#like kabu is most definitely the type to zone out when he has nothing to do and you aren't around

[ughscara]

HI YAME!! i hope you're doing well and taking lots of rest and care for yourself, missing you 💗 but i was scrolling and rereading your blog, and that's when i noticed Kabukimono calls you 'yame in his notice... idk how i missed that BUT IT'S SO CUTE!! the nicknames between you two would just be the cutest... he's pulling out the "dear 'yame" combo fr! 💗💗 much love from me!

greetings suzu !! i missed you lots too :(( but i am back and well this time around. still recovering but most certainly better than before ~

AND ABOUT THE NOTICE OML OKAY — listen, i can't not see kabuki using nicknames for you sometimes so when i was writing his notice at the time ( that i now changed into the balladeer ) the first nickname that came into my head was the one you gave me. i most definitely was not about to pass up the opportunity 🤭

THAT COMBO BTW .. I AM MELTING INTO A PUDDLE THAT'S SO CUTE ?? I AM GOING TO FIGURATIVELY CRY ?? that's so kabukimono of him to pull out the ultimate trump card when he's in trouble now: your nickname and dear in one sentence.

[crystalelemental]

Oh now that's interesting. 3* and 4* Field and Sprint candy is confirmed.

In general, I'm kinda stunned they'd even entertain the idea. When you look at the broad scope of the meta, field effects have been incredibly guarded, almost exclusively placed on limited pairs when we're not dealing with weather. This is a rather substantial change. We could see multiplicative field effects like Zones suddenly show up as part of the F2P meta. The same is true of Sprint; fast-ramping is the domain of limited pairs. More than likely, any F2P Sprint is going to get -1 cooldown or nothing, and instead focus on speed boosting. Which is still nice, mind. I think speed boosts are underrepresented in the meta and a pretty important option. Not everyone can just spam Free Moves Next, Adaman.

The real fun is...3*. 4* is expected, that's Lodge adjacent. But 3*? Those only happen in two scenarios: free story pairs with the first PML, and events like the NPC trainer classes they mysteriously stopped making. That's...honestly kind of exciting.

On the one hand, I loved the NPC trainer class additions. They were just little extras sprinkled into events, and I kinda loved the concept even if they never got to hard favorites among the trainer class designs (XY female ace trainer, my beloved). Seeing those come back would be ideal. These candy are going to be sparse, especially when contending with the other three types. New players will still need the main three, it's not like we'll get none of them. So getting event pairs that can be maxed out while the event is live is ideal; the candy is a backup, but not strictly necessary to use on them, to create a stockpile.

On the other hand, a new main story is going to pop up. Gacha won't just leave things without a main story. There will likely be a new OC rival/antagonist to face off against, and a whole thing going on. The Villain Arcs largely focused on powering up the free legendary pairs, but this new arc doesn't have anything to power up that isn't already receiving it. More than likely, it would be entirely new pairs, like in the PML arc. Some are calling for PML 2, I don't personally buy it. I played FEH, you can pick up and drop storylines whenever you want in gacha, but you have to keep potential threads open to jump back if needed. I think the announcement of PML 2 is just keeping options open, same as Giovanni hinting at another scheme. They aren't doind anything right away, but it's there if they need it later.

This opens up some options, which I hope we lean into. Man, we have got to fix the F2P situation for new regions. The only truly F2P pair in Galar is Hop. He's still the only fucking one. Not even a single BP pair to their name. This sucks, and there are a ton of missing characters from that region. A new arc with free story pairs would be a great chance to bring in options that otherwise aren't going to get anything, because they'd never sell as PokeFairs, and general pool spotlights are borderline dead. This would also solve for some of Paldea, which has approximately eighty gagillion characters running around; not all of them are PokeFair worthy. In fact, most of them aren't. Free pairs would be an easy way to add some options in.

On a personal level, my hopes for such additions would be:

Opal - I've accepted that she's not getting in otherwise, but Bede needs his mentor, he was completely alone in that Neo Champion event about connections and rivalries and it sucked. Bring in Opal.

Kabu - I'm just saying, he better have secondary Bug-type DPS. Like, actual secondary Bug type DPS. No pair in the game has that yet, let him be the first.

Katy - We're dying for Bug in this game. Good bug, I should specify.

Kofu - I don't like him, but this is definitely where he belongs.

Eri/Atticus - Look, you have to put in a few popular picks so people start playing for easy access, and these two are safe. Plus, free Fighting and Poison pairs, two of the types that most desperately need F2P options.

Chuck - We should also look backwards, at previous regions missing some people, and come together to agree that Chuck was never happening any other way. Just give him to me.

Cilan/Chili/Cress - It's what they deserve.