but it does sound like a fun time, maybe I'll throw my surtr in the cupboard and try to use some older units and see how that goes
That already happened
Fire under the sand and IS3 is pretty much only clearable with 100% meta teams
HG is indeed heading that way
@@kyarumomochi5146 Bro Dr. Silvergun cleared IS3 with just 4*
@@apstromxtalt7175 4* are meta
@@apstromxtalt7175 Dont bother with Kyaru, man's been spouting the same shit across the comment section lol.
@@kosmosXcannon how they are meta bro
"A DPS Defender who I want to step on me." - You have perfect taste, and should never be shamed for this. I love Lavinia as much as you love Gummy
You can hear him dying from laughter when saying about his code.
This man is a legend :D
And Doctor proceeds to proclaim the outmost importance of declaration of Terra's history from the top of his lung:
"I am...
The Arknights
Oh yeah also YES! I am
𝓐𝓽𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓬"
Dokutah 7* True Nuker Guard Operator
Doktah about to make W look bad
Already 300+ pulls saved for shining the swishy swoosh💪 can't wait to imperegante her
I mean play with her***
Gummy is my primary heal defender in IS and generally the first operator I recruit with defender vouchers. Cheap hope cost and gets the job done of clogging up a lane without needing a medic. Most of the other good options for clogging up a lane without a medic are 6-star options which cost tons of hope.
I usually skip ad/sponsor segments whenever TH-camrs do it but, you're an exception. You're insanely entertaining and I'm happy that I found ur gold content. Keep up the good work👍
To be honest, I do like the "modern" Arknights with its varied subclasses. It makes the game more interesting imo. I remember back in the day I had 1 squad of 12 operators that I brought to everything and they'd usually get the job done. But now I actually have to use more units, which keeps the game more interesting. Though, it is a bit sad that some of those original units are outclassed (for example, I don't really see myself ever using Red again once Texas Alter comes out).
On the other side, a powercreep I don't like as much is the boss powercreep. I understand that as our operators become stronger, the bosses have to keep up to not get steamrolled. But even so, I remember the days when FrostNova was the only boss with 2 HP bars. And now every boss has it. If I remember correctly, he last new event boss on the Global server that didn't have some form of 2nd life bar was the big boss from Under Tides. Even worse are the proliferation of bosses with multiple annoying mechanics (Break the Ice, Guide Ahead, Stultivera Navis, etc.).
For me, Texas if just a fun new addition to the team, not a replacement for Red or Kafka or Mont3r.
the problem with this is that AK already establish that "guard-fication" and players ARE expecting new operator to be of that style to some degree. the formula has been set and will keep evolving. we're at a point where stalling is not beneficial and faster clears more rewarding. its now more focu and geared toward more Damage
This is a tower-Offense game
usually tower-defense game is about endurance and survival, as long as you have 1HP, you still win. but in AK, you are punished heavily if you leak enemy into the blue box; losing 3-star clears and eats up your Sanity. this becomes a habit even into the lategame. fortunately some game modes, its ok for HP leak. but this gamemode usually doesnt cost any Sanity
also doesnt help that when new operator doesnt perform as the players expectations, trying to change the current formula or something, the character doesnt sell well. from business standpoint, discouraging them to make similar mistake, go back to where it works and start building from that safe foundations.
medic no longer useful if the only thing they know is heal. also like what you mentioned, Operators are more self-sustaining and dont need extra healer, instead put more damage dealers in your squad. defender is useless if they only know to defend and cant kill enemies or heal/ debuff. fast attack are worthless when enemies nowadays have 1000+ DEF, so its more burst + big dmg centric than before.
even Myrtle falls abit since all she knows is DP gen, while Elysium and Saileach offers more support and Bagpipe/ cantabile can deals dmg at the same time gives DP
each new operators are expected to do more than what their role, class is supposed to do. if they only know one thing, they are look over by players, especially for support type of operators
but unlike the upcoming Mlynar, he only knows to do deal dmg, its what their class are supposed to do and players wants him because he does big dmg. so it is fine if Operators only know to one one thing, as long as it a dmg oriented kit.
the other upcoming units like Dorothy and Stainless offers more variety and IMO fun gameplay, but they are stuck between Mlynar and Texas Alter who does BEEG Dmg
here's a funny that hints at this continuing
So you know Liskarm and Blitz right? Defenders with a sidearm that gives them 2 range in front and ranged attacks? And how so far they just have been categorized as normal defenders?
Well I heard things that apparently since some time these two on CN are their own archetype now. Don't remember the name of it but still, the implication here is clear: More Gun
yeah, Blitz and Liskarm are part of the Sentinel branch on CN, and according to JP patch notes, the two of them will be changing branches next week on global
what is for medic anymore?
me dying in challenge stage of bird Mephisto
This is something I've been talking about with my friends a lot and I can't help but see it as a good thing for the most part. A lot of old, meta operators are kind of boring in their execution, or break the game in ways that can't really be designed around.
A lot of the old super meta operators (regardless of if they've fallen off) like Thorns, Blaze, Mountain, Exusiai, and Schwarz are really one note to use. Yeah, Pozy is much more powerful than Schwarz in most situations, but she's also a lot more *interesting.* But with interest comes complexity and with complexity comes a barrier to entry - you need to do a lot more to a lot more with Pozy to get the same level of value as you would out of just throwing Schwarz down and popping S3. Because of this, I think that the new operators have to be more powerful to be attractive - why spend brain cells to learn all the weird ways you can use Gavial the Invincible or Spalter when operators like Blaze and original flavor Specter could do their "thing" better. And I think we can see that with these two operators - Gavial is pretty much objectively better than Blaze in 99% of situations, and that's great, because Blaze is really boring to use! But, because Spalter is a lot weaker (without modules) there's almost no reason to use her as a unkillable blocker unless you have endgame levels of resources to shovel into an Abyssal Hunters team.
And for the operators that are still effective, like SilverAsh, most of them break the game in other ways. There can almost never be a balanced redeploy time or invisible enemy modifier in maps because of Eagle Eyes and Leader (SA's talents) swinging those modifiers so much. If you don't have SA, dealing with these modifiers is much more difficult. And if you do, they become much easier. The most recent CC event on global (I don't play CN) was my first time going past risk 30. SA was in my squad to help with the redeploy timer, and I only deployed him once. To tank a cannon shot. For players that don't have SA levelled these two modifiers become much, much worse, and there's not really a way to design around that. Of course there are other things that can reduce redeploy times and reveal invisible units, but none of them do it quite as well or as easily as SA.
The recent CN 6* guard, Qiubai, seems to fall right into this pattern. She powercreeps on Thorns in design and power level, but I can't help but see this as a good thing. Thorns was my first level E2 90 operator, and Destreza was my first M3 skill. Despite that, I've come to despise Thorns. He feels like turning on easy more for 90% of maps and there's no way to use him in any clever way. You put him down, activate his S3, and unless you're fighting really durable enemies or you absolutely have to interact with mechanics, he kills every single thing on the map with no input.
And honestly, it's not like old operators are getting worse. Schwarz still kills pretty much everything that enters her attack range - she was my damage carry for getting ending 2 in IS2. Blaze still shreds any trash mobs that stand in her path. Thorns is still... Thorns. And for operators that haven't been properly powercrept by their replacements (SA with Mlynar, Mudrock with Penance, Specter with Spalter) they still do things that are very viable, so there's no reason to feel "left out" or like you're being left behind if you don't have the most powerful shiny toys. Perhaps the only exceptions to this are CC and IS, and maybe SSS, which are leagues in difficulty above anything else and geared towards endgame players with lots of operators. Even then the plethora of players much better than me prove time and time again that there's no need to have the most powerful operators or the highest level operators to clear these.
Ultimately I can't help but feel like I have much more fun using more complicated operators. They open up many more strategies on the our end and allow for stages to be designed with mechanics that are more complex than Big Bob. That's not to say I agree with everything HG has released, but I see operators like Ling and Kalt to be more of exceptions than anything else. Especially since there's no official competitive angle to Arknights to necessitate always having the "best stuff."
Sorry but many of the operators you listed are already powercrept
SA no longer breaks the game in half
He is not even close to doing so
That title is Mlynars
@@kyarumomochi5146 That's why I draw attention to SA's talents as opposed to his damage. There is no operator in the game that provides as much utility in specific situations as SA. In fact, there are only five operators who can reveal invisible enemies -
- SA, via Eagle Eyes talent
- Tsukinogi, via her S1
- Elysium, via his S2
- Scene's summons
- Horn's S1 (which can't target invisible units by default so it's almost pointless)
Out of all of these, SA is the only one who has completely unconditional invisibility reveal, and covers by far the largest AoE. That's not to say the other operators are bad, Elysium especially is quite effective here, but Monitor still only has a 15 second duration and can only reveal four enemies at a time. Again - it's not bad at all, it's really strong! Especially since it reduces def as well. But it's still extremely accurate to say that SA's Eagle Eyes talent provides utility that very few other operators can even touch, and certainly gives him a place that Mlynar literally cannot occupy. This is why I think that Eagle Eyes is a design problem, because so many challenges (especially in CC) rely on "X unit is now invisible" which SA essentially removes as a challenge. Because of this utility, Mlynar *has* to powercreep SA in some ways.
Even disregarding that, saying that "SA no longer breaks the game" is just plain false. It's not as if Mlynar's release made SA do less damage somehow - he's just as effective as he always was, and nothing is going to change that.
My overall point is that powercreep is necessary to make new operators viable, and I see them as sort of a "fixed" version of old ones. I don't think that any operator would ever be released with a talent like Leader (SA's other talent, which reduces redeploy time by 10% before potentials are added) or Eagle Eyes because they affect the game in such a fundamental way. And if I had to pick between most of the new operators and most of the old ones, I would personally pick the new ones. There's nothing really exciting to me about entirely invalidating a risk tag because I happen to own SA so invisibly straight up doesn't matter, just like there's nothing exciting about placing Thorns and waiting for Destreza to charge.
All that said, I don't think simple operators are bad, and I ultimately like the contrast that's being created between operators like SA and Mlynar, because they each have a unique tactical role. SA isn't holistically the best operator to take in many cases because there is now a character that does more AoE physical damage than him, but at the same time, Mlynar can't provide the utility that SA does through the Eagle Eye and Leader talents. That's what I want to see - more choices in team composition.
@@twigtwig3110 and out of those other 4, one is tsukinogi 💀💀
@@twigtwig3110 1) Invis enemies are like 0.3% of all enemies in arknights
2) You litterally ONLY need to worry about invis enemies in CC wich if you are not aiming for 25+ risk hardly matters
3) Dps matters a ton more than anything SA provides
@@twigtwig3110 Also SA doesnt break game anymore as all enemy def is higher than normal
He isnt as good as he used to be because enemies are actually tough and unbeatable in simple helidrops now
Either cope with what everyone agrees or continue whining about how Mlynar doesnt mathematically beat SA
When I started playing (2 years ago) only medics and defenders fell out of the gacha (hello pot 6 shining) and my gameplay was really similar to tower defense. But then I got surtr, thorns and mountain and the game turned into a spawn kill everything. And the saddest thing is that with each new event, the developers make enemies more tenacious, more armor, more resistance, because of which you no longer need to come up with tactics, just do more damage.
Fantastic video. But if it is about being a discussion, i would love having a next part looking into enemy designs as well. Since AK is a tower defense game, i think the "gameplay" makes for very straightforward changes in reguard to the evolution of the game. If we want to make the enemies feel engaging we need to add stuff on them. Oh they're invisible. Oh they shoot a fireball from across the map and ramps up. Oh they hit like trucks but only if your back is in front of shadows, etc. Every event, a new enemy is born alongside a few operators. Every time something new is added, it ADDS to the already existing complexity of the game. They can't just makke damage sponges or nuclear lauchers. they need to tweak adding strange variables. Which makes for an even wider design-powercreep.
English is not my first language and I may have gotten some ideas intertwined and badly explained my thoughts. But I think this type of design-powercreep (in regards to enemies) encourages possessing multiple Operators to respond to many different types of scenarios. Some operators are just plain OP (Surtr) and basicaly fit any situation, but appart from these occasions I think it pushes players to experiment. Wherein new operators become interesting: new stuff to play around with. Especially when they conveniently fit exquisitely well in the new event they just released with.
They other aspect i somewhat touched and did not expand upon is the fact that AK is a tower defense game. There's three core elements you can apply in a TD run in order to succeed. Deal more damage, Block more enemies and have utility to control the enemies (CC, buffs and debuffs). The most effective matter to clear a TD lvl will always be more DPS. Safer, faster and especially flashier. Which is why in my opinion AK is veering more and more towards a DPS meta. They know this is what players want. Efficiency. So now their baseline seems to be OK: EVERYONE IS A DPS NOW. EVERYONE IS VIABLE FOR EFFICENCY. BUT THIS ONE IS TANKY. THIS ONE SLEEPS. THIS ONE ALSO HEALS.
So basicaly out of the 3 base elements they can put on a unit, be it DPS, Tankiness and Support, they now makke it everyone can DPS and now they can create operators with strange and fun gimmicks without fear.
I agree, I feel like by comparison to other gacha's Arknights has much more potential for creativity, which isnt being used. Stuff like the water in Dossoles was a smart idea, having only ranged tiles be unaffected while penalizing lane holders. I remember their being a stage where a fireball floats around and somebody cleared it using only 4 snipers. Or the poison fog, turrets etc. There are occasional enemies who do interesting stuff like stun or bind, the suicide bombers, invisible enemies, freeze, emperors blade farts.
If every stage had a bunch of stuff like that it would be pretty interesting.
i would say that the Old Arknights is still there, just that its mostly confined to 3* to 5* operators.
I wanna know the discussion that's going on when you guys decide what to use as the promo code.
To be fair there has been some regular powercreep in Arknights. Ennemies did get beefier after chapter 7 and dealing over 2, even 3k dmg on hit went from exceedingly rare to pretty standard for DPS focused units.
That being said, I guess the biggest issue with modern Arknight content isn't necessarily about our own operators getting better kits, but rather our opponents not evolving at the same pace. Now yes each new batch of content brings in new mechanics and unique enemies, but apart from specific stages, most of the time it doesn't really matter because the brunt of the assaults are some variation of basic melee and ranged trash mobs accompanied by a few quirky elites.
Enemies simply can't provide enough incentive to rely on options other than offense, and I agree that it's a difficult question for HG to answer. How do you make enemies that reward defensive playstyles without endlessly repeating Mudrock's colossi or some other variation of absurd stat based foe?
I started last month and am still very much lacking a lot of options. I'd be thankful for Hoshi at the moment. And my first Top Op from Recruitment today was Siege. Not bad by any means, but not necessarily an upgrade when I have Texas and Myrtle already. At least I can skimp out on E2 with her. But it's still very interesting to see how the game has evolved and where it might be heading next.
SIege is way more tankier than Texas. The way to play with Siege is to drop her on the ennemy spawn since she can take the hit. And the more ennemy that die close to her the more she can loop her S2 doing good damage. So any mission with lots of spawn like the slug she just keep looping her s2 giving good dp. She does fall a bit in the later stage but you can do lots with her.
Great vid SUPAH I was too focused on watching and eating my pringles that I forgot about the 2 sponges and the latex glove I bought
Funny enough, Siege's new module now gives her a new spot in the meta as a vanguard lane-holder. DragonGJY made a really detailed breakdown of it, and its performance in practice is quite impressive.
As long as I can complete any Level or Event with a squad that has one or two 6* Star Operators. I will continue going for the ones I like in design.
I started the game during Sulfura Navis (IT WASN'T EASY), after much spamming I'm level 78 now and while I never played the old meta, I strongly feel the newer gameplay style of operators are way more interesting and fun to use.
My favourite character is Nian. Now, Nian, is, to put it bluntly, the most obscenely fucking boring operator I've ever used, she's so insanely unflashy and dull that it withers my dick and balls to see someone place her on the battlefield even when she's my literal favourite character, after borrowing her as a support unit lots. I just don't care too much for Pozemka as a character, but she's really satisfying and fun to play and use neurons to decide on the best place to maximise her DPS with her talent and typewriter.
Also it's interesting to talk to older players that haven't quite shifted the meta in their head. I really believe that Blaze is one of the most mediocre 6*s in the game, and is like totally average and meh, but many players will still insist on her being an 'S tier character', even the gamepress tier list had her in S+ until a few months ago, in the same tier as Surtr, which is just, an absolute joke to be honest.
Gavalter is basically just better Blaze, but i find her vastly more fun to play both with S2 and S3, compared to just Blaze s2 which was basically just turning battles into an idle gacha to an extent. I also think Myolner is much more interesting than SilverAsh because of his charge attack mechanic and 0 block. Same with Spelter (+XModule) and Specter S2.
Penance has crazy shields, but no healing and can only keep up those huge shields by being fed fodder mobs continously. Compared to Mudrock who can also auto battle with S2 plus 20% health from shields. Im not saying most of these characters are better, I just think their more interesting and less 1 note.
I remember playing through this game with Myrrh as my main medic and Siege and Provence as my only dp sources. Times really have changed, and I can't say I love or hate the direction Arknights is going, both sides have their charms.
"You are losing money not sticking a naked Eyja somewhere"
Shit man, I'm sold.
Hoshie getting a module that allows for block 4 still gives me life
12:58 *Croissant* indeed.
Evolve into Guard
Such is the circle of life, it all leads back to Guard (or specialist)
I really can't say I like the shift in operator design over time since it affects difficulty design as well. Arknights is power creeping too quickly, with new powerful operators either being too versatile (self-sustain, damage, tanking) or doing ludicrous amounts of DPS. It's going to affect how the game will challenge players in the future since the game needs to contend against powerful operators, which in turn makes them mandatory for clearing challenging stages. Furthermore, with all the emphasis on giving meta ops strong DPS, it funnels players to a "kill them faster" strategy, which will make the game grow stale faster.
What I terribly want to see is a proper balance patch (which I know Arknights won't ever do). Not just on operators, but on enemies and mechanics as well. Since Arknights is against nerfs, I would love to see the less meta operators buffed (the module system sucked) with edited skills, the generic skill 1s replaced, and maybe even better stats. And I want to see enemies also buffed, to keep up to the sharp power increase of the operators. While the complex mechanic-filled enemies (Emperor's Blade, Andoain, etc) can mostly be left alone, the more straight-forward bosses like Patriot is in dire need of a proper buff to stay relevant in the constant operator power creep. And through these changes, normal Medics doing their job of healing will phase back into relevancy as enmity self-sustain becomes a proper niche rather than meta.
Obviously, this will have massive implications throughout the game, especially auto-battle and needing to reclear old stages and many other aspects that I have yet to think of. But I believe yearly (or every two years) balance patches is necessary to maintain the longevity of the game quality. Of course, this is all just an ideal pipe dream and this comment will be lost, never to be seen by anyone at Hypergryph, so fck me I guess.
Kinda impossible with the rumor of the Chinese anti fraud/gambling(?) law prohibiting "false advertisement" of products, in which straight nerfs and buffs kinda fall on that category somehow since it makes the products--in our cases, operators--is "different" than what they're marketed as.
Take my word with a grain of salt tho, I just heard this as a rumor from long time ago. But seeing Arknights ultimate stubbornness in rebalancing things since releasing Surtr (and only to double down by releasing the broken Texalter), this might as well be the truth
Honestly this is fine since game doesn't force you to pull for characters to complete stages, but some ops like Bagpipe, Myrtle, Exu, SilverAsh, Specter and etc can't be replaceable due their talents and mechanics
Even new Gavial alter can't replace Specter and her tactics, new ops just add new tactics for your game experience, Penance can't replace Mudrock because they both got different shield mechanics, Irene replaced some ops, but funny Ch'en s2 and talent can't be replaced, only new supporter Stainless but he will be useful in different tactics
Even new ops is pretty op, it's doesn't force you to pull for them to use (fortunately) it's just giving people new tactics and make their experience easier
Ugh. Grindblue Fantasy.... The powercreep in that game is so real. Thank you for reminding me again why I dropped it in favor of Arknights.
Something about Arknights I really love that most games in this genre are completely bereft of is just how many characters you can use at once. 12 Operators in a single stage plus 1 borrowed Op?? Everything else limits you to something like four characters at once. The difference is just crazy, and it has a huge impact on the number of ways you can choose to play the game.
Wait..
doesn't flame shadow mean Hokage
huge
I completely gave up on hypergryph balancing. Every new six star is godawful design wise, so I instead decided to make my own balance by only playing with operators that have well designed kits with meaningful downsides, like Andreana, Absinthe, Franka or Liskarm. I do not care about banners anymore. It feels so much better when you do not depend on a third party to dictate your fun.
Also, the "design powercreep" thing is not entirely correct. Yes, new operators have more features and are oriented towards damage, but that is not the problem. The problem are the numbers. Texas alter's kit would not be broken if she didn't have such high damage multipliers. Same for Yato, Mlynar, Penance, Surtr, Ch'en etc. The design is not the problem, it's the inflated numbers, and, with each release, those numbers are more and more inflated. This is DIRECT statistical powercreep.
Yato isn't inherently broken, sure she's a fast redeploy nuke with S3, but she's essentially doing what Ch'en S2 did before, she's more useful in speedfarm clears than she is in actual content
Mlynar is broken yeah lol, but you still have to wait 20 extra seconds to get the most out of his first activation, and the fact that you can't pause his skill, makes it so that he rewards timing above all else, it's not as easy to use him as the videos may make it seem on youtube
Penance absolutely isn't, you need to get hit 30 times to be able to use her bread and butter skill, which might not seem like a big deal, but it is when Penance's survival depends on a massive pool of HP that stacks on top of itself (without any defensive stats) + she's unhealable, although having Blemi on the field will mitigate that entirely since she's a well designed operator, but soloing 7-18 doesn't immediately make you broken since you rely on mines to kill Patriot on his first phase anyways
The game is very much designed around Surtr and Chalter recently so I would say they've toned their power down at this point, Surtr isn't able to output as much damage as she used to due to enemies having higher RES than usual (see every event past Chapter 9) and Ch'alter being heldback due to map mechanics, too short of a range or better suited alternatives that take up the already limited ranged tiles on the map (see CC9, CC10)
Hoshi and Shining will always be my preferred Defender and Medic, meta be damned. It's nice that there's still so much flexibility in being able to clear most content so I can use my favs just because in most cases.
I like the alter names so far they have all made sense.
>Holungday
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Highly Competitive, Confidence, Studious id say shes very much those things
When you play game to escape from society, but the game reminds you of society
Honestly its great that they decide to make some experiments, but it really hurts when the new OP characters are always 6* it would be nice if the new 5 or 4* was a meta unit more often, the lasts that became "meta" were Cantabile (thats only because its a new niche), Blacknight and La Pluma(new niche).
And again, having new niches is nice, but it would be great if they use an already existing subclass and make something new(in the subclass) instead of just making them deal more damage then the one before, for example, Sideroca can heal herself while Astesia can increase her block, or Beanstalk being used as a pseudo defender and Blacknight dealing arts damage.
It also comes down to their enemy design and stage gimmick/feature when making these new characters. They need to design a new mode that does not center around dps too much
But always ended up with RNG, alot of recent enemies and bosses have too much RNG
@@Hindshell5438 yea but there's a reason why you should use cc on the predators and the cannon against Manfred
Now we are entering the helidrop, fast redeploy meta
great video supah, this one is going up on the fridge
Great video man! Love the way you explained alot of the stuff, subbed instantly
im still emo about the 2 ridiculous executors that sent phantom to the grave. ngl it slightly turned me off from arknights, but i still love the game, so i'm trying to continue to love it by ignoring them.
Yes I do agree with you, while more operators are designed with new or different gimmicks and niches than before where the design was just who does the most damage, but now it looped back around because they are so Potent that any overlap will draw comparison
12:11 me single handedly raising the average
fr
I think this would be fine if they started to make the guards do less dps and more tanking. Might as well uno reverse the classes at this point.
The defender-ification of arknights
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Exactly, also, what would you like Gummy alter to be?
it's shame that niche player feel that way but, it's good thing for normal players, the game will die if doesn't evolving, alot more cool and interesting clear being done in results and many new strategies opens up to discover.
It's a good age for Lupoknights so can't really complain.
We must secure the existence of our lupos and a future for wolf operators
Thankfully, Siege module came up, so her situation improved A LOT
At least keep the guardification until my reaper Siege with +2000% atk dmg, -5 res tradeoff (can be healed by other units module), perma uptime skill comes out. after that i don't mind diversifying it down a little.
TBH i don't mind it, as long as they keep stages interesting but doable with lower rarity operators, mechanics unique and great characters rolling. im also pretty curious where the story goes and when the base will finally go out of beta.
Lumen was such a beacon of light for new and interesting medics after so long, then they instantly shit on that with the bore that is incantation medics; also this "nicheknights" epidemic is getting out of hand.
Even with all these new over powered operators and their busted skills, nothing can ever beat- Attack Up Y.
- Sun Tzu
Well in my case i really don't mind with how the operators are "slightly" leaning more towards more DPS archetype. Some events also had their own gimmicks to overcome each new operators in their events so that they wouldn't be too broken.
I mean yeah there's Ch'alter dealing a wide spread watergun with a ridiculous amount of damage but what if there was a stage where you tried to deploy Ch'alter and the stages had some enemies from certain events that might be able to counter her?
For example the stun snipers from HoTSF event where they will be able to deal a stun towards your Ch'alter before she even manages to get her S3 ready, what's even more of a problem is that stages not only consists of stun snipers to counter Ch'alter but also whipped up several enemies from Dossoles such as the corrosion casters.
If those two get paired up it'll be a problem for sure but then again not all of us will solely rely on Ch'alter to solve every stages since we also had our very own strategies on how to cover and overcome each stages.
There are 3 main ground unit class in arknights, guard, guard and guard with some dp gen.
Persona music at minute 3 made me download P5R again. Oh my the nostalgia hit hard with that one.
Also, I wonder if the advertised shop really has the permission of the artists to sell their stuff. I've seen the Surtr one before on Pixiv so that's kinda murky... Know anything about that?
Especially since the "About Us" page just says "Test test".
I asked and made sure of it, yeah. I know all the Berseker00R ones were made for the shop specifically for example
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Awesome, great that you payed heed to that. Thank you for the response! I'd definitely throw some money at them if they shipped to the EU. Maybe some day ～
Guard Gummy would just be regular Gummy but with a knife
This is why I decided to pull Dorothy, her skill feels like tactical n strategic stuff.
Too bad she's not coming to EN
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH oh...crap
@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Gray alter got announced recently so the meme is dead
@@rachel6301 the meme dies only when hypergryph hand over the adorable bomb rodent!
8:03 also myrtle with her healing talent that heals herself and bagpipe (or other vanguard)
Honestly i agree with many parts of this video but i have an argument to make
*Arknights is actually quite right with theor powercreep*
Yes i understand powercreep is seen as a horrible thing but it actually refreshes the gameplay loop of the game and is a norm for many gacha games
I do agree that HG entered an absolute powercreep spree with Texas alter Mlynar Pozyomka and etc but the things they powercrept were more than THREE years old at that point
I feel like some of the powercreep is justfied in sense that they cant keep a niche relevant forever
But penance absolutely breaks how defenders are meant to be played and I LOVE IT
Also about guardification of the game
Honestly its just kinda hurting the game a ton
Everything is DPS orianted
And things that arent DPS orianted (Lin) are borderline terrible compared to other newer operators
I'm not sure how Horn could be seen as 'guardification of defenders' when she's really a bloody aoe sniper you can put on a ground tile.
I also disagree with your idea of 'design powercreep' resulting in older units becoming outdated because 'the game isn't designed around them anymore), when (imo) it should really be seen as a 'design *expansion* ' where (most, see below) new operators simply enable different strategies without making those old strategies with those old operators unviable.
Case in point, it's been almost 4 years since the last aoe medic has been introduced, but that's not really a problem if aoe medics as an archetype already feels full and varied enough as it is. So if a new medic isn't an aoe medic I'm not going to think that I should never bother with them anymore and only use this shiny new medic instead. (Kal'tsit should 100% have gotten her own archetype though lmao)
If anything, I feel there's been a bigger trend of 'feature-creep' that goes more into direct powercreep than design powercreep, where those new best operators are the best because they can do *more* than their older counterparts to leave them in the dust until modules can (hopefully) change things up.
Like why does Surtr have extended range, multi target and massive hp bonus with guaranteed invincibility when non-module Skadi doesn't? Why can Saga generate dp on S3 when Siege couldn't on hers if both turn them into guards? Why does Irene get both a hefty defense ignore, pseudo-bind and aoe damage on her S3 when Ch'en's limited to single target on hers if both S3's have similar hits and multipliers? Why can Texas Alter just delete enemies while still providing a reliable stun when Phantom can only stun through rng and do tickle damage in the process?
Those are the kind of comparisons that make me worried about the future of AK if (future) shortcomings of an operator will only ever be addressed through modules (which let's be honest are basically a third promotion if a lv3 module from scratch requires more lmd than E1 and E2 promotions combined).
Thanks for acknowledging FEH. I actually came to AK from there because of how much of a powercreep hell it became.