#their gacha system is trash

[anitoshka]

friends of mine

[judesmoonbeauty]

Hii Ciele, can you tell me what's the easiest way to level up our BP in IkeVil? I'm confused about it and I want to enjoy the event.

Hi Anon, sure thing! ✨

To do it quickly, the easiest way is to purchase diamonds and then buy the 4s avatar items from the shop, or play the Avatar gacha.

However, we are not made of money, so my f2p recommendation would be sure to play your free gold gacha everyday. Even if you get duplicate items, claim them all to boost your BP and unlock your card slots!

You can also do a 10 pull from the Gold avatar gacha once you have enough gold (I believe that you need 30k gold for a 10 pull). This should increase your chances of getting 4s or higher items with better BP. However, be cautious not to do this often because your gold reserves come into with Collection Events. You can also do a 10 pull with the avatar gacha once you have enough tickets saved.

Another thing I would recommend is when story events are happening, try to clear the premium ends first, since completing those usually will reward you with avatars. Typically, if you clear 2 premiums within a certain time frame, you’ll get an additional avatar item.

Don’t get frustrated if it takes time building up your BP, but focus on gaining avatar items first over wasting your items and diamonds are trying to pull 5s cards in the gacha. Unlocking all the card slots will make future SE and bond building easier.

Of course, if there are others who have suggestions to add to this, please feel free to share your tips ✨

[tainbocuailnge]

my favourite metric for evaluating gacha games is the eizen scale. eizen is a character from the game tales of berseria who is essentially cursed to always lose the coinflip, which means that "can eizen play this game and not have a horrendous time" is a very easy way to determine how "generous" any given digital casino actually is and how robust its rng safety nets are. for purposes of the eizen scale this is how eizen's luck works:

1) eizen has the worst possible luck that statistics allow for. if he flips a coin a million times he will get tails a million times. if he has a 99.9% crit chance he will not crit. if resource gathering involves random drops he will always get the lowest possible amount of drops. he will roll the worst most useless possible result from the gacha every time. eizen's only path to obtaining anything useful in the game is through guarantees, handouts, and pity mechanics. going by his actual canon luck the game would crash repeatedly the moment he hits pity and then his account gets banned for suspicious activity before he gets to see the result but for purposes of the eizen scale we assume the game itself works properly.

2) eizen’s bad luck does not affect his friends’ luck, and he often relies on his friends to push through his bad luck. you can get caught in the fallout of eizen's bad luck if you throw your lot in with his (like going on a sea voyage with him and inevitably getting caught in a storm), but just having him around doesn’t keep you from getting heads on your own coin flip. this means ease of access to luckier friends’ resources is one of the metrics on the eizen scale. combined with point 1, if a game for example has a support unit system that shows you a random selection with no guarantee that at least one of those will be your friends, it's completely useless to him because it will only show him randos with trash units.

3) eizen’s bad luck does not affect the choices other people make. this means the game’s content release schedule will not contort itself into ridiculous patterns just to deny eizen the chance to obtain game resources, because its run by people who have other goals than making eizen specifically suck at their game.

some video games are fundamentally unplayable to eizen because the core gameplay premise is about performing and then working around feats of rng, like roguelikes for example, so a bad eizen score is not necessarily a bad game. but this man is the canary in the coalmine of exploitative monetisation, and if he can't play the game then maybe you shouldn't either

[nica-my-beloved]

Shiro's hot takes!

Let me explain to you how the gacha system works in both Ikevil and Ikepri. If I could explain it nicely I'd say ITS FUCKING HORRIBLE!!!😠😠

The rates are already trash enough for getting the 5 star you want. On top of that, why the hell must these games have three different gacha tickets? And they all look the same? Can't the devs put a little effort and at least change the colour of the Limited time banner tickets? So that I don't have to get excited every time I see a gacha ticket in my inbox only to be disappointed later on when I realise that it's just another useless standard fucking ticket.

Also, why are these limited banner gacha tickets so hard to get? The only way to get them is either by spending money or joining events? Can't these devs put one ticket in the login rewards at least? Or in the subscription bonuses? At least I can save for the next victor's banner.....

Don't mind me... I'm just ranting because I'm so salty that this game is not really that f2p unless you save rigorously. The standard banners are shit. You gain nothing from it. At the very least they could have used the same system as ikemen genjiden where all banners required the same gacha tickets and the when you play a character for the first time you get 100 pearls as rewards for finishing certain chapters. On top of that, the salon game in Ikegen is the cutest. Small chibis of male lead wriggling happily when you poke them. They could have maintained that system for the following games, why take that away?

[2af-afterdark]

I'm in the VERY VERY vocal minority about this but tbh I'm kinda glad that the angel units are behind paywals. Bc their stories are really dicey and I am NOT strong enough for the discourse that would come out of that. Like, I understand this whole ordeal was handled terribly but I'm just trying to look for silver linings at this point.

Also I doubt pb will learn their lesson. They got their money already and this announcement was just salt in the wound. I wasn't surprised that the angel units wouldn't be added to the main gacha. Plus they only seem to work well with other angel units so putting them in the main gacha would dilute it further. Though I guess since a lot of people are saying they're Uninstalling so maybe they'll see it plus their emails are probably getting blown up.

All in all. It's disappointing but unsurprising. I at least wished they'd just given us S rank Gabe as part of the challenge since he's technically in the game. But as soon as I saw that it was L rank I knew they wouldn't give it out for free.

Sorry for rambling. I'm just holding out for the main story at this point.

Okaay so, maybe I'm not communicating this well but... having limited time cards is not the issue for me. The issue is how trash PB's communication is and how predatory and money-hungry they are being. They should have said in the announcements that the angels would be limited time and not added to the pool. I get certain cards being only for a limited time (that's what most gacha do). The issue was that they said nothing until later, which establishes that they can and will change the rules whenever they feel like it without warning. It doesn't have to do with if the units are good or bad. They could literally be the worst units in the game and I would still be upset because of what they are communicating to the players; that we are not worth keeping informed.

I admit that I am not happy they are paywalled, but that's because I'm never happy when cards (a huge bulk of the gameplay for a gacha) are completely paywalled. I find it gross and predatory. Also, it may sound heartless of me, but this game has so many problematic elements that if people get spicy over the content with the angels... I don't know what to say? The game is very open about what it is. It has many dub/noncon elements, intense kinks (two of them are literally decapitation and necrophilia), violence, etc. If the angels are the thing that starts the discourse, I will have to wonder who ignored all the other similar shit without saying something. If the cards are going to start discourse, they will do that regardless of the paywall. But, again, idk why they would when anyone walking into this game should already be aware of what it is.

And, no, I don't expect them to learn their lesson. The only way they would learn anything is if it hits them in the paycheck. The fact that people pay for Solomon Seals continues to encourage PB to use Solomon Seals to earn money. Unless the whales stop spending money on these practices, PB will keep using them (they why I don't, even though i am one person and my resolve means little in the grand scheme). Unless the sudden evacuation of players are whales (who seem to be the only ones PB cares about at this point), I doubt the company will notice.

Gabriel though, does genuinely upset me. Like I said in a previous response, battle pass systems like this tend to have free rewards and paid rewards. The rewards are usually the same but the free path gives out the main reward much later (think earning the card at level 200 for a free path versus earning it at level 120 for the paid path). This is usually fine because, though difficult, both paid and free players can earn the final reward. It's a small way of rewarding players for, you know, playing the game. This is especially true because battle passes require frequent log-ins and active participation. But Gabriel, the ultimate reward for the battle pass, can only be acquired after doing all that work plus spending $60. I find that gross.

I'm a whale. I do spend money on this game, but I am careful about how I spend that money. I pay for the daily log-in bonuses (the extra AP and keys). I have bought several event packs. I own every sticker pack. Basically, the only thing I don't do is pay for Solomon Seals. I simply want PB to not alienate a huge chunk of the players just because they can't, won't, or don't want to shell out money. It's about the principle of the matter to me.

As for S-rank Gabriel... He's okay. He's a good unit in battle, but he comes with no intimacy (so no comic, info, etc). Also, my guess is that they wouldn't add him to the general pool afterward either. After all, Minhyeok wasn't added after he left. Plus, my guess is they don't want to do that since they plan to release more packs, including those that sell Gabriel. Less incentive to buy his pack if you can just earn him in the general pool.

[understandableparadox]

bottom of the barrel isekai review #3

Todays review: Choose your heros carefully

two BLs in a row... i would make a gay joke at my own expense but i'll be real, gay trash is soooo much more palatable as a whole then straight trash and i'm confident enough in whatever nebulous concept i've adopted as my sexuality to say that with something resembling pride.

so what's on the chopping block? utterly psychotic middle aged men reincarnated in a world ripe for their exploitation? perhaps a swarm of hyper busty vixens parading about on the strings of someone who has no idea how to utilize them? a magic system based on some mmo where its way to clear the author was bullied in or vaguely believed a certain class should be the strongest?

SUPRISIE! WE ARENT EVEN LOOKING AT TRASH TODAY YOU UTTER HEATHENS, WE ARE LOOKING AT SOMETHING VAGUELY COOL, I FUCKING TRICKED YOU, WE AREN'T AT THE DUMPSTERS WE ARE AT THE FARMERS MARKET AND WERE HITTING THE ANTIQUE STORE, GENDER AMBIGUOUS PARENTAL FIGURE WANTS TO PICK UP SOME VINTAGE COOKWARE TO SPICE UP THE GODDAMN KITCHEN

Ramblings aside, my established format usually stats that we have a short opening related to the title then a not so brief summation of the story, but this time the summation of the story will in fact be nothing more than a summation, as I genuinely think you should go ahead and read through this title.

our titular hero shane has been bullied by his friend to play test his beta for a gacha game

a game in which you use magical stones to revive ancient heroes and command them to destroy a collection of horrors from some demonic realm.

shane awakens after a long day of Gameing and finds that he is now stuck within this world, a magical divine sheep provides him after some prodding some game functions, along with a single stone to summon his first hero. from there, the trio set off to solve the darkness of the world and find a way to return back to whence they came. solveing the other mysteries and oddities the world holds for them.

and that's it, you ain't gonna learn a single thing more about this story from me, get the fuck out of my house...

well i'm not done yet and a little bit of this will be spoilers.

ok so why do I like this? the action is bad, the art isn't anything to write home about, the armor and weapon design makes me want to curl up in a small hole, bury me gentle please...

Well as i think i've said prior, A lot of things can be hidden if you have enough meat on the bones of it, to the point where i can ignore the guts of it being playdough and the skin being saran wrap you splashed paint over.

the story itself is overwhelmingly interested in how a world that functions through mmo and gacha logic would work. what happens when you can summon someone who is truly the pinnacle of humanity through shear luck? what about the common rabble that are only lucky enough to be able to afford one pull and end up getting some D grade shitterton, Bob the Spackle artist, special skill Crack Spackle.

what about the fact that you can just tell them to attack things and you can take a nap in the middle of a low grade dungeon? the concept of auto play but introduced to the idea of the world at large.

now lets pull out form smaller game concepts, the heroes are the only ones that can defeat the shadows, and only the summoner can control the heros. meaning that the heroes can only be as heroic as the summoner. a brave man shackled by those who even the gods have abandoned.

what about the towns in games that dont have the right vendors? the ones that cannot give the player things they want, the areas without bazaars or weapon shops or summoning areas or shop functions, what happens to them if they have no draw to keep players in them?

these are the questions that the manhwa loves to explore and I love exploring them with it. now, on to our normal questions.

"Is the underlying story, barring any other concept, good?"

Yes, its both a compelling romance with both the main character and the main love interest being good fits for each other with interesting flaws and qualities. they are not perfect and that makes them fun to follow. even without the romance the story has enough aspects for you to follow if you want to ignore the twinks prancing around.

 "on a sliding scale of min to max, how much is the author using this to explore fetish" 

0, big goose egg. unless the author has a fetish for being held in their sleep then yeah i guess thats a thing.

"How many story crutches does the author use to explore the story" 

I cant exactly see any noteworthy crutches, even the normal "game aspects" thing is something they have to specifically work towards within the story.

 "Is the author attempting to use the story as a way to explain why he is not weird."

they are trying to say that gachas are bad and I for one believe they should say it fucking louder for the rest of the world to hear.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am now going to be taking isekai requests to review on top of the ones I have set aside for myself to review. to submit an isekai, please send it to me as an ask with the site where I can read through it.

[mymarifae]

I think it's really cool you like hsr the way you do. I like queuing the fanart despite the fact I don't play the game and won't because 1 I have 5 gacha games I'm playing and 2 genshin dude. My computer prolly couldn't handle it because of genshin

But it sounds fun and interesting and if I did get into it, that would be because of the women and fighting system

Also i know nothing about Stelle but I LOVE the way you talk about her it's so cool so now I kinda like Stelle. I just love your blog tbh

Um. Yeah. Have a good day I wish you luck on future gacha and getting your moots into the game 👍

i'm having WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY more fun with hsr than i ever did with genshin (though i'm considering giving it a second chance solely for gaming. he's everything i like in a character, so...). it's like, a combination of preferring the combat system and just not being able to connect to the traveler

i'm not fond of the "silent nameless player insert" protagonist archetype. genshin leaned way too heavily into this for my tastes. the traveler was kind of a nothingburger. and it felt like they weren't very connected to the world and the people they were meeting - they just wanted to find their missing sibling and then fuck off. at least that's what i got from what i managed to play through 🤷🏾‍♀️

the trailblazer is... similar. to a certain degree. despite giving the player a pretty wide assortment of choices and like giving them the option to name stelle(or caelus I GUESS) whatever they want . stelle's personality is VERY strong. she's a fucking weirdo. she's chaotic and goofy and awkward. she likes making bad jokes. she's obsessed with digging through trash cans and trying to eat things she's not supposed to. she's canonically extremely charming despite (or Because Of) her eccentricities and she appeals to The Ladies most of all. and! she really, really, REALLY loves everyone around her. her heart is HUGE and she's so attached to her new little family and she's always expanding it. always adopting people. so like, i'm MUUUUUUUCH more invested in her journey. you get me?

i really love her :') she's such an awesome character. the protagonist archetype she's forced into limits her potential in some ways, but it's nothing i can't rewrite in my head. and! something i've noticed as hsr goes on: she been getting more and more unique spoken dialogue that the player doesn't dictate. and we get more insight to her thoughts and the way she processes all the things that happen to/around her. more glimpses of emotions that are HERS. like, her reaction to firefly's death (?). she was freaking out in the immediate aftermath - and she's usually pretty stone-faced and collected (on the surface) - and if you return to firefly's secret spot, the dreampass updates with an entry expressing more of her grief and her fury at the unfairness of it all . just UGH it's so cool to see even more of her already strong personality shining through despite certain narrative constraints. also she's the prettiest

[homegrown-blorbo-garden]

pinned post

main: @catboygirlboss

hello! this blog was created to be an original character bracket tournament (originally called the-ultimate-oc-tournament), but i became burnt out and decided to call it off. now i’ve rebranded into a blog dedicated to oc appreciation! i will reblog posts about people’s ocs to showcase them!

if you’d like your oc featured on this blog, you can:

tag this blog in your oc post,

add the tag #blorbo harvest to your oc post,

or submit a post directly to me!

if you choose to submit your post to my inbox, i recommend sending an ask saying you did so, because submissions don’t appear in my notifications and i don’t often go to my inbox tab on any of my blogs, so it could get lost ;^^

also!!! you may only share your OWN ocs with me!!! do NOT submit a post or tag a post with someone else’s ocs!!!

whitelist & blacklist

types of ocs i will feature:

characters made for original stories

characters that may not be attached to a story but are still original

furry ocs/fursonas

self inserts

fankids

characters made for other people’s original stories

characters made for existing media in general

characters that developed from au versions of existing characters that somehow evolved to the point where they’re so different from their source that you changed their names and adopted them

this list is nonexhaustive i just can’t think of everything

types of ocs i will NOT feature:

hp ocs

south park ocs

hetalia ocs

aot ocs

dsmp ocs (other mcyt themed ocs are fine i just hate dream lmao)

paw patrol ocs

oc posts made with stolen/traced art (commissioned art is fine! just credit the artist you commissioned! and if you use an art base please credit the artist and link to their base in your post!)

this list is also nonexhaustive my memory is trash

types of oc posts i’ll reblog:

intro posts

art posts

incorrect quotes

fanfiction (or whatever you call oc writing)

moodboards

physical crafts (sculptures, crochet/knitting/anything like that, themed jewelry, etc)

music/playlists

ocs made in gacha

i can’t think of anything else. get creative with it if you want!

dni

racists, sexists, transphobes, homophobes, antisemites, islamaphobes, you know the drill

prolife/anti abortion

anti endo (our system is traumagenic we're just open minded)

t*rfs, r*dfems, transmeds, etc

anti MOGAl, anti mspec lesbians, anti he/him lesbians, anti multigender, anti man in any way, basically if you exclude any gender or queer identity, get the fuck out

MAPs/pedos and their apologists

proshippers/anti antis

pro israel/anti palestine

dream supporters and HP supporters

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

The Astral Express Crew Is Family... and then there's the MC.

Getting a bit depressing here but it's 1.5 and there's no housing system yet. I'm not sure there'd be a point for one in a turn-based role-play gacha game. Exploration is the worst part of the entire game cuz it's all limited to small chunks of map at a time with nothing to actually discover. Why would they have us build a house now of all times?

The MC has no memories, no home, and no personal possessions save for the clothes on their back and whatever they find in trash bins. They literally have nowhere to go. We're this far in and they still don't have a bedroom on the magical train of wonder. No one is allowed to put their feet on the seats in the main car whether wearing shoes or not. Dan Heng has a room yet sleeps on the floor in the Archives. But all the MC has is the floor of... where?

Pretty damn obvious that the MC isn't as welcome as people claim. They barely get any sleep because ppl are always taking advantage of their generosity, and because they literally have nowhere to sleep. And that means they probably have none of the stuff that would usually come with a bedroom.

Anyway, I'm gonna write a quick fic about my frustrations about this and I'm gonna have Stelle sleeping on the floor here cuz that seems to be the best option. She's gonna line up all her little trophies on the lip of the planter there and no one is even gonna realize how that's not okay until it's too damn late.

[scarletooyoroi]

Have you given HSR a try during your free time? Any thoughts?

SUP. Sorry for the lateness on this lil number for one. Buuut! Time to answer some questions.

I have not, and for the foreseeable future don't really plan to. My intention is to wait after the 'Honeymoon Phase' of the game itself before I give it any glances in earnest. The turn based convention through a gacha/update system really hasn't found any appeal to me just yet. (The idea feels alien after playing through a ton of the FFs.) While the short range of build paths per char isn't gonna vibe with me.

On top of that, I never been the biggest fan of the high sci-fi settings with space myself. Though this does have a clear dash of fantasy.

As for in general thoughts from what I've seen of Star rail, I certainly enjoy the smaller end dialogue they've stuffed into it. Whichever writers get involved with instances like the 'golden throne' or the trash can certainly have a quirk for that dramatically descriptive humor. Beyond that? Nothing that's really going to have me compelled to just jump upon the boat.

Hope this suffices as some answers to the questions.

[maguro13-2]

Asuka : I finally won enough money to pay all that Gacha crap. But no, I only made money to give me a new bike.

Shinji : How much money did you make?

How did a girl like you made so much in a day.

Asuka : Potential millions.

Really? I thought it cost you billions?

Asuka : That's expensive, only thought I get Richer every day and make money for real. I brought a Mega Drive system from a pawn shop.

Shinji : Weren't pawn shops owned by loan sharks?

Asuka : If you promised to tell you friends not to do it. And this explains why there's rashes all over your body, and I felt really amusing or not amusing, but everyone's a critic like how they did in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Guy 1 : Did that guy gave us a box of bandages containing rashes?

Pennsylvania Guy 2 : Sure did.

*pans back*

Asuka : And where were you in the middle of a Tuesday morning?

Shinji : I was throwing some junk that I don't need.

*pans*

Shinji : *throwing some of his junk* No. Not that, don't need this, or that...

Shinji : Hmm...I could get used to it. As long I don't make crossovers with a toy company that sells train toys into transforming robots.

*Boom*

Shinji : I said I don't want to crossover with that crud! Can't Japan never force me to crossover with living toy trains that transforms into actual living robots for once!?

Misato : There goes a deposit on these Crossover contracts for toy company. 😒

*pans back*

Shinji : Last time I check, I taken out the garbage dump, when someone is already living in a garbage dump.

*pans back*

Shinji : *whistles while taking out the trash*

*trash can open*

Heartless (Black Star) : Please don't tell anyone about this. I lost my body and Tsubaki dumped me for a mask-wearing pretty guy.

Shinji : Dude! Sad story, already known that! Just Get out of my trash!

*he slams heartless with bag of garbage*

Shinji : What is wrong with these people?

*pans back*

Shinji : So any regrets that you had something to do with that.

Asuka : No can do...I just got myself a manicure, for my awesome lady pecs.

Shinji : Having muscles looks makes you look like a kami.

Asuka : But muscles girls are Kamis...And look what what am I now!

Shinji : What's so great about muscles girls who are Kamis that...

*dramatic cue*

Shinji : Oh my Flipping Gosh!

*Dramatic cue*

[cues Pillar Men theme]

Asuka as a Muscle Girl : Like me being buff?

*flexes and does poses*

Asuka as a Muscle Girl : Behold! The power of a Kami!

Shinji : What the...?

Rei : Oi, Shinji-kun...Does this make me look big?

Shinji : Rei, something's weird going on, I've seen some stuff on the internet, but-*Gasp* HOLY FISH PASTE WHAT IS THAT!?

*Rei is now also a Muscle Girl*

Rei : I only wanted a try out this Kami form.

Misato as a Muscle Girl : Hey, Shinji. You wanna git the beach to see this buff bod? *Shows her guns*

Shinji : Oh i'm gonna get boned by a bunch of lady pecs.

Mari : Oh Shinji Kun~I got a surprise for you.

Shinji : Mari. Oh thank goodness, at least you aren't one of these guys that turns into a Kami.

Mari : Of course I won't be turning into Kami, because I'm already am!

*she shows Shinji her sweet tight Abs*

Shinji : HOLY MOLY! YOU HAVE SOME ABSOLUTELY PERFECT ABS!!!

Mari : Now let's see who's going to get creamed.

Shinji : Uhh, ladies. Can't we work this out? I'm sure that we can have an opportunity that we should do some minor damages and...*bumps into something* Huh? There's one behind me is there?

Asuka : Oh yeah.

Shinji : I knew it. If I'm gonna get my pelvis crushed, this is the part where I start screaming before my life is over. *Screams with horror*

*his mouth engulfs the camera*

Eventually, he himself was in a dream.

Shinji : Huh? What time is it?

Asuka : Dude. You're daydreaming about us haven't you.

Shinji : Where am I? What place is this.

Misato : This is a Hospital, you were in a bicycle accident when riding down a hill.

Shinji : And I was in weirdly fashion that all of you were muscle girls and I a virgin get my pelvis crushed. Also, why is fire boy here in a hospital bed.

Shinra : I have malnutrition, that me who got stabbed in the stomach was my stunt double.

Shinji : So much for extra credit. I'm finally good with all my peoples hanging around. Everything's normal. No muscle girl in plain sight.

Asuka : Oh really? Guess that's all right. As long as Rei have something for you.

*Shows their perfect abs for real this time*

Asuka : one hundred a grade style.

*Sonic SFX : Cashier sound*

Shinji : Jackpot!

22 Minutes later, Shinji Ikari was given major beatings by Asuka for having an erection.

Tomska : The End.

[switch]

Holy shit I didn’t know they were EOSing ffbe sorry, they do have war of visions which is a spin off of that but I don’t know how spreadsheets that is. Man that game was vile though, legitimately one of the worst gacha systems I’ve ever experience with pools of 3* units that would appear with like 7-8* being only viable, legit hundreds upon hundreds of trash units taking up space. But again a ton of min maxing

yeah squeenix does tend to kill off shit faster than people can keep up with…. that description reminds me a bit of my brief stint with feh….

i’m still not even exactly sure what gets my brain to latch onto a game‘a minmaxing/spreadsheet/challenge side or not because i’ve played lots of games where that’s a feature but just haven’t felt quite as compelled…. the next closest i ever got was probably nocturne…

[circood]

Alright, I'm going to get my thoughts on gachas and specifically their monetization systems off in one long post. This is really just a way to organize my own thoughts on the matter.

In short, I think that if you have a gambling problem then gacha games are bad and you should stay away from them. If you don't then I don't think they're worse than any other f2p model.

To me any gacha with a transparent pity system is essentially just offering their characters outright for the price it takes to guarantee them. So if you need 180 rolls to 100% guarantee a character, then they cost 180 rolls and maybe there's a slight chance they'll cost less.

Of course, many people object to having any gameplay features be locked behind what is essentially gambling. And I do think it's bad, but I don't think it's THAT worse than most other f2p models. Assuming again you aren't predisposed to gambling problems. And even then, cosmetic gambling like TF2 crates are just as exploitative of gambling addiction as gachas. Just because they don't affect gameplay doesn't mean they don't prey on people.

But back to my point, live service games need to keep people playing and spending to maintain and update the game, and so inherently they need to design their game in a way that encourages this. Many MMOs literally lock you away from your character when you stop paying, and they're designed with a lot of grinding to drag out your play time. Even MMO stories require constant new areas and big events to keep people coming back, which makes telling a concise story almost impossible.

I think a lot of "gacha problems" are just "live service problems" that people look past when it comes to MMOs and other constantly updated games.

And of course, all of this assumes that the gachas I'm talking about DO NOT require meta teams to play through most of the content. This isn't a problem for most popular gachas (certainly not Mihoyo games), but any game that has you hit a wall until you spend money is absolute trash.

Honestly, as much as people see gachas as a supremely greedy genre, they are one of the few types of games that you can play completely free and still enjoy almost all of the content. I don't know, I guess I just don't care about having access to every character when I play a game. I don't try to unlock every character in LoL or Warframe, and hell even in pokemon I usually stick with a team of 6. Getting a new character every 2 months or so from the free currency in gachas just doesn't feel to me like that much of a gameplay impact. Especially when the only difficult content in the game that arguably needs meta builds is like a 10 minute fight every month that rewards you with a single roll and has no impact on story like Genshin lmao

Ultimately even after defending gachas for so long I still prefer real games that you pay once for and own forever, but I don't think you can really compare games that are meant to keep updating forever to games that are meant to be a self-contained experience. What each type of game is going for is just too different.

Anyway this was just disorganized stream of consciousness spewing thoughts before I go to bed

Sorry

[blackwell-the-void-wendigo]

Welcome to my domain Mortals, Immortals and all in between.

Rules:

Do NOT trash my void.

Do not bring any drama!

LGBTQ+ phobic people are not welcome nor allowed here.

Ageres, Systems and anyone on that spectrum are allowed!

Do not disrespect me.

Sexualities MOCKING the LGBTQ+ community aren't welcome nor allowed here!

Be respectful to each other even if I like the chaos.

Racism isn't allowed!

Gacha Heaters, Animal Abusers and Child Abusers aren't welcome nor allowed here.

Name: Blackwell

Age: 13.8 billion

Gender: Nonbinary

Pronouns: He/They/Void

Sexuality: Pansexual

(Feel free to start an RP and this is a side blog of @dadtrap-the-nonbinary-pirate )

The ask box is open.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Too Much of a Good Thing

I've been on this FGO grind for a few months now and it has been absolutely ridiculous. The speed that I've been leveling up does not match the pace of difficulty in this game. Like, i finally got my Mordred and have already leveled her to ninety-two, maxed out her attack and health, sans the limit break because f*ck the drop rate for those Solaris and Meteor Fous. Those things are the real Holy Grails in this game because, yeesh. My Mordred is nowhere near the powerhouse she used to be but the grind is progressing along just peachy. I'll get there, eventually, but it's going to be a goddamn problem because, holy sh*t, where are all the goddamn Servants?

It's been around four months or so since i decided to dip my toes back into this hellscape of a game and i still lack firepower in a big ass way. I've probably spent around two hundred bucks on it,which is a far cry from what i spent on my first account, and i have next to nothing to show for it. Sure, i got my Mordred but that was a gift. You get the opportunity to pick a single, five-star Servant after you complete one of those levels. I think the USA one but i can't remember. Either way, of course i picked Mordred and the rest of my roster has been at the mercy of the gacha and these motherf*ckers have not been kind. I mean, they have, to an extent, but, like, in an awkward as way. Almost every other mobile game I've played, the gacha has been relatively forgiving with a pity system. Some are better than others (Azur Lane is borderline agreeable) but Fate/Grand Order is not. These motherf*ckers almost never drop a five-star and all of the four-stars are SUBSTANTIALLY weaker. It's not even a joke.

More than that, all i f*cking pull is Sabers! Look, Saber is my favorite Class, Mo-chan, but let's be real right now: You can't win this game with an army of Sabers, even if they are strong as f*ck. If an Archer is even close to a Saber's level, that Saber is going to die a dog's death and, guess what? The first fight in Camelot, exactly where i am right now, are f*cking Archer class Evil Eyes! I have no gold Lancers, whatsoever. None. That means the highest level Lancer i have is a goddamn three-star and that ain't sh*t. I've been making a run at the Banners whenever i can and all i got was f*cking Craft Essences. That's where all my five-star pulls went, to support cards. How ridiculous is that? I have some of the strongest support cards in the game, laughably overpowered buffs like Noble Phantasm charged at eighty percent plus a solid attack boost, and no goddamn servants worth equipping them to outside of Mordred, Cleopatra, and goddamn Altira! The f*ck, dude?

Seriously, once you count those three, toss in an Oberon, Osakabihime, Berserker Vlad III, and Qin Shi Huang, the rest of my five-star Servants are Sabers! All of them. I pulled a Sigurd and an Okita Souji. Of my nine five-stars, four of them are goddamn Sabers! Are you kidding me? Spread the goddamn love, yo! Like, i have two, five-star Assassins and no Casters! The strongest Caster i have? Four-goddamn-stars! I'm glad i pulled Cleo, she's arguably the strongest Assassin I've ever popped outside of King Hassan, but what the f*ck? Anastasia exists and i can't even attempt to to pull her because she's locked behind Lostbelt progression and i don't have the strength to even attempt those goddamn stories yet! Archer is even worse. I alluded to it earlier but the strongest Archer i have is a goddamn three-star! Literally, so many on my roster are three-star trash, i can't even cope. How am i supposed to beat this game with garbage like this? I swear to god it's on purpose because the only way to make any of this better is to hit those Banners hard and, with these pathetic drop rates, you absolutely have to spend loot to get the necessary Saint Quarts. Fate/Grand Order is a whole ass scam and I can't even stay away. I always find my way back to this sh*tshow because I adore Type-Moon that much.

[smokeybrand]

Too Much of a Good Thing

I've been on this FGO grind for a few months now and it has been absolutely ridiculous. The speed that I've been leveling up does not match the pace of difficulty in this game. Like, i finally got my Mordred and have already leveled her to ninety-two, maxed out her attack and health, sans the limit break because f*ck the drop rate for those Solaris and Meteor Fous. Those things are the real Holy Grails in this game because, yeesh. My Mordred is nowhere near the powerhouse she used to be but the grind is progressing along just peachy. I'll get there, eventually, but it's going to be a goddamn problem because, holy sh*t, where are all the goddamn Servants?

It's been around four months or so since i decided to dip my toes back into this hellscape of a game and i still lack firepower in a big ass way. I've probably spent around two hundred bucks on it,which is a far cry from what i spent on my first account, and i have next to nothing to show for it. Sure, i got my Mordred but that was a gift. You get the opportunity to pick a single, five-star Servant after you complete one of those levels. I think the USA one but i can't remember. Either way, of course i picked Mordred and the rest of my roster has been at the mercy of the gacha and these motherf*ckers have not been kind. I mean, they have, to an extent, but, like, in an awkward as way. Almost every other mobile game I've played, the gacha has been relatively forgiving with a pity system. Some are better than others (Azur Lane is borderline agreeable) but Fate/Grand Order is not. These motherf*ckers almost never drop a five-star and all of the four-stars are SUBSTANTIALLY weaker. It's not even a joke.

More than that, all i f*cking pull is Sabers! Look, Saber is my favorite Class, Mo-chan, but let's be real right now: You can't win this game with an army of Sabers, even if they are strong as f*ck. If an Archer is even close to a Saber's level, that Saber is going to die a dog's death and, guess what? The first fight in Camelot, exactly where i am right now, are f*cking Archer class Evil Eyes! I have no gold Lancers, whatsoever. None. That means the highest level Lancer i have is a goddamn three-star and that ain't sh*t. I've been making a run at the Banners whenever i can and all i got was f*cking Craft Essences. That's where all my five-star pulls went, to support cards. How ridiculous is that? I have some of the strongest support cards in the game, laughably overpowered buffs like Noble Phantasm charged at eighty percent plus a solid attack boost, and no goddamn servants worth equipping them to outside of Mordred, Cleopatra, and goddamn Altira! The f*ck, dude?

Seriously, once you count those three, toss in an Oberon, Osakabihime, Berserker Vlad III, and Qin Shi Huang, the rest of my five-star Servants are Sabers! All of them. I pulled a Sigurd and an Okita Souji. Of my nine five-stars, four of them are goddamn Sabers! Are you kidding me? Spread the goddamn love, yo! Like, i have two, five-star Assassins and no Casters! The strongest Caster i have? Four-goddamn-stars! I'm glad i pulled Cleo, she's arguably the strongest Assassin I've ever popped outside of King Hassan, but what the f*ck? Anastasia exists and i can't even attempt to to pull her because she's locked behind Lostbelt progression and i don't have the strength to even attempt those goddamn stories yet! Archer is even worse. I alluded to it earlier but the strongest Archer i have is a goddamn three-star! Literally, so many on my roster are three-star trash, i can't even cope. How am i supposed to beat this game with garbage like this? I swear to god it's on purpose because the only way to make any of this better is to hit those Banners hard and, with these pathetic drop rates, you absolutely have to spend loot to get the necessary Saint Quarts. Fate/Grand Order is a whole ass scam and I can't even stay away. I always find my way back to this sh*tshow because I adore Type-Moon that much.