#anyways meta go brrrrr

[missmako-chan]

And for our boi Vice, role swap? -🟡

Makocchi how the heck do i do this

"I mean you're kinda doing it right now."

But this is WAY different than video editing or drawing!!!!!

"At least you've committed to the bit of making your lines blue. You got this!! Here, try adding some descriptors so I'm not just floating in a white void."

Okay uhhhhhhhhhhhh

You

"Mako, third person."

MAKO stands in front of the entrance of.... Happy Spa!! And is greeted by Ikki!!!

"Ikki, huh?" Makocc wait just Mako says to herself. "Yeah, he's probably your best bet at helping with this. Also next time end a sentence like that with a comma if I'm speaking again."

I got it I got it!!

"Uh... do I know you, miss?" Ikki asks, looking just as confused as I was a few minutes ago.

"You do." Mako says, smiling like the cryptic woman they are, "I'm sure "the Author" rings a couple bells for you, right?"

Ikki's eyes widen in recognition. "Oh!! So you're the Author?"

"That's right!!!!" They strike a pose very dramatically. A bit too dramatically even. "Ah, getting back at me for the example of that WIP I sent, huh?"

"Who are you talking to? And... how are you even here??"

"Well, thanks to a prompt given to me by a very good friend of mine, I'm now a character and Vice is now the author."

"Wait, is THAT why the text has blue in it???" Ikki focuses on the fourth wall, reading the text being written right now. Hi Ikki!!!!

"Uh... Hi." He only waves at me awkwardly, when he really should be more excited to see me!! "I know, I know! This is just a bit..... Weird."

"A bit, but I can't complain too much." Mako shrugs, "There's not a lot I can really do without him right now, so I'm just gonna have fun with it!!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, I've never really been to a spa before. And Vice just gave me a fun chance to try it out!!!"

Ikki smiles, because he always likes getting to show someone around his family's really cool spa!! "Well, if that's the case, I'll be more than happy to show you the ropes!! Ah, well, maybe Mama will once she gets back, considering...."

"Ah, right, gender." Mako nods in understanding. Personally I still don't get what a gender is, "Well, if you could lend us a hand, Vice?"

How would I OH!!!

And then later Mama-san gets back and helps Mako with taking a bath in the spa, and she has a really good time!!!!!

"Hehe." Mako giggles, "Y'know, for a first fic, this isn't too bad. I find the excessive use of exclamation marks cute!!"

Aww, you think I'm cute?

"I never said that."

But we both know you meant it~!!

"Quiet, you."

[hematomes]

hii naos could i see ur kazuha build? i cant decide between a full em build or giving him a dps/crit build ,, i want him to be good in abyss so i feel like i should go for his most meta build but also big number go brrrrr

hi <3 my kazuha build is a shitty hybrid ZNXKZ when i farmed for him i didn't know the best type was full em so he has atk/anemo/em + the craftable em sword!! he has a bit of crit, but not too much tbh

from my experience you can try some crit, but you need at least 500 em points for his passives etc (he buffs elemental dmg based on his em iirc)

i also think around 150% er is enough, his particle generation is rly cool and he gets his ult back with like, 2 skills?

ANYWAY yeah, the good indicator is that with this build + bennett, he claps the fatui in the 11th (10th? i can't remember) floor super easily, like... skill, ult, skill and we're out

[windblooms]

same anon 🤚🏻 I am v interested in your thoughts and opinions on Zhongli’s kits/gameplay

hi hi!  whew i might be typing a lot so i’ll post my thoughts under the cut.

warning: very long my fingers feel like they’re going to fall off

first and foremost: polearm characters have some of the lowest atk multipliers in the game.  

this is because of their high attack speed and reach: its a trade off, so their individual hits/attacks deal less damage than, say, a sword user. similarly to how a claymore user hits slow but hard.

automatically, you’re looking at poor normal/charged attack damage output from zhongli (ignoring his elemental skills for now, they’ll come up next) because of his weapon type.  i recommend comparing his multipliers over on honey impact if you need actual numbers.

okay, so what about 4 star characters like xiangling and fischl?  xiangling, a polearm user, and fischl, an archer, also have lower base normal/charged attack multipliers compared to sword and claymore characters.  what makes them so good?

this is where elemental skills come into play.

xiangling can summon gouba and fischl can summon oz.  both deal continuous/consistent damage over time and can be moved across the field at least by some distance.  fischl’s oz summons are more flexible than xiangling, and this makes her flexible in combat.

consider zhongli: he can summon a stele that also deals consistent damage over pulses.  that’s the same as xiangling and fischl, right?

no.

once more referencing honey impact: at its lowest rank (rank 1), the stele’s pulses deal 32% atk damage towards enemies in the stele’s range.  at talent level 7 (i choose 7 because it’s the most attainable towards most players at this time), its pulse damage multiplier is 48%.

at rank 1, gouba has a 112% atk multiplier per breath.  at rank 7, that multiplier becomes 166.92%.

at rank 1, oz has an 88% multiplier per attack.  at rank 7, it becomes 133%. 

not only does zhongli have lower normal attack multipliers than xiangling, but his other source of dps, his stele, doesn’t even match gouba’s.  yikes king. 

geo is an element that's made to be independent form the others.  it serves a niche role.

this one’s a bit obvious: you can have involved reactions with electro, hydro, pyro, etc, but geo was designed to be solitary.  geo’s only utility is to make or break shields.  it’s a defensive elemental reaction, compared to super-conduct, overload, etc, that deal extra damage. 

shields also don’t have numbers right now.  

super-conduct and overload display numbers when they deal numbers.  with shields, a regular player doesn’t know how much damage they’re being shielded from.  not on the health bar, or on the side of the screen.  

only within characters who can cast shields do these numbers show, and you have to go into their talents to view the numbers. 

what i’m saying: no one knows how good a shield is.  and this is only for characters who can cast shields.  if you pick up an elemental shard that grants a shield, you have no way of knowing how much damage it will absorb.

the community doesn’t place value in numbers they can’t access.  in genshin so far, the goal is to deal as much damage as possible or abandon domain.  inherently, shields are defensive.  but if we can’t compare their value to damage, then we don’t know how effective they are, and can’t determine how worth they are to invest in.

zhongli’s jade shield is advertised as op.  aight, cool.  but in a community that doesn’t know the value of shields, what purpose does it serve?  players immediately look towards his more engaging, aggressive capabilities, which are his normal, charged attacks, and stele resonance pulses, which we’ve already determined are lackluster.

it gets sooooo much better from here.

the issue with zhongli’s elemental burst and how he compares to other 5 star supports. 

the most flashy part of a character’s kit: their elemental burst.

damage go brrrrr.

lowest energy cost in the game, sitting at a flat 40, whereas fischl and xiangling’s energy costs sit at 60 and 80 respectively. 

looking at the numbers, the damage seems pretty solid (referencing the links above).  petrification also does wonders for the rest of your team so you can take your time to deal hits with normal attacks and your sweet stele – 

wait. 

oh, yeah, that’s right.  zhongli’s other damage sucks.

we’ve established that his normal/charged attacks and elemental skill (stele resonance damage) are not offensively reliable.

just now we’ve come to the oh-so pressing dilemma: once zhongli uses his elemental burst, what does he do?

nothing.

you switch him out to a more capable damage dealer before petrification wears off. 

zhongli’s kit steers him into the supportive role.  that’s fine.  5 star supports like venti and qiqi shine in their roles.  you can argue that venti’s usage is similar to how i’m describing zhongli’s: poor normal/charged attack damage, but his elemental burst does wonders.  

so what makes venti “good” or “s tier” whereas zhongli’s being pummeled into the dirt?

utility.

look at their character demos/teasers: venti’s elemental burst is narrated to “deal additional elemental damage.”  damage.  pulling enemies together.  

what about zhongli’s?  keeps them in place.  his elemental burst makes things easier for his team, but is outclassed by venti’s.  take another look at the numbers: the duration that enemies are stuck in venti’s storm is 8 seconds at all ranks.  zhongli’s petrification lasts 4 seconds at max rank.

venti’s utility lasts twice as long as zhongli’s.  TWICE.  the fact that it’s 8 seconds at rank 1 is, honestly, absurd to me.  that much power at rank 1?  god, wow, that’s busted. 

meanwhile, geo god at max rank twiddles his thumbs in the corner.

final thoughts.

anon my fingers hurt from typing i was trying to chug this out as fast as i can orz

quick recap: zhongli, a 5 star character, has lower normal/charged attack and elemental skill damage multipliers than 4 star characters.  his elemental usage is currently unquantifiable in a community that cannot readily measure the value of shields in the meta.  his elemental burst, his most obvious skill, is outclassed by a support that arguably serves the same purpose and deals the same damage as him.

i don’t think zhongli is a bad character.  i was being sarcastic throughout this entire post to relieve the tension in my fingers oh god oh fu

yeah so please ahsdljadsf im not hating on zhongli, just stating my reasoning and community observations.

anyways,

im not talking about constellations because, frankly, that would make this an entire separate post.  what i am comparing is zhongli’s base value when put against other characters who serve the same purpose as him, or fall into the same damage category.

he underperforms.  by all means, if you love his aesthetic, and love him as a character, continue to enjoy playing him.  this isn’t me saying that he’s trash all around.  this is me saying that, in a meta so fine-tuned, his gameplay lacks severely. 

there are probably some builds that can make you tune him however you'd like.  smack two-piece bloodstained chivalry and two-piece gladiator on him and you’ll deal more damage with normal/charged attacks and his stele for sure.  but is that the easiest thing to do for a unit with the lowest multipliers in the game?  no.  it’s much more practical, given his kit, to build him support.

im so tired but feel free to ask more questions orz or if i need to clarify anything

[ao3feed-tf2ships]

Team Fortress 2 but it's System Interactions

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135902

by typewritertornado

This fic is so all over the place I doubt that many people will read it. But if you do, please enjoy my fanfictional depiction of the DS and TS's interactions- if you've just found this fic via searching, that last thing probably doesn't make sense, because it's an inside joke of sorts. My greatest thanks to the Squad for being there for me and encouraging these interactions, and ofc the mercenaries and TF2 characters of both systems. Love you guys.

Anyways, back to the gay! Enjoy!

Words: 165, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Team Fortress 2

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, M/M, Multi

Characters: RED Team (Team Fortress 2), BLU Team (Team Fortress 2), Zhanna (Team Fortress 2), Miss Pauling (Team Fortress 2), Team Fortress 2 Original Character(s)

Relationships: BLU Spy/RED Medic, BLU Engineer/BLU Pyro, RED Soldier/RED Engineer, RED Scout/RED Sniper, BLU Heavy/BLU Medic, BLU Medic/RED Sniper, RED Spy/Scout's Mother, Miss Pauling/Zhanna

Additional Tags: Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, nobody is okay, Most everyone has self esteem issues, The Pyros are cinnamon rolls, So are the Snipers, Age Regression/De-Aging, RED Spy wants to be a good dad, RED Scout and RED Demo are in denial, Everyone is a mood, Both Medics are messes, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Transgender, Everyone Is Alive, Because Respawn Exists, Solly says Trans Rights, So does Scout, Fuck it everyone says Trans Rights, Almost everyone is a dork, Except BLU Spy, He's a big flirt, Canon-Typical Violence, everyone is a simp, They aren't in battle here btw, BLU Pyro is a gender thief, Everyone isn't Cis, Everyone is Hypocritical, In the sense that they give everyone else lots of love, But think they themselves don't deserve any love, They're very wrong, Straight What Straight/Nobody Is Straight, I wrote this instead of studying, BLU Heavy is very big brain, Everyone Has Issues, As they do in Canon, But Worse, There is no specific plot, Headcanons go brrrrr, Everyone is a Meme here, Or should I say Meem, haha get it, Possibly Meta, Possibly Fourth Wall Breaking, we'll just have to see, Fic set in the present day, BLU Medic is deadass a poly mess, Backstories go brrrrrrRRRRRR, Cuddling, bc yES, RED Sniper isn't cis, Neither is BLU Spy, Nor the Soldiers, Or BLU Scout for that matter, Oh and the Pyros, And BLU Engie, we STAN

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135902

[clairen45]

Thank you so much for you bird meta, I used to compare Porgs to Ewoks, now I love 'em! I'd really love to have your insight on two matters I came upon rewatching Kylo scenes in TFA 1) did he know he was going to kill Han all along (and play his dad with the "will you help me?" speech?) or wasn't his mind made until the last second? 2) Did he sense Rey before he was told about her? Otherwise why ask for BB8 to be "unharmed" (metaphor for Rey?) and say "again" when feeling the pull to the light?

Dear Anon,

I am sorry it took me some time to answer your question… Thank you for the kind comments on the bird meta. I know Ewoks have their fans, but like you, it seems, I was never one of them. They were ok enough as a concept, and I see the point of having them to show a point about David and Goliath, guerilla warfare, and the fact that nature always wins in the end. I know they were also supposed to be cutesy and appeal to kids. I was a kid when the movie was originally relased and they never appealed to me. If anything they upset me. Plus, they are not so cutesy: they would have gladly eaten the whole crew had they had the chance. It’s not just Granola and Tree hugging, you guys, they are vicious hunters and carnivorous. As far as I am concerned they have four redeeming qualities:

they did a great makeover on Leia

I love their village (which also makes for the best Lego set honestly)

they introduced Warwick Davis to the world (I am a fan of Willow and I love that this actor is in every Star Wars movise since ROTJ. It’s like a Where’s Warwick game every time).

The Nub Yub song (which was outrageously deleted from the edited versions of the OT and turned into crappy Pan flute music)

And then there is the unspeakable: the Ewok movies they did afterwards. Brrrrr…. Talk about crappy spin offs! I know they want to forget about them, but they did, they did! So, no, for me, you can’t compare the Porgs and the Ewoks. I don’t think porgs are as intrusive as Ewoks were. And also, where porgs represent fertility and the resilience of life and love, Ewoks were evil cock-blockers. They were!!!! Items: trying to get Han’s attention away from Leia by cuddling with his leg, or jumping in in the middle of their kiss after the destruction of the Death Star. No, that’s not cute!

Now, back to your important questions. That is some heavy stuff!

1)Did he know he was going to kill Han, and was he playing cat and mouse with him? NO, to the N, to the O. I don’t believe it one minute. First, remember that he senses his father. He knows he is on Starkiller base. In one deleted scene, he even finds the MF. Is he tracking his father? Not really… He is more about looking for the girl. In the movie, we know he is aware his father is near him, because he turns his head in the direction of Han. Twice he pauses, when entering the structure, and then when passing by his father hidden behind a column. Does he go after him? No, far from it: he stomps away as far as he can… When his father calls him, he also pauses, not turning right away, as if debating…as if delaying as much as he can. He avoids the confrontation. I think he is probably scared of the outcome. By the way, love the symbolism of the bridge. It conveys the idea of a decision being suspended, not made, of a transition, of being caught in the middle. He hasn’t fully crossed the bridge yet, he is at the midpoint: it can go any place from there. Which to me is there to signify that the decision of killing his father has NOT been made. And I don’t think that he was toying with him either. He starts angry and aggressive, but, with the actual mask off, there falls also the psychological mask and the cool façade.

I believe everything about his pain and dilemma. This is a boy who has been requested to kill his father because he loved him too much and that it was seen as a weakness. He is not allowed any attachment. Take the important line: “[your son] was weak and foolish, like his father. So I destroyed him”. Killing his father is really more about killing himself, his feelings, his emotions, what Snoke views as abject sentimentalism. Han is the embodiment of sentimentalism. And we know that Kylo has not been able to suppress his emotions twice: when looking at Finn after the village massacre (which brought forth his feelings of guilt), and when meeting Rey (compassion, desire, curiosity). Meeting his father is the ultimate test in TFA, and a test where he miserably fails before and after the deed: he is unable to repress his emotions before and after killing his father. His face tells it all. And if it were not clear enough (apparently it wasn’t for a lot of people), Snoke was very vocal about the failure of the whole thing: ‘‘the deed split you to the bone”, “you have too much the heart of your father”. The whole line about “the seed lives” can also very much apply about Solo. Yes, Ben is the seed of the Jedi through his mother, but he is very much so the seed of his father. That’s actually the whole point of the “seed” reference. Han still lives through him, because he has not been able to kill his emotions, his feelings.

In th novelizations, especially the Junior one, they give us more clues about that. Both novelizations (adult and junior) insist on the fact that Ben has tears in his eyes during his conversation with his father. And in the adult version, we know this is no ploy: Kylo was not expecting to cry, the sensation seems unfamiliar and strange to him. In the adult version, though, Kylo seems more intent on looking after his father, trying to find his hiding place, “prepared for whatever might ensue”. Dark Kylo is still very much a topic. But in the Junior novelization, this is very different. Han is not sure whether his son saw him or not (which hints that maybe he did but chose to ignore), and then passes him by (instead of looking for him in the adult version). Emphasis is put on the sadness in Kylo’s eyes, which is actually the last vision Han has of his son, and his last vision before dying: a boy with sad eyes. Not cruel. Not victorious. The description of Kylo through Han’s eyes is also very reminiscent of someone who has been abused: “everything about him was narrow and stark, as if he had starved himself of nourrishment”. Kylo is like a member of a cult, or a sect, that has been brainwashed: such sects usually rely on sleep and food deprivation…

So, yes, this is a last second decision. As the light suddenly turning dark underlines. It’s like a cloud passing in front of the sun, something that curiously happened to Luke as well when debating about killing Kylo, two moments that are key in his arc, then. The fleeting moment when Luke hesitates but DOES NOT kill his nephew is what loses Ben, and turns him into Kylo, strong dark sider.. The fleeting moment when Kylo hesitates and KILLS Han is what weakens the dark sider. Interesting parallel.

2)Did he sense Rey before he was told about her? Otherwise why ask for BB8 to be “unharmed” (metaphor for Rey?) and say “again” when feeling the pull to the light?

I really hope we will eventually get the idea that he had visions of Rey before meeting her. It may have been distorted or partial. Or maybe it happened when he was a kid and he barely remembers. Rey’s Force vision was hinting at some prior knowledge, since we were supposed to get young Ben with Snoke (which they kept in the novelizations), and that in the movie Kylo’s figure is turning towards her twice. Of course, these could be visions of the future. And this is how we can tell that the visions are partial or distorted because there is no reason in the future for him to keep his mask. Of course, we know from Yoda, that the visions of the future are everchanging and Kylo, at the time, was intent on keeping his mask, so the future had not been altered yet… Anyways, there is someting eery about his reactions to “the girl”. Everyone caught up on that. And I think this eeriness is also a big part of what prompted the whole; she is his sister, his cousin, or what not… Because everybody got the idea that he had prior knowledge of her: “the girl I have heard so much about”. This is a weird line because honestly he has only heard talk about “a girl” twice in the movie: from Mitaka and from the stormtrooper saying that a girl was spotted in the forest… That’s not a lot of intel. It doesn’t come from Snoke either, because even if he starts talking about an awakening, he doesn’t mention a girl at all, and in TLJ he seems surprised that Rey is the opposite in the Force to Kylo. Kylo acknowledges Rey as the awakening when he sees her with the saber.. I doubt that they conducted an investigation on Jakku about the girl… It’s a possibility, but I doubt it. So it must be something else… Dreams, visions? Will we ever know? That’s the best possibility, though.

I like your idea of the parallel between Rey and BB8. Kylo does start looking for the droid, and yes, he wants it “unharmed”. To be honest,  there is no reason normally for the stormtroopers to be shooting at a droid, especially a rather innocuous BB unit (I know BB8 is bad ass, but still…). Shooting at the droid might damage the information it carries, so I understand he wants to minimize possible damages, but still, it is a weird way of thinking. And indeed the BB unit is off his mind as soon as he sees Rey. Admittedly because he knows she has seen the map, but before he retrieves this information from her head, it would have made more sense for him to be looking after the droid than the girl. Who would care about the girl? He does? He goes straight for her. And this substitution is weird enough that even Hux acknowledges it when Kylo is speaking to Snoke. This is unconventional. Of course, Kylo can rationalize by finding excuses such as “she has seen the map”, “she is strong with the Force” so potentially valuable, but the fact is that he strayed from the original mission.

As for the pull to the light, I am not suprised that he says “again”. I am sure that must have happened to him many times. It just becomes stronger because his coming to Jakku has triggered the dormant connection between him and Rey…

Thank you again for the questions! I hope I have covered them ok enough…