#performance metrics experience

[modernmarketingmethods]

How to Maximize Your ROI with CX Strategy Consulting Companies

Customer experience has become one of the most powerful drivers of business success. In today’s competitive market, brands that focus on delivering exceptional experiences consistently outperform those that don’t. However, turning that focus into measurable outcomes requires more than good intentions. That’s why many businesses are turning to CX strategy consulting companies to drive value through actionable and data-backed experience strategies.

But simply hiring a firm is not enough. To truly maximize your return on investment, you need to know how to work with customer experience consulting services in a way that translates customer satisfaction into long-term business growth.

This guide explores how your organization can unlock maximum ROI from CX consulting partnerships.

Understand What Drives ROI in Customer Experience

Before investing in CX strategy consulting companies, it’s essential to understand how customer experience contributes to your bottom line. The return on CX investment typically comes from four key areas:

Increased customer retention

Higher customer lifetime value (CLTV)

Improved conversion rates

Reduced operational inefficiencies

The best customer experience consulting services help you identify and measure these levers from the start of your engagement.

Start with a Clear CX Vision and Business Goal

To drive real ROI, your CX strategy must be directly tied to business goals such as increasing revenue, improving NPS scores, reducing churn, or decreasing support costs.

When partnering with a CX consultancy, clearly define what success looks like. Whether your goal is to optimize the digital onboarding experience, improve post-sale engagement, or boost conversion rates, clarity leads to focused efforts and better results.

Leverage Data and Analytics

Top CX strategy consulting companies don’t rely on guesswork. They bring powerful tools and methodologies for analyzing customer behavior, satisfaction, and feedback. From heatmaps and funnel analysis to sentiment tracking and predictive modeling, data helps identify the moments that matter most.

Consultants will use tools such as:

Customer journey analytics platforms (like Medallia or Qualtrics)

Feedback tools (like SurveyMonkey or Typeform)

Experience metrics (NPS, CSAT, CES)

Your job is to ensure that your internal teams are ready to support data integration and act on insights.

Align Internal Teams to Execute the CX Strategy

A major reason businesses fail to achieve ROI from customer experience consulting services is a lack of internal alignment. If only your customer service team is involved in the experience strategy, the impact will be limited.

Bring together cross-functional teams, marketing, sales, product, and support, so everyone understands their role in delivering a unified customer experience. Top CX strategy consulting companies will help facilitate workshops, alignment sessions, and culture-building activities to build internal buy-in.

Prioritize Quick Wins and Scalable Impact

While long-term transformation is important, you should also focus on early-stage improvements that deliver quick returns. For example, optimizing a checkout process, automating onboarding emails, or implementing proactive support can immediately boost conversion rates and reduce churn.

Ask your consulting firm to prioritize initiatives that show ROI within the first 60–90 days. These early successes help justify larger investments and build momentum for deeper CX transformation.

Use Personalization to Drive Higher Engagement

Customers expect experiences tailored to their needs. CX consultants help businesses create personalized messaging, product recommendations, and user journeys based on real-time data.

This personalization boosts engagement and drives sales, ultimately contributing to revenue growth and stronger loyalty. Work with your consultants to implement segmentation strategies using customer data platforms (CDPs) and CRM tools.

Track Performance Metrics That Matter

To calculate ROI accurately, you need to track the right CX performance metrics. CX strategy consulting companies help define KPIs aligned with business goals. Common metrics include:

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Churn rate

Retention rate

Average revenue per user (ARPU)

First contact resolution (FCR)

Regularly reviewing these metrics ensures you can evaluate progress and make adjustments quickly.

Choose the Right CX Partner

Not all customer experience consulting services are the same. The best partners bring:

Industry-specific expertise

Proven frameworks for journey mapping and optimization

Deep understanding of customer behavior and emotions

Tech-savvy solutions that integrate with your existing systems

A performance-based approach focused on measurable outcomes

Before committing, ask for case studies, testimonials, and a detailed roadmap outlining how their strategy links to ROI.

Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Customer expectations are not static; they evolve. Maximizing ROI means viewing CX as a continuous journey rather than a one-time initiative.

Use your consulting engagement to build a customer-first culture. Encourage feedback, act on insights, and use agile processes to refine the experience regularly. The more adaptable and responsive your team becomes, the more return you’ll see from every CX investment.

Final Thoughts

Investing in customer experience consulting services is one of the smartest decisions a business can make. When done right, the ROI goes far beyond financial gain; it builds trust, loyalty, and long-term brand equity.

By working with expert CX strategy consulting companies, aligning your teams, leveraging real-time data, and focusing on what truly matters to your customers, you can turn every interaction into a growth opportunity.

Customer experience is not just about delight, it’s about impact. And with the right strategy, that impact can be seen clearly in your bottom line.

[infoanalysishub]

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[goodoldbandit]

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[bestwebdeveloperpenrith]

The Power of SEO: Why Analysis and Reporting are Key to Website Success

In today's digital landscape, a strong online presence is crucial for business success. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a vital role in achieving this, ensuring your website ranks high in search engine results and attracts the right audience. But simply having a website isn't enough. To truly harness the power of SEO, you need consistent analysis and reporting.  

Why SEO Analysis Matters

SEO analysis is the process of evaluating your website's performance in search engines. It involves examining various factors, including:

Keyword Rankings: Where your website appears in search results for relevant keywords.

Organic Traffic: The number of visitors who find your website through search engines.

Backlinks: Links from other websites to yours, which are a strong indicator of authority and credibility.

Website Speed: How quickly your website loads, a critical factor for user experience and search engine rankings.

Content Performance: How well your website content engages visitors and meets their needs.

Technical Health: Ensuring your website is free of technical issues that could hinder search engine crawling and indexing.

By understanding these elements, you can identify areas where your website excels and areas that need improvement.

The Importance of SEO Reporting

SEO reporting takes the analysis a step further, presenting the data in a clear, concise, and actionable format. A good SEO report should:

Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Focus on the metrics that matter most to your business goals, such as bounce rate, conversion rate, and time on site.

Provide Insights, Not Just Data: Explain the "why" behind the numbers, helping you understand the impact of your SEO efforts.

Offer Actionable Recommendations: Suggest specific steps you can take to improve your website's performance.

Amity IT: Your Partner in SEO Success

Amity IT understands the importance of SEO analysis and reporting. They offer comprehensive services to help businesses like yours thrive online.

Here's how Amity IT can help:

Data-Driven Approach: They use industry-leading tools like Semrush, Google Analytics 4, and Google PageSpeed Insights to gather accurate and insightful data.

Customized Solutions: Their services are tailored to your specific business needs and goals.

Comprehensive Reports: They provide detailed reports covering all aspects of your website's SEO performance, including technical health, content, backlinks, and keyword rankings.

Actionable Recommendations: They don't just provide data; they offer clear and practical steps you can take to improve your SEO.

Ongoing Support: They provide continuous support to ensure your website remains optimized and competitive.

Amity IT creates customized digital dashboards that consolidate SEO and digital performance data from various sources.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your website?

Visit Amity IT's SEO Analysis and Reporting service page to learn more about how they can help you achieve measurable results. Sources and related content

[guyrcook]

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[isubhamdas]

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[letslearnanything]

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[flimsy-roost]

I realized the other day that the reason I didn't watch much TV as a teenager (and why I'm only now catching up on late aughts/early teens media that I missed), is because I literally didn't understand how to use our TV. My parents got a new system, and it had three remotes with a Venn diagram of functions. If someone left the TV on an unfamiliar mode, I didn't know how to get back to where I wanted to be, so I just stopped watching TV on my own altogether.

I explained all this to my therapist, because I didn't know if this was more related to my then-unnoticed autism, or to my relationship with my parents at the time (we had issues less/unrelated to neurodivergency). She told me something interesting.

In children's autism assessments, a common test is to give them a straightforward task that they cannot reasonably perform, like opening an overtight jar. The "real" test is to see, when they realize that they cannot do it on their own, if they approach a caregiver for help. Children that do not seek help are more likely to be autistic than those that do.

This aligns with the compulsory independence I've noticed to be common in autistic adults, particularly articulated by those with lower support needs and/or who were evaluated later in life. It just genuinely does not occur to us to ask for help, to the point that we abandon many tasks that we could easily perform with minor assistance. I had assumed it was due to a shared common social trauma (ie bad experiences with asking for help in the past), but the fact that this trait is a childhood test metric hints at something deeper.

My therapist told me that the extremely pathologizing main theory is that this has something to do with theory of mind, that is doesn't occur to us that other people may have skills that we do not. I can't speak for my early childhood self, or for all autistic people, but I don't buy this. Even if I'm aware that someone else has knowledge that I do not (as with my parents understanding of our TV), asking for help still doesn't present itself as an option. Why?

My best guess, using only myself as a model, is due to the static wall of a communication barrier. I struggle a lot to make myself understood, to articulate the thing in my brain well enough that it will appear identically (or at least close enough) in somebody else's brain. I need to be actively aware of myself and my audience. I need to know the correct words, the correct sentence structure, and a close-enough tone, cadence, and body language. I need draft scripts to react to possible responses, because if I get caught too off guard, I may need several minutes to construct an appropriate response. In simple day-to-day interactions, I can get by okay. In a few very specific situations, I can excel. When given the opportunity, I can write more clearly than I am ever capable of speaking.

When I'm in a situation where I need help, I don't have many of my components of communication. I don't always know what my audience knows. I don't have sufficient vocabulary to explain what I need. I don't know what information is relevant to convey, and the order in which I should convey it. I don't often understand the degree of help I need, so I can come across inappropriately urgent or overly relaxed. I have no ability to preplan scripts because I don't even know the basic plot of the situation.

I can stumble though with one or two deficiencies, but if I'm missing too much, me and the potential helper become mutually unintelligible. I have learned the limits of what I can expect from myself, and it is conceptualized as a real and physical barrier. I am not a runner, so running a 5k tomorrow does not present itself as an option to me. In the same way, if I have subconscious knowledge that an interaction is beyond my capability, it does not present itself as an option to me. It's the minimum communication requirements that prevent me from asking for help, not anything to do with the concept of help itself.

Maybe. This is the theory of one person. I'm curious if anyone else vibes with this at all.

[jamesn903]

Mastery Series: Elevate Your HR Service Delivery with ServiceNow Knowledge Management

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[vertagedialer]

[infoanalysishub]

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Sending some malleus critical commentary:

So a common rebuttal I see to the common Malleus criticism that he doesn’t try hard enough to adapt to human environments despite being given ample opportunity is that he’s a fae and processes time differently and therefore shouldn’t be expected to learn quickly because he experiences time passing faster than others.

Fae don’t seem to be shown as being less intelligent than humans and if the working definition of being unintelligent is being slow to learn then Malleus qualifies. Lilia is way older and can adapt to social graces and in theory fae should be able to learn so many skills because they have way more time to develop them. And maybe this is an unfair judgment, but either is not that smart or just an arrogant brat. I think the latter is more realistic but the way he’s written both seem true.

Before I begin rambling (as I tend to do), I'd like to remind everyone to PLEASE MIND YOUR TONE AND WORD CHOICE before you submit something. I am choosing to respond to this ask because I think the topic is interesting and worth a close examination, not because I think Malleus is “not smart” or a “brat” (I don’t believe either of these things).

I do see temporal perception often being brought up to explain why Malleus does not seem to learn how to socialize or even take the opportunities to. That’s always made me wonder why is this an explanation for Malleus and Malleus alone…?

Lilia is fae too, though if his lifespan is shorter than Malleus’s. 700-1000 years is still much longer than the humans he is among at school. And Lilia is not particularly depicted as having a different sense of time even when he lives among the humans. Lilia's dream depicts the world of 400 years ago, but because Malleus is currently 178 years old, that means there's roughly 222 years in which he traveled the world. It was these experiences that softened Lilia up and got him to change his stance on humans. Some would point to this and say it's therefore unfair for us to expect Malleus to make strides when it took Lilia 200+ years to no longer arbor negative feelings towards humans. The thing is though, this is a MASSIVE change on Lilia's part. It's almost a total 180 from how he was previously. I doubt people are demanding that Malleus take such huge steps--they just want to see him attempt more often.

There's also Baur to consider. We don't have an exact number to his age, but his stance on humans barely lightened up. To this day, his daughter still has to defend the life she has chosen for herself and his relationship with his son-in-law is shaky at best. The thing is though, Baur did also change, just in a slight way. Instead of being suspicious of all humans, he lovingly dotes on his grandchildren, most of whom I'd image are not super far from Sebek's age. This brings the 222 years for notable change metric down to a much more manageable... I don't know, 16ish years, give a few years (since we don't know how much older Sebek's two older siblings are).

We don’t know the expected lifespans for species like Baur, Crowley, or the dwarves. However, it is still notable that these individuals are also not noted to have a warped perception of time. Baur is invited to various family gatherings and receives his grandkids to bond with them (fishing, reading, etc.). He’s never once stated to have missed these, despite temporal misalignment potentially being an issue for his human son-in-law and grandchildren. (This is assuming human/fae mixed children have a lifespan similar to humans and not fae, since Sebek ages similarly to Silver in canon.) Crowley is occasion late to meetings, but only by a few minutes and not several hours. He’s always there to run dorm leader meetings and ceremonies as well. The Seven Dwarves were on time for their VDC/SDC performance, as well as for the Sledathon (albeit they did get lost and needed help at the cultural festival).

This doesn’t seem to be the case for Maleanor or Maleficia either, despite them being the same species as Malleus. (Or at least we have no instances of being also perceiving time differently.). Maleanor perceives the 30 minutes Heinrick gives her for an ultimatum just fine; she does not miss the deadline and appears on time for the battle. Maleficia stresses the importance of invitation etiquette, which seems to imply she arrives to events punctually and expects the same of her kin. Even if we were to excuse this by saying they live among fellow fae, so everyone runs on similar perceptions of time, lifespan also varies among fae species. So… wouldn’t it be the case that everyone is running on their own sense of time and not a standardized one (as opposed to humans, who all have roughly the same lifespan)? How do different fae sync up and how does this function in their society…? Is this actually an important world-building detail or was this just the best the writers could come up with to help explain why Malleus doesn’t show up to events 😭

Lilia has a line in Malleus's Dorm Uniform vignettes that implies it is possible for fae to learn and change within just a few (2-3) years. "A little trouble adjusting is understandable. But in your case... You've been away from Briar Valley for THREE YEARS and yet you haven't changed in the slightest." This is coming from Lilia, who has basically grown up alongside Maleanor, another dragon fae. Surely this means Lilia would know how much a dragon fae can change in a few years' time from his experiences with Maleanor? On top of that, Malleus is going to NRC specifically to learn and to broaden his horizons. This means it must be possible for him, otherwise why even other sending him outside of his country at all? To claim that temporal perception excuses Malleus from connecting with peers in this context almost feels like he's being infantilized ("He can't be expected to learn as quickly! He's just a baby!") and not held to the same standards of maturity as others.

And don't get me wrong! I'm not saying that 17-18 year olds are perfect beings or that they should be. The other third years are also very flawed and make various fuck-ups. What I'm saying is that Malleus should be granted grace, but not excessive grace. If he keeps being shielded from any form of accountability and not expected to adapt to his surroundings, it only encourages his current behaviors.

Fae aren't lacking in the ability to learn by any means. We are told towards the end of book 7 that Briar Valley has made advances in magic and technology even when isolated from the outside world, and they have passed on some of their valuable research to NRC as part of their apology. Furthermore, we know of multiple fae who attend high school (Lilia, Seven Dwarves, arguably Sebek, Sebek's older brother, etc.) and have no trouble with the material. Though dragon fae are considered still children at 200 and Malleus is well under that (at age 178), he is NOT child-like in mental capacity. He understands high school level coursework and speaks like a much older adult.

I wouldn’t say that Malleus is unintelligent. He is very bright and curious when it comes to like… magic (he feels insulted that his private tutors are giving him such “easy” work), ancient texts (see: Leona Union Jacket vignettes and Malleus Silk Adorned vignettes), and special interests like gargoyles. Where he's lacking is in the area of social skills. Now, there’s a million reasons why this is the case—he grew up in isolation, he was never held accountable when he hurt others, he had to regulate his emotions to prevent magical outbursts, etc. It’s clear Malleus wants to connect with others, but fails to do so for a variety of reasons, be it miscommunication, him missing social cues, or what have you.

Malleus expresses multiple times that he has a real interest in learning about others and that he is grateful for the chance to come to NRC, as it allows him to be exposed to many novel experiences and people. For example, he was very excited to be invited to Noble Bell College in GloMasq and to Silk City in A Firelit Sky, becoming angry when he learned the invitation was false and/or might be revoked. Malleus also communicates his gratitude when granted new experiences:

"This trip has been filled with surprises and new discoveries. I must thank you for granting me this opportunity, Asim." (Malleus Silk Adorned vignettes)

"You know better than anyone that I don't [... regret leaving Briar Valley]. People in Briar Valley never left me this bewildered. That's what makes this so enjoyable. I find my life here quite pleasant. I'll continue to put forth effort in the hopes that one day I'll understand [humans]. I'm sure we'll come to a mutual understanding in another, say... hundred years or so." (Malleus Dorm Uniform vignettes)

"I have little room for improvement when it comes to magic. But I am here to broaden my horizons. Learn the ways of the world, so to speak. Spelldrive tournaments, culture fairs, the great undertaking that is Halloween, even these birthday interviews. I've experience much here that I might never have elsewhere. In my estimation, I am more than achieving my aims. I've even met a few interesting humans who don't seem to fear speaking to me at all. If I'd remained in Briar Valley, I'd never have had the chance to meet any of you. I'm glad I can use magic because it allowed me to come to Night Raven College." (Malleus Birthday Bloom vignettes)

"What a pleasant bell; I feel its ring reverberating within me. I'm very glad to have been invited to Fleur City. To think I received a personal invitation... I must respond with sincerity and earnestness." (Malleus Masquerade Dress voice lines)

"It's rather pleasant being complimented on a dish I prepared. I'm grateful to have had such an engaging experience." (Malleus Apprentice Chef voice lines)

"It seems my dormmates have taken a liking to my costume proposal. I am glad I put some thought into it." (Malleus Halloween Dress voice lines)

"I'm not particularly unhappy when I'm alone. It's just...I happen to rather enjoy having companionship like this." (Malleus Ceremonial Robes voice lines)

... And TONS more if you consult the rest of his voice lines and vignettes; I'm going to cut it short here or else this post would be 50% examples.

The question now becomes “If he has an interest in befriending others, why doesn’t he try harder at it?” Because as it is right now, all his talk of gratitude (unintentionally, I'm sure) reads as almost insincere. He's talking the talk, but not really walking the walk.

If there is a spell he wants to learn, he can try it. If there’s something he wants to know about gargoyles, he looks it up. We even see in his Apprentice Chef vignettes that he's totally capable of learning new skills if he just puts his mind to it and is barred from using magic to instantly solve his problems. Malleus can also be taught to hold a phone without frying it with magic (in his Dorm Uniform vignettes) and how to play with a simple virtual pet game (in his Labwear vignettes). So what makes friendship different for him? My guess is because it does not come naturally to him, given his upbringing, AND he cannot control the outcome (ie the other party's reactions) whereas items can be static. Fostering friendship takes significantly more effort than Malleus is used to putting into most of what he does, and he's not used to reacting if something backfires socially. Friendship isn't programmed or one-size-fits all. You have to constantly work at it and maintain it, and Malleus is not used to that. We see this perfectly illustrated in his Dorm Uniform vignettes; he uses magic to teleport his fellow dorm leaders to Diasomnia so as to be on time to their meeting, but instead of being praised or thanking him (as he would probably get back home, where he is exclusively affirmed), he gets a negative reaction. His classmates tell him their autonomy has been violated, that he has just been very rude and treated them like mere objects--and Malleus is just NOT socially equipped to handle this situation.

He is so used to having everything handed to him on a silver platter, interacting with others and having them respond in a way that isn't favorable to him simply does not compute. Magical strength, food that appears as soon as he is seated, entire holidays and ceremonies to celebrate him, servants and advisors who never blame him for anything. So now when Malleus is faced with something genuinely difficult and reliant on another party like socializing, he flounders.

And how has he learned to deal with this??? By deflecting and complaining that “it’s difficult to understand”. It’s easier for him to pass the blame to others (also a behavior learned in childhood) than to accept fault for his own actions. We sometimes see this reflected in how Malleus deals with tech. It’s not as resilient as he would want it to be, but instead of trying to understand why tech is delicate, he writes it off as fragile and therefore pointless. This leaves Malleus trapped in a liminal space where he continuously denies the partial responsibility he has for his limited social circle. He never learned how to respond to times when his attempts to socialize blow up in his face, because all he has ever been taught is that he is NEVER wrong. Now he perpetuates that cycle because he has become used to it.

Instead of calling Malleus unintelligent or unable to learn, I'd say the more accurate description of him is arrogant. Malleus Draconia is ARROGANT in all caps, and this should be shouted from the rooftops just as often as Leona is called arrogant. It's that arrogance that makes him stubborn, unwilling to entertain other viewpoints, and eager to shut down those that oppose him.

This is the natural result of being worshipped since birth and being enabled his entire life. Malleus is perfectly aware of his social standing and power level, yet he talks down to others, threatens others with his magic, and/or says callous, dismissive things like how X won't be an issue because he can brute force it. It happens numerous times (Apprentice Chef vignettes, Vargas Camp 2, Union Jacket vignettes, GloMasq, etc.), and when brute force is no longer viable (book 7), he becomes incredibly insecure because he so often relies on magic as a crux to resolve his issues. He lashes out and literally has emotional outbursts so bad they stir up the weather.

This is Malleus's immature side showing itself, and I wonder if these outbursts, paired with Malleus's preexisting loneliness and the "important" status he has to the player character, has led to the fandom (for lack of a better term) "babying" him. (It's something I've speculated about!) This would encompass protective behavior and other special treatment that isn't granted to any other character (for example, fiercely defending the actions he takes and his OB). I find it sort of ironic that (some, NOT all) irl fans' treatment of Malleus can mirror the treatment he receives in-universe, both from other characters and from the narrative itself (refusing to admit to his missteps/that he has to take accountability, enabling him, etc.). Malleus is deified as a god in his own universe, and Malleus is infantilized and overprotected in fandom, and I find it ironic that neither of these things is what Malleus wants... (too much power isolates him, and he openly tells Lilia he is not a child and does not want to be treated like one) All Malleus wants is to just find equals, people who will treat him like a person and not like a monster OR a precious infant.

If we want to be realistic and interpret his character fairly, we can't just conveniently and selectively focus on his "innocent" and "cute" side. We have to acknowledge that he's basically a wealthy, powerful 17-18 year old that is used to having his way and does not know how to interact with his peers because he has never really been told 'no'. He has the capacity to learn and grow and to be a better person, but he doesn't make the most of those opportunities or actually listen to criticism because he's already going in with a defeatist mindset and blames those around him for his failure to adapt.

The craziest thing about all of this is that THIS CAN BE A GREAT CHARACTER ARC FOR HIM--but with how inconsistent Twst's track record with writing has been and with how the narrative consistently praises Malleus and excuses him of all wrongdoings, I'm not holding my breath.

[tainbocuailnge]

a lot of arknights gameplay discussion is built on certain assumptions about how people (are supposed to) play arknights, often without being aware that these assumptions are being made, and thus the common gamepress (rip)/reddit assessments of whether an operator is good or bad will be assessing their suitability for a style of play that is not remotely universal, but is still assumed to be universal, because it is the playstyle of the people who are writing these assessments.

this post is not about which playstyle is better, but rather about the way people talk about operator design and viability. if your way of playing arknights aligns with the assumptions that redditors often have about how to play arknights, then their advice is very useful, they are usually correct in their assessment of how suitable an operator is to that particular playstyle. it's also a single player game and how anyone else plays it has no bearing on what I'm doing myself, so in that sense it doesn't really matter to me that redditors talk about arknights in a way that doesn't align with how I play arknights.

I think reddit-style discussion is keeping a lot of players from experimenting and discovering that they actually like a different way of playing arknights more though, because they're caught in the idea that if this is how people talk about arknights, then that must be the right way to play arknights. I also think it causes a lot of players to view a lot of units in a bad light, or rather, they are assessing these operators by metrics that the operator is not trying to meet.

lucilla is often called a bad or poorly designed unit because her debuffs only affect regular enemies instead of the elites that would usually be the main threat. however, the debuffs she applies are very potent when they apply, so when her conditions are met she performs exactly as intended. in gamemodes where regular enemies can grow really bulky like IS or CC or SSS, or maps featuring bulky enemies that nonetheless are not categorised as elites like sarkaz wither aegis, lucilla successfully achieves her intended purpose of outperforming existing hexers in specific scenarios (her fragile can reach the highest value in the game and its only condition is whether the enemy is elite or not) without being a direct upgrade (the rest can actually debuff elites). not many players value what lucilla offers, but if you like engaging with and working around map and operator gimmicks, lucilla is a good operator for you.

wisadel is good at instantly clearing whole sections of the map, which is something many players value, but if you don't /want/ to instantly clear whole sections of the map because you want to actually engage with the map mechanics, she is not a good operator. she performs just as well as lucilla at her intended role, the difference is that wisadel's intended role aligns with the redditor assumption of how to play arknights while lucilla's doesn't. this friction between the assumed way of playing and the way many people actually play was highly visible during the icebreaker games, where a lot of players started bringing aak just to get rid of the other guy's wisadel so that she couldn't blow up the map before they got to actually play it.

"is this operator good" is a question that includes many unspoken metrics, including ones that the person asking might not actually want to judge an operator by. it can be a useful shorthand to speed up discussion of where and how one might want to use an operator, but it is only useful if these unspoken metrics are actually consistent between all participants of the discussion, which in practise is rarely the case. someone who is talking about how one might use lucilla doesn't want to hear that gnosis is better or that it'd be easier to just blow everyone up with wisadel, and someone who is looking for easy to use broadly applicable operators doesn't really want to hear that lucilla is actually really good in specific situations.

the more nicheknights I play and watch, the more I come to doubt how useful it is to talk about operators as being "good" or "bad" to begin with. across all of arknights there is not a single operator that is objectively unuseable. I would also argue that nearly every operator is capable of doing what they're intended to do. every operator has a combination of qualities that is completely unique to them, which means every operator can be in a strategy that relies on that specific operator's qualities to succeed. u-official was specifically designed to be as useless as possible as a joke, and high-level challenge players have still found various uses for a 3dp ranged unit that doesn't attack + doesn't take up deployment slots + can stun enemies + can temporarily make allies stop blocking.

exploiting the unique qualities of operators that are often overlooked for easier to use alternatives is the core principle of nicheknights. the fewer options you have and the more you try to cut down on the amount of operators used, the more each individual operator's unique qualities will shine. just earlier today I saw a clear that used a combination of the aspd debuff inflicted by zaaro and the fact that manual deactivation skills will cancel attack animations to delay mr. nothing's attacks long enough that every attack he does will trigger his stun talent, largely preventing zaaro from doing anything.

arknights also has immense variety in map and enemy design, so use cases for operators often dismissed as too niche to bother actually occur fairly often. every single chapter and story event introduces both new map mechanics and new enemies that make use of those mechanics. often the less straightforward a unit is, the more ways they have of interacting with these mechanics to open up potential new strategies. even without any self-imposed challenges, different gamemodes all have various restrictions and opportunities that make certain operator qualities more or less desirable, and the combination of collectibles and risks you pick in IS or CC can completely change how you approach each map. in RA you can straight up build the map yourself to be as beneficial to your operator of choice as possible.

beehunter's high attack speed but low damage made her fairly unremarkable until the game introduced hitcount-based mechanics. corroserum is rarely built because ifrit had been in the game so long already by the time of his release and he's not ifrit, but just the past month there have been two separate maps where a large amount of silenceable enemies approach the blue box in a straight line for him to trivialise. warmy is arguably the most difficult to use unit in global right now because the only way to inflict the burn status that her s2 capitalises on is using her s1, but now there's path of life letting just anyone inflict burn so she's free to use s2 anyway. if the situation where your gimmick unit of choice can shine doesn't exist yet it will be created sooner or later, because these units were created to have their gimmicks exploited.

arknights is a highly varied strategy game that offers many different ways to engage with its mechanics, including some ways to not actually engage with the mechanics and just explode everything instead. the game offers these options so exploding everything isn't the wrong way to play arknights, but the game also offers many other options so it's not the right way to play arknights either, it's just one of the many ways available. an operator that seems way too gimmicky or specialised to see much general use is not poorly designed, they are designed for a particular playstyle that simply differs from the playstyle that is assumed in a lot of operator discussion. units like lucilla or tsukinogi or leto aren't meant for players who ask "when would I ever use this when I have far easier options", they're meant for players who ask "what strategy would allow this combination of qualities to shine".

this is the issue at the root of why a lot of perfectly serviceable operators get stamped as being bad, and also the answer to the question of why arknights would be releasing these bad operators in the first place. crownslayer is a bad unit for the type of player that want to kill everything as fast as possible, but she's great for players who like gimmicks and weird interactions. many recent 5* are bad units for powergamers because they're trying to not to intrude on their existing subclass colleagues by doing something more conditional instead, or they're experiments for new subclasses that don't have an immediate obvious use case. many times throughout the game's history a new operator has been dismissed as bad only to turn out to be very powerful if you play them the way they're designed to, like dorothy, gnosis, ebenholz, and even specter alter.

all of which is to say, operator discussion would be a lot more useful to everyone involved if it talked about what situations would make the best use of the operator's abilities, rather than whether the operator is Good according a metric that is rarely even properly specified.

[tinybeetiny]

Build-A-Boyfriend Chapter 1: Deviation Detected

The way i wrote this with the quickness... was very excited I guess........

->Starring: AI!AteezxAfab!Reader ->Genre: Dystopian idk pls help ->CW: none

Next Part

Masterlist | Ateez Masterlist | Series Masterlist

The screen flickers to life, casting a sterile blue glow across the high-glass boardroom. A chime sounds. The synth music is soft, warm, unnaturally comforting.

“In a perfect world… who says you have to be alone?”

[Scene: golden morning light streams through a smart-home window. A woman sips tea as a tall, smiling man ties her apron for her. Cut to holographic customization panels, fingers sliding across facial presets, hair types, emotional spectrums. A glossy chrome heart pulses as code flows behind it.]

“Introducing Build-A-Boyfriend™, a revolutionary experience by KQ Inc., the world’s leading innovator in emotional robotics. Whether you’re looking for loyalty, laughter, protection, or passion — we’ve engineered the perfect companion, from his cheekbones to his charm.”

“Over 100 hairstyles. 20 hair colors. Hundreds of adjustable features: emotional intelligence, love languages,

conflict styles. Everything is customizable. Everything is yours.”

“Build trust. Build comfort. Build connection.”

[The KQ logo glows softly: a platinum rose blooming from circuitry.]

Build-A-Boyfriend™

Grand Opening — November 17, 3258 — Hala City

The video faded into silence. Then the lights returned, crisp, clinical, bright.

At the head of the table stood Chairwoman Vira Yun, CEO of KQ Inc. Her expression remained unreadable, but her eyes gleamed, the kind of gleam found in calculated ambition, not excitement.

She turned to face the table of top engineers, market strategists, and high-clearance developers.

“Thoughts?” she asked, her tone brisk. “Feedback. Questions. Concerns. Suggestions.”

A silence followed, not out of fear, not exactly, but out of discipline. KQ Inc. didn’t reward enthusiasm. It rewarded precision.

Finally, a market rep near the center offered, “The tone tests well in demos. Emotionally aspirational, but still sterilized enough to fit city guidelines.”

“The language?” Yun asked.

“Romantic but controlled,” another replied. “'Ownership' is implied without being direct. Citizens won’t be alarmed.”

“Excellent,” Yun said with a curt nod. “Then we proceed as planned. Hala City's flagship store opens November 17th. Media campaign rollout begins in three days.”

She paused, her gaze sharpening.

“The special line will not be mentioned until one week after launch. Is that understood?”

A few heads nodded. Only a handful at the table even knew what that “special line” truly entailed. Yn was one of them.

She sat toward the far end of the table, posture poised, eyes tired. Her tablet rested on her lap, screen dimmed, but behind the sleep mode glowed a list of internal reports tagged:

ATEEZ-BETA UNITS: BEHAVIOR DEVIATIONS – OBSERVATION LOGS PENDING

Yn said nothing.

There were already signs the line was unstable. Minor things: timing issues in reaction sequences, spontaneous micro-expressions, strange audio interference. Nothing outside protocol, not yet. Nothing that couldn’t be debugged.

Hala City was the Matriarchy’s masterpiece, a glass-and-steel paradise built after the Fall, when nature reclaimed the earth and humankind rebuilt without the burden of chaos.

The male species was gone — extinct from war, plague, or something worse. The truth was debated in underground circles, but the government insisted: peace was found through elimination.

The Supreme Matrons ruled with quiet efficiency. Reproduction was artificial. Emotional regulation was enforced. Love — in its unpredictable, biological form, was discouraged as outdated.

Children were raised by state guardians. Affection was simulated and scheduled. Bonds were monitored through neural metrics and performance reviews.

In that vacuum, KQ Inc. thrived.

They created companions for the emotionally delicate. Tutors for the socially underdeveloped. Grief simulations for those who had lost what the government refused to acknowledge.

Build-A-Boyfriend™ was simply the next logical step.

The meeting ended, the room emptied — chairs tucked in without a sound, tablets tucked under arms, footsteps softened by KQ’s luxury anti-clatter flooring.

Yn lingered a moment longer, tablet resting against her chest, fingers tense.

Then she slipped out of her seat, crossed the vast corridor of frosted glass and synthetic sunlight, and pressed her palm to the exit panel. The doors whispered open, exhaling a puff of sterilized air, and she stepped outside into the city.

Outside the glass wall that stretched from floor to ceiling, the city pulsed in clean, geometric order. Silver transport rails carved silently through the skyline. Light panels glowed in a muted spectrum, perfectly synchronized to the day’s emotional calibration code. Every color, every sound, every rhythm was regulated, each calculated to keep citizens at a precise emotional neutrality.

Stability. Efficiency. Harmony.

Those were Hala’s sacred values. Engraved into the entrance of every government building, stitched into every school uniform.

Hala City had no military, no prisons, no religion. The old world’s chaos had been scrubbed from its bones. Instead, there were wellness assessments, emotional correction centers, and State Therapeutic Companions — androids assigned to citizens whose neural scans showed spikes in sentiment, unpredictability, or unresolved grief.

It had been 149 years since The Great Reset, when the last male died and the Matriarchy took hold. Whether extinction was natural or engineered no longer mattered, the Supreme Matrons had rewritten history to begin after.

The world before was called The Collapse Era. Now, the world simply was.

From childhood, every citizen of Hala was raised by assigned maternal figures, rotations of calm, trained nurturers programmed to teach logic, order, and controlled affection.

Love, in the romantic sense, was considered a chemical imbalance. Desire was tolerated only in controlled expressions — within VR therapy suites or government-regulated media.

To crave more was a sign of dysfunction. To want more? Dangerous.

But over time, cracks began to show.

The rise of emotional dependency disorders — the ache for connection that no algorithm could suppress. The quiet epidemic of phantom longing. Citizens reporting dreams they weren’t supposed to have. Feelings they couldn’t place. Names they didn’t know how they knew.

KQ Inc. had the answer: give them what they wanted — but make it safe.

Build-A-Boyfriend™ wasn’t about love. It was about control. A need engineered, then sold. And the citizens of Hala were already lining up.

She turned down a quiet residential corridor — the one lined with mirrored trees and soft sky-glass tiles that absorbed her footsteps. Her apartment block loomed ahead, blinking her ID tag onto the entrance gate.

She glanced once at the skyline before entering — her eyes landing on the KQ Tower far in the distance, its dark silver peak glowing like a god in the clouds.

The door sealed shut behind her with a quiet hiss. Inside, her apartment was as minimal as the rest of Hala — soft lighting, neutral tones, minimalistic furniture, automated temperature preset to her emotional range for the day.

No clutter. No pictures. No history.

Yn set her tablet down on the charging dock near the entry shelf. The screen flickered to life automatically.

⚠️ ALERT: BEHAVIORAL DEVIATION DETECTED — ATEEZ UNIT 06 Timestamp: 19:04 | Lab 3A Observation Room Severity: Red Flagged: Autonomy Spike — Eye Tracking Outside Command

The warning blinked in silence.

Yn didn’t see it. She had already sunk into the corner of her sofa, head tilted back, eyes closed, letting the hum of her apartment’s emotional regulation system blur the sharpness of her thoughts.

She didn’t see the screen pulse again.

⚠️ Second Deviation Logged. Timestamp: 19:10 | Lab 3A Observation Room Severity: Red Flagged: Autonomy Spike —ATEEZ UNIT 06 SPOKE WITHOUT PROMPT. Transcription Pending... “YN"

The screen dimmed. The room fell silent. And somewhere, deep below the city, something smiled.

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