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lilyblackdrawside · 2 months ago

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Sand Reckoner the bizarrely underpowered operator

I will lead with this image:

I raised him. I’m not just speaking from a theoretical point. I didn’t just look at his numbers on the wiki and immediately realize just how bad he is, I played with him. There’s no „Well maybe he only looks bad on paper but in practice it somehow works out.“ He’s bad. And the way he’s bad is so strange.

Let’s just go over his kit first:

He’s a Summoner, his summons deploy on ranged tiles, attack at range and deal Arts damage. His talent, standard Summoner baggage aside, lets him and his Clockwork Fowlbeasts (which are very cute) deal 20% more damage to Machine(sic) enemies.

His first skill „Winding Up“ gives him and all of his summons +60 ASPD for 10 seconds. It has 20 initial SP, costs 30 SP on Auto Recovery and has automatic activation.

His second skill „Weighing the Scales“ immediately replenishes his stock of summons by 1, gives him him and his summons +40% ATK and high weight targeting priority, makes his summons inflict Slow on targets for 1 second and lasts for 20 seconds. It has 20 initial SP, costs 40 SP on Auto Recovery and has manual activation.

His module is the X type, upgrading his Trait to make his first deployed summon not take up deployment limit, gives him +120 HP and +40 ATK and upgrades his talent to give him and his summons +8 ASPD in addition to its other effect.

So let’s state the obvious right away: This sucks ass.

What’s up with his talent? Sure, having an anti-Machina operator would be great! He even deals fully arts damage and Machina enemies pretty much always have low Res and high Def. But why 20%? TWENTY PERCENT???? Fellow 5 Star operator Toddifons deals 1 7 0 % damage to Sarkaz enemies. 150% without module. And no, Sand Reckoner does not get a talent upgrade via Potentials. He gets +8 Res, like all the other 5 star Summoners.

Glaucus deals 180% to Drones. Arene deals +58% damage against Drones. Grain Buds’ Slow goes from 0.8 seconds to like 1.8 seconds against Wild Beast enemies (which don’t exist), that’s +125% duration. Irene gets 18 ASPD (and optionally +5% ATK) not even when fighting Sea Monsters, but just when one is on the field and that's just a bonus condition on her talent, causing its effects to double. Underflow’s anti-Sea Monster bonus is kinda limp, but it's the same deal as Irene's so it's fine

TWENTY PERCENT????????

And what’s the deal with his skill numbers?

+60 ASPD? For 10 seconds?? 30 SP??? AUTO ACTIVATION????? I’d rather have Swift Strike Beta!

+40% ATK and some utility is also just awful.

„Oh but he’s a Summoner! That 20% applies to him and all his little birdies so if you have 3 on field that’s basically +80% damage from his talent! +240 ASPD on S1! +160% ATK from S2!“

That’s not how that works, but I won’t even explain it because here are some other Summoner skills:

Scene S1: +60% ATK and Camouflage for all of her buggies. Not herself though. 60 SP, Infinite duration. Scene S2: Restock a summon, +130% ATK, +130% DEF, +20 RES. 30 SP, 20s duration. (stuns all summons for 5s when it expires but that’s genuinely whatever) Deepcolor S1: +60% ATK and DEF, 70 hps regeneration. 30 SP, 30s duration. (She’s a 4 star.) Ling S1: Restock a summon, +50% ATK and ASPD for her and her summons, summons deal Arts damage. 25 SP, 25s duration. Ling S3: Restock a summon on expire, +100% ATK and DEF, each summon gets a 20% Ling ATK damage aura. 40 SP, 30 seconds. Magallan S2: +150 ASPD for everyone, summons get AOE. 38 SP, 15s duration. (summons retreat on expire) Magallan S3: +150% ATK for everyone, summons have larger splash. 38 SP, 15s duration. (summons retreat on expire)

If Sand Reckoner could activate both of his skills at the same time, he would still get less of a damage increase than Ling with just S1 active. It’s that bad. He also deals less damage in that scenario than Scene S2 and both of Magallan’s skills.

He can’t do with BOTH OF HIS SKILLS what other Summoners do with ONE. And they don’t have to deal with Auto Activation nonsense.

Scene’s S2 self stun is only 5 seconds. You can just retreat a buggie and put a new one on top of it if you really need it blocking at that point.

Magallan’s full retreat after her skills is an UPSIDE. It’s what makes her more difficult to use, but lets her so easily reposition her drone fleet to let you use your foresight to be in the right spot at the right time with it.

His S2 has worse cost and same duration as Scene’s and she gets more than three times the ATK from hers, huge defensive stats and also greatly increased invisibility reveal radius. It’s not a difference of utility on his skills dampening the raw stats they give. His S1 has NEGATIVE UTILITY and gives S I X T Y ASPD for TEN SECONDS.

So at this point it looks pretty rough for him. You could say that his summons being ranged attackers is an upside, which yeah, sure. But it also comes with its own issues, like having to sit on ranged tiles and not being able to serve as blockers. Less of an upside, more of a sideside.

What if I told you that it gets worse?

Let’s check those summon stats.

These are every Summoner’s summons’ stats, including the varied types for Magallan’s and Ling’s different skills. Guess which line is for Sand Reckoner’s yeah that’s right it’s the line with THE WORST STATS ACROSS THE BOARD

Alright, so let’s clean this up a little.

I’m removing Deepcolor, Scene, Mayer and Ling S1 and S3 from this because they’re all melee summons, so of course they have better defensive stats. They do also have better ATK and Attack Interval though, keep that in mind. Then I’m cutting MagallanF, which is her S1 summon that only slows.

Alright, now it’s looking kinda palateable.

To explain the „Range“ section: SPC means Splash Caster range, CCR means Core Caster range, 0 can only target its own tile.

Magallan’s summons not only always have 2000 HP, they’re also Invisible for a while after summonings. That’s Invisibility, not Camouflage. They ignore everything. Having 200 def is also meaningfully more than 100 as a ranged unit cause it lets you take less damage from basic enemy snipers.

Magallan’s S3 drone has the same range as Sand Reckoner’s summons, but also deals splash damage. Think of them as a small Artilleryman Sniper. Ling’s S2 dragons (funny that I call them that when Magallan’s drones are named „Soaring Dragon“) have the same basic framework as Sand Reckoner’s summons, but get to have Core Caster range, which is a big deal. That little nipple of range makes a huge difference.

Magallan’s S2 drones are pretty special, cause they just drill the tile they’re on for arts damage and with her skill active kinda decimate whatever is on there. They’re very clunky, but quite potent.

Ultimately it comes down to the closest comparison being Ling's S2 dragons and yeah, just worse stats. We already realized this like a page ago. I even added an extra line for Ling at Elite 2 Level 1, at which point her summons STILL have better stats so the argument that she’s a 6 star and gets more levels doesn’t hold water either.

„Oh but they cost 1 more DP.“ Yeah. Yeah they sure do. Here are her S2 dragons’ stats with her module (she only has the one):

I calculated the +8 ASPD his module gives into his summons’ Attack Interval for convenience.

So not only are his numbers terrible on the surface, they’re also bad in the details. It’s incredible how much they fucked him. There’s really no possible reason for his skills to be like this. Unless...

He’s a year one operator who arrived very late. This easily explains why his skills' costs and durations are so terrible. The only thing that’s missing is the module that he would’ve eventually gotten that’d have fixed his issues. Because he debuted with a module, so the power boost was already accounted for and it doesn’t do shit for him.

You could slap a 1 in front of both of his skills’ stat buffs and he’d be a fine operator. I guess that’d be another explanation for why he’s so bad. Whoever typed in his numbers fumbled typing „160“ and „140“ respectively on his skills and hit 2 instead of 5 on the numpad when inputting the damage boost his talent gives.

But no, this can’t be filed as an accident or attributed to cluelessness on the designers’ part. We’re in like year 5. Sure, it’s been a while since the last Summoner, but they’ve had five others to look at for reference to scale his numbers properly and plenty of other anti-enemy-type operators to compare to as well.

If Sand Reckoner was a functional operator, I’d hardly even give a shit about him. He’s kinda cute, he’d functionally fill the niche of being an anti-Machina operator, he’d be another Summoner to play around with and that’d have been it. But now we have this absolute time-shifted year 1 disaster operator who keeps me up at night with how bad he is (lie).

#arknights #long post

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genshin-impact-updates · 8 months ago

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"Marvelous Merchandise" Event: Open Boxes o' Marvels and Get Primogems

〓Event Duration〓

2024/11/11 10:00:00 – 2024/11/18 03:59:59

〓Event Rewards〓

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 12 or above

〓Event Details〓

● Liben will randomly provide Travelers with seven different types of Box o' Marvels rewards. Travelers can preview the contents of each Box o' Marvels before opening them. Rewards may change based on game progress, and Travelers can enter other players' worlds to exchange for their desired Box o' Marvels rewards.

● After trading in materials a total of 5 times, players may open a Mega Box o' Marvels which provides Travelers with additional rewards that include Primogems, Hero's Wit, Mystic Enhancement Ore, and Mora.

※ Travelers can only get up to 1 chance per day to submit materials. Note that when the rewards refresh daily, the opportunity to submit materials, if unused, will be lost.

※ Claiming Box o' Marvels rewards will not grant Encounter Points.

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #genshin impact news #official #events

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lincolndjarin · 2 months ago

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hollow star ⊹₊⟡⋆ ch. one

chapter one : when flesh meets steal

ao3 kofi main masterlist (series masterlist coming soon )

pairing: din djarin x scientist!reader

rating: 18+ mdni - check chapter tags for cws

word count : 6.1k

summary: Din agrees to help you when he's sees the credits you're offering in exchange for protection, after all, it's a simple mission. Artifact retrieval and data collection.

That's what you told him.

And why wouldn't he believe you?

tags: strangers to lovers, horror, non-consensual voyeurism, slowburn, psycological horror, fear

70,000 CREDITS - PRIVATE ESCORT DETAIL : FREELANCE OPERATIVES ONLY

SERVICE TYPE: Discreet Escort / Protection Detail

DURATION: 2 weeks (approximately)

LOCATION: Classified - Outer Rim, unregistered planet (coordinates provided upon meeting)

COMPENSATION: 140,000 credits, 70,000 upfront, and the remainder upon completion of the job. (an additional 10,000 credits will be provided for every day of service required after the initial 2 weeks.)

BONUS: Hazard pay negotiable based on situational escalation.

REQUIREMENTS: Combat experience, (soldier or soldier adjacent is preferable) must be familiar with navigation and willing to travel through hostile terrain. Preferably a ship that does not require a crew and has a solo operator. (negotiable) Must not be affiliated with the New Republic, or any Jedi-aligned factions.

Private client requiring an armed escort for the purpose of a personal research trip. The objective being artifact retrieval and/or data extraction. No combat is anticipated but the client requests protection against potential scavengers or environmental threats. Client will not be armed. No questions asked, no answers expected, discretion is non-negotiable.

There’s several blocked lines of text at the bottom of his monitor, encrypted information about the client that makes him furrow his brow. The black screen flickers a bit, his thoughts accompanied by the quiet hum of the space that surrounds the Razor Crest. 140,000 credits is nothing to scoff at, it’s the type of payment he’d expect on a high risk job, or something far more sinister than this. That kind of money is often offered up for jobs that most people wouldn’t choose because of its morality. Hit’s put out on children, or the defenseless. Or at the very least something that would take well over a few months.

Not this, not a simple in and out escort job.

The redacted information is concerning. Too concerning, even with the payout promised. His fingers type into the system for a few moments, trying to push through what he knows to be simple defenses put up by the guild before the screen blinks and the text is easily revealed to him. With a pleased sigh he sits back in his chair and reads.

Client shows signs of previous Imperial affiliation, though not flagged for war crimes. Known history with a classified archives division. Linguist, no combat personnel history. Last known activity listed as an unexplained incident with a vault located at Station Mourna 2. (now sealed.) Was assigned to the Imperial Historical Recovery Taskforce, or I-HRT, division 12. No last known location. No existing warrants or bounties on head.

The Imperial affiliation stands out to him but it reads like they had very little to do with anything more than their history department. Which seems benign enough and would explain the exorbitant fee. They can simply afford it.

But there’s just something off about the listing.

It should be so simple, it’s a clean cut job, a bit clinical, but nothing of the sort would be required of him. It’s the top left corner of the screen that makes him the most hesitant.

36 applications received, 0 accepted.

The client clearly requires someone experienced, it can’t even be seen by anyone without a certain guild clearance level but 0 acceptances out of 36? It’s unheard of, even with the pickiest clients. Anyone who would have applied at this point would have been more than qualified.

Maybe the client is particular about certain things, or maybe they already found someone and forgot to remove the listing. Either way it’s simply too tempting to resist any longer. He needs the money, or at the very least he needs the distance.

He can’t just keep waiting here, burning through fuel, for something that is never going to happen.

He enters his guild code, fingers lingering above the send button before finally clicking it. Rocking back in the pilot's seat he lets his head fall back. Accepting the fact that he won’t be receiving a response before the message has even been fully sent out.

So the immediate chime made by the ship's notification system is more than a shock as he sits back up.

Congratulations! Your application has been accepted! The client will be waiting for you on : CORUSCANT

Attached you will find the message provided by the client, best of luck!

I would like to be retrieved as quickly as possible from the Kaelen Memorial Travel Port. Payment will be exchanged immediately after boarding. Your haste is appreciated.

Dr. Thorne

The response makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He can’t place the sense of dread this all fills him with but unfortunately his mind is made up. A lot of things fill him with dread these days, so he might as well make a little money.

It’s not like he has anything left to lose.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Sleep doesn’t come easy to him.

It never has, but especially not these last few months. Almost always it’s just simple restlessness, a refusal to turn off the hunters instincts and relax. Waking up in a sweat after a dream of just barely snagging a bounty, or finding himself at the end of a blaster being wielded by one of the many nameless faces he’s turned in over the years.

Tonight is different though. Tonight he sinks into sleep slowly, but deeply.

When he wakes up he’s met with a feeling he hasn’t felt in decades.

The wind.

Cold, and sharp against his face as he cautiously gets to his feet. He’s standing in a field of ash, no visible sky above, only more grey and smoke.

He manages to pull himself together enough to realize he’s dreaming but it doesn’t make him any less disoriented. His hands find his face, scratching at the unfamiliar sting of air on his flesh. Looking around and trying to take in his surroundings proves fruitless until something slowly slips through the smoke above him. Swaying back and forth in the breeze until it gingerly lands in his open hands.

A feather.

A dainty, black feather.

When he shifts his gaze upwards to find the source he finally finds something else in the endless expanse of space around him. A star.

Although it’s barely that at all.

Hanging from a mess of wires is a poorly made steel outline of a star, desperately trying to stay together as a few sparks twitch out of the exposed cables within. It tries to flicker, to turn on but all it manages is a pathetic glow from the hollow space within. It isn’t a normal light it emits either, he immediately recognizes it as the same glow made by the darksaber, instinctively he reaches for his hip to find it but only grabs air. Looking down in search of it forcefully makes him drop down a foot into the ash.

Before he can find his footing he sinks again, another jolt down so that he’s up to his knees in ash. Frantically, he tries to hold onto something, anything, but there’s only more grainy ash, he finds no purchase as he sinks, quicker, and quicker, unable to hold on any longer he takes a deep breath, preparing for the punishing lack of oxygen he’s about to be faced with.

And then he wakes up.

Gasping, and clawing at the single sheet that lines the mattress in his bunk.

It’s a tight squeeze when he leverages himself out, falling to his knees in the cargo hold of the ship, wildly ripping his helmet off before the air can properly depressurize, giving himself a sharp pain in his temples. He’s too desperate for air to care about the headache he’s gonna have for the rest of the day.

⊹₊⟡⋆

It’s late.

The port you’ve requested boarding at isn’t one he’s familiar with. Coruscant is a large planet though, and there’s plenty of places in the galaxy that he’s never been to. As he approaches the first thing he notes is how dark it is. The entire planet is lit up, especially from a distance. The mass of cities and the vibrant nightlife keep the planet well lit. Unfortunately for him, it seems you’ve chosen the only dark patch on the entire planet. It isn’t easy to calibrate the landing because of the lack of light, he can’t see anything clearly but it appears to be completely empty so he picks a random spot and prepares himself.

The ship hovers above the crumbling refueling station, slowly descending before landing with a hiss of air. For the price attached to the job he certainly wasn’t expecting to dock in such a shitty spot. Unsure of what to expect he makes his way to the loading dock and lowers the ramp, before it even reaches the stone pathway a pair of boots land on the edge.

Instinctively his hand twitches to his blaster as he assesses the figure.

Alone, cloaked, and calm. Before him stands who he is certain must be his client. He was expecting a stony faced doctor, someone older, someone that looked like they’d spent plenty of time out in the field.

Which is why he’s taken aback by the sight of you.

Doe-eyed, looking out of place in the dark robes that adorn your body, the only out of place thing about you is the small pale scar along your jaw. In one swift motion you drag a large suitcase up onto the platform behind you.

“Worn, but efficient.” Are the first words out of your mouth as you take in the sights of the ship, as if he isn’t standing directly in front of you. “I suppose this will do.” Nodding to yourself you finally let your gaze settle in him, a smile that doesn’t quite meet your eyes adorns your face. “Hello, Mandalorian.” It’s almost posed as a question, you want confirmation that you’re in the right place despite the fact that he’s standing before you in full beskar armour.

He isn’t sure how to respond. The client information section of the listing flashes through his mind as he stares.

Imperial affiliation.

Your outfit surely suggests that but the rest of you screams inexperienced. He hasn’t ever seen someone who looks so unprepared for a field job. And he finds himself experiencing a feeling he’s only ever felt a handful of times in his life.

Surprised.

But you can’t know that.

He’s supposed to be the seasoned bounty hunter who can handle anything thrown his direction. At least that’s what you’re paying for. Convinced his voice will betray him, he only nods at you.

“Good, I’m Dr. Thorne, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Stepping further up onto the ship you hold your hand out towards him. With robotic movements he gives you a quick and firm handshake before immediately withdrawing. Even through his gloves he can feel just how cold you are.

With every passing second he’s regretting this decision more and more.

“I appreciate your punctuality.” You rock slowly, back and forth on your heels as you size him up, making no attempts at being subtle. “And you’re taller than I expected. Not an issue, just something of note.” You force a laugh but he still doesn’t speak. Partly because he isn’t the chatty type but also because he just doesn’t know what to say. Your tone is too clinical, like he’s a patient and you’re his doctor. “And you haven’t interrupted me once, which is… polite, I suppose.” He can’t decide if you’re joking so he continues to nod.

Everything about you is odd, it gives him a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. This is why he doesn’t usually take escort jobs. They require too much talking, it’s been so long since he’s had someone aboard that wasn’t a bounty he can’t even discern if this is typical conversation. You’re too clinical, too detached from your words, if it weren’t for your constant twitching and unpredictable muscle spasms he’d have thought you were a droid. He has to remind himself that you’re just a person, and he’s met plenty of people, some over twice your size, and never once felt intimidated.

With an indiscernible shiver he shakes off the feeling, after all there is no direct threat here, just discomfort, and he’s more than well equipped to handle a little discomfort.

“Would you mind directing me to my chambers so that I might deposit my belongings before we proceed?” The naivety of your statement makes him scoff, and briefly his walls break down. You’re about to be in for a rude awakening as he tilts his head to the left, the airlock doors open on a small storage compartment. Clearly a space used to store weapons or fuel, that has been cleaned and haphazardly refurbished with a cot, a steel dresser, and a storage trunk.

But you are completely unshaken.

Despite your neatly kept robes and hair pulled back is a strict tie you show no signs of distress at the tiny living space.

“Well this is easy enough.” You grunt a little, dragging your large bag forward, tossing it into the compartment before turning to face him once more, riffling around in your robe pockets and presenting him with a large satchel that jingles with the sound of credits as you hold it out politely towards him.

“You don’t seem up for conversation so I suppose we should just get on with it then.” You click your tongue, softly, it doesn’t seem like you even realized that you did it. “Perhaps I should try speaking your language. My plans are as follows; I would like safe and comfortable transportation to my desired location. When we arrive I would like you to accompany me as I conduct my research. It is nothing of great importance, more of a personal project of mine, I’d like to retrieve an artifact for my personal collection. It isn’t considered particularly valuable by any means, it’s just something significant to the niche of research that I’ve devoted my life to. While I am willing to share more information on it I’d rather not and I’d be willing to bet that you don’t want to hear it anyway so I think it would be for the best to keep it that way. I am not anticipating a need for protection, the site was condemned ages ago, but I find that preparing for the worst case scenario is best. You will accompany me. I will examine the ruins, collect samples and data, and when I’m done, we will board the ship and you will bring me back here.”

Your eyes dart down to the credits and then back up to his visor.

“70,000 credits, as promised upon arrival. With another 70,000 to be transferred electronically automatically at the end of the two week period along with a bonus for your discretion.” The end of your sentence drifts off to a whisper as you wait for him to accept.

You barely breathed during your ramblings and his brain is fighting to process everything at the same speed as your voice.

A moment of eerie silence swallows the space around them, something of significance that he can’t quite place, nor can he discern if you feel it too. A sour taste in his mouth and the feeling of bile rising in his throat, a feeling of being watched, all eyes on him. Waiting for him to make the choice, the right choice.

And as he thinks it over you react with enough tiny tells to finally let him know that you’re just as nervous.

You’re in a constant state of motion, even when you appear to be still, as if there’s something under your skin keeping you going.

But it was foolish of you to even think you could hide from him, he was trained to do this, to read a situation like this with deadly precision, despite how low stakes it might look to an outsider he can feel the weight of the situation, heavy on his chest as his eyes roam the oncoming storm that is you.

The way your jaw ticks, the subtle flex of the muscles in your cheek as you fight the urge to grind your teeth. Your nails chewed down to the quick, and the skin around them red and angry from nervous scratching and picking. The color of your undereyes is just a little too bright, you’re covering up something with makeup, almost certainly dark under eyes. The scar that runs along the bottom of your jaw is barely visible when you’re facing forward but he can tell it’s old, it healed long ago but everytime you look in the mirror you’re reminded of whatever it was that gave it to you. Oddly enough, the culmination of all of this is enough to finally relax him a bit. It’s what finally makes you human in his eyes.

You put on a good show.

At first glance he was entirely convinced that you were this mysterious, calculating Imperial doctor, but he can see through all of that with a closer look. You’re a survivor. You’re scared of whatever mission it is that you’re about to embark on, but you’re not the threat you try to discreetly present yourself as.

“Trust is expensive out here.” The stare of wide eyed innocence you give him makes up his mind as he holds his own hand out and accepts the credits. You visibly exhale when he does. “I just hope that with this, I’ve earned yours.”

The nod he gives you provides no promises, you’d be stupid to think that he trusts you, but at the very least you’re putting some trust in him.

And that’s enough to make him speak his first words to you. The question that’s been on his mind since he saw your listing.

“Where are we going?” He can immediately tell that how ragged his voice is from disuse is startling. He can’t seem to recall the last time he had to speak.

Politely, and anticipating this question you reach into your robes once more before producing a small slip of paper with coordinates neatly written on them.

“I don’t know the name of the planet, it’s old and I haven’t been able to find many records of an official title.” He’s quickly realizing that you speak like you rehearsed this all, it’s an odd, robotic, tone. It makes him want to ask more but he knows that he probably wouldn’t like any answer you gave him, the way you speak unsettles him. Instead of dwelling he tries to map out in his mind how long the trip will be from here to this mystery planet based on the coordinates.

“Should be about two days of travel, is there anything else you need before we leave?” He has rations set aside for the two of you but with the possible end date of this job being ambiguous it’s troubling to think that all you have is one bag. “I have enough rations stored away for four weeks worth of travel, with four days total in round trip travel time I’d advise you to make sure you’re properly equipped.” You aren’t looking at him anymore, instead your eyes wander and begin to study the ship around you.

“I have everything we’ll need.” He watches as your temperature rises, just a degree or two, wondering if it’s your nerves that are causing this reaction. “I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”

There’s no reason to draw this out any longer than necessary, with his pockets weighed down with his payment he makes a beeline for the bay door panel, with a deafening groan the steel doors slide shut. Ignoring the feeling of your eyes on him he pushes a series of buttons, ensuring a proper seal on the airlock. No going back now.

“Shall I join you in the cockpit? Perhaps I could properly brief you on the mission and we could exchange pleasantries.” You give him a polite smile but he shakes his head. The last thing he wants right now is more conversation with you.

“Get some sleep, it’s gonna be a long trip.” He tries to control his tone, attempting a cordial manner of speaking.

He can’t get to the cockpit quickly enough. Careful to lock the hatch behind him he starts to set the course. It’s a fifty hour trip there, fifty hours until the unknown. Setting the ship for an auto pilot trip he leans back in his chair, taking deep breaths until the blinking light on the control panel breaks him out of his silent meditation.

The ship's motion detectors.

He’s never used the security system, he’d had it installed as a sort of baby monitor for the kid but he’d never needed it. He so rarely has anyone on the ship to monitor.

He fiddles with the controls briefly until the monitor to his left hums to life with the grainy image of you, standing alone right where he left you.

As you look around the room, taking your time to note everything around you he finds himself fascinated by the sight of you. Being able to watch you from the outside makes you much more interesting.

When you finally move it isn’t too rushed to your chambers.

Instead you move slowly, drinking in the space. You lift your hand and your robe flows like water around you, and you touch the closest wall. Pacing, circling the room you brush your hand up against everything, not searching or scheming, just feeling. Mapping out the space. You pause in front of one of the many supply lockers crammed in against the interior wiring of the ship, tilting your head as if you’re listening for something. A small, private smile tugging at the corners of your mouth before you move on.

His gloved hands flip through the switches, cycling through the different feeds until you’re back on the screen, stepping lightly into a cargo hold.

You’re so careful. You don’t pry or rummage through his things, instead you just do a lap around the room, fingertips dragging along the seams of the walls that conceal panels, the cold steel of storage crates.

You linger over things like the emergency oxygen masks and the first aid kits, like you’re memorizing their placements. Everything in the room feels your featherlight touch as you slowly trace every edge and curve. He feels like he watches you move from room to room for hours until you finally make your way into your quarters. Instinctively he changes the feed again only to be met with static. A frown forming on his face until he realizes why.

When he’d purchased the ship he had to calibrate the system to his liking, and he’d marked any rooms used as sleeping quarters as private. He didn’t normally have guests on the ship but he wasn’t a creep. His thumb hovers over the manual toggle anyway, and a thought crosses his mind.

He shouldn’t be watching you, you clearly have no ill intentions. It would be wrong to keep watching.

But you’re wearing all those layered robes.

A concealed weapon isn’t just a possibility, it’s smart. And with your intelligence it should be expected.

And of course he hadn’t searched you upon boarding, you’re a paying customer, it would have been rude and might have lost him the job.

He flexes his hand.

Something about you was off, even the listing had been strange. The wise decision here would be to make sure that everything appears typical. His mind argues back and forth with itself as he tries to justify this, eventually his curiosity gets the best of him.

Just until you’re done changing, he tells himself. Just to be sure.

The feed cuts to an unblurred view of your room.

For a moment you just dig through your bag, and his jaw tightens. You pull out a few notebooks and pens, tossing them onto the cot. Your movements are so much more fluid now, without rush, more natural looking than you’d been in front of him.

Standing with your back to the camera your fingers find the ties at your waist, loosening them, the fabric falls off your shoulders. Slowly and methodically you slip off each layer, catching them before they hit the floor, and folding them neatly. It’s a long and arduous process as you go layer by layer until you’ve got a stack on your dresser and you clasp your hands together, finished.

Now revealed is a thin underlayer, a close fitted tunic and pants that end just above your knees. Clothes meant for sleeping, nothing else. Tight enough to make it obvious that you’re concealing nothing.

He tells himself again that this is all just a precaution

His throat feels terribly dry.

He should turn it off. But he can’t.

Reaching up, you undo your hair, arching yourself back in a stretch that makes his entire justification for watching you suddenly feel twisted and dirty.

There are no weapons. Nothing hidden.

Nothing but you.

And then, you froze in place.

Halfway through a groan of relief as you stretch, you turn towards the wall.

Head tilting up until your gaze is facing the camera.

Not just towards it, right at it.

Your eyes are calm, not accusatory, not shocked.

That somehow makes him feel worse. A bead of sweat sliding down his forehead and over the bridge of his nose.

And you tilt your head to the side, just a smidge. Like you’re staring right at him. Like you’re the one observing him.

He cuts the feed.

Turning the monitor off entirely as the cockpit goes silent and he’s staring at his own reflection in the now blank screen. Helmeted, emotionless, guiltless.

He certainly doesn’t feel that way, as shame is starting to set in like cement in his chest.

Leaning back in his chair he exhales slowly.

He certainly isn’t going to sleep soundly tonight.

⊹₊⟡⋆

The familiar scent of the motel room fills your head as you rush back in, slamming the door shut behind you with a panicked breath, scrambling for the lock before relaxing.

It’s a shitty place to stay, with even shittier neighbors. Your research is too important to be kept here, you know that, but you don’t have any other choice. This was and continues to be the cheapest option. Just as you’re setting your bag down your tablet across the room chimes. For the last three months you’ve felt your heart race at the sound of that notification dozens of times, only to immediately be disappointed. Tonight is no different. Your breath quickens immediately, almost to the point of hyperventilation as you dart across the room, kneeling in front of the bed as you type your password into the device.

[ YOU HAVE : 1 NEW APPLICATION - WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVIEW IT? ]

Out of habit you’re tapping the space where the “yes” icon is going to appear before it’s even there. The screen changes to the applicants guild code, but that’s not the information you’re after, your eyes skip over it the redacted information portion, you’ve already put a system in place that reveals it and you desperately search for the one word you’ve been waiting for.

And for the first time since you put out this damn listing, you find it.

Mandalorian

It feels like your heart stops, you know you shouldn’t get your hopes up, but this could be the one.

Male, 40 years of age, (estimate) combat capable, well experienced, specialties in location and extraction of bounties, Mandalorian, solo operation.

He fits all the parameters, even if they’re vague. It isn’t a guarantee that he’s the one you’ve been waiting for but you don’t even think about it as you type in your response, signing it with the name you were given during your time serving the Empire.

Dr. Thorne

You hurriedly pack everything you can into your bag before laying down, heart racing, the moment you get a response you’ll be checking out of this hell hole. If the guild member arrives and isn’t the Mandalorian in full silver with a mudhorn signet on his pauldron you’ll just turn around and try again.

…

In the morning you have an estimated arrival time and it’s all finally coming together. You tell yourself over and over again to not get ahead of yourself. It’s more than likely that you’ll be checking back into hotel hell tonight.

There’s nothing left to do at this point but wait. So that’s exactly what you do, you sit by the small window and wait for the sun to set, your eyes locked onto the clock on your tablet. Until finally, a little after ten o’clock there’s another notification chime and you know he’ll be landing soon.

You dress yourself in the only nice clothes you have left, your robes, and travel to what you know to be an abandoned space port. Pulling your cloak more tightly around yourself as the cold settles into your bones. You aren’t standing in the dark for long, soon enough there's a rush of hot air as a ship materializes out of the darkness, landing directly in front of you. You’re absolutely wired at this point. It feels like there’s an electric current running under your skin as a loud hiss fills the quiet air around you and a large ramp lowers itself to the ground and you can see the soft golden light within.

You’re too fired up to wait for it to hit the ground, careful not to lose your balance you hoist yourself up. Taking in the sights of the ship, forcing a smile, preparing yourself for the wave of defeat that will wash over you when you see him.

And then you do.

And he sees you.

And the weight of the world is lifted off your shoulders.

Your brain stops working but thankfully your mouth doesn’t, you’re on auto-pilot, introducing yourself, shaking his hand, greeting him.

Him.

Standing before you just as you’d dreamed. In a full suit of silver armour, the signature Mandalorian helmet adorns his head. He’s taller than you thought he’d be, more menacing. You aren’t scared of him though, you couldn’t be. Your eyes drift to his shoulder, the mughorn symbol visible from where you’re standing.

You finally manage to shake off the sense of awe and ask him where your chambers are and he scoffs, how odd. He nods to an open room to your left and you drag the bag carrying your entire life over, tossing it in. It’s a palace compared to the types of places you’ve been living in. It’s clean. It’s safe.

He doesn’t seem to want to talk to you yet, that’s fine, he needs to warm up to you. You just need to get him to accept the payment and then there’s no going back. You grab the credits, the precious compensation that’s going to be your salvation and hold it out towards him. When he doesn’t react, panic starts to rise like bile in your throat.

He’s just staring at you.

Suddenly you’re terrified.

Terrified that he’s changed his mind.

Terrified that he’ll want to negotiate for more money, something that you can’t afford.

Terrified that you’ve said something that’s convinced him that this isn’t going to work.

And most of all, you're terrified that he sees right through you.

That he can see this facade you’re putting on solely for his benefit, this image of a weak and helpless girl, desperately in need of help. You’ve worked too hard to look broken, like a damsel in distress, you’ll be damned if this crumbles now.

“Trust is expensive out here.” The words tumble out of you before you can stop them. Stupid! He just needs a little time, if you keep pushing him you risk losing everything before you’ve even begun.

Your heart flutters as he closes his hand around the bag.

Of course he accepted. He’s going to protect you now, you knew he was the one.

“I just hope that with this, I’ve earned yours.” You give him a much more relaxed smile. Of course he doesn’t trust you. That’s why he’s perfect. None of this would work if he trusted you immediately. It needs to be slow, gradual, and earned. It needs to be real. And with what likely awaits you at the station you know you will need that trust soon.

You know you shouldn’t push it, you should go to bed now and leave him to his work but you want him to trust you now, you want him to be everything you know he can be.

But he doesn’t want that.

He isn’t ready.

He tells you to get some sleep but you aren’t tired, how can you be expected to sleep at a time like this? You don’t argue though, and you don’t follow him when he retires to the cockpit. You know you likely won’t see him until you land so you familiarize yourself with the ship.

Taking deep breaths to ground yourself.

You can’t remember the last time you felt at ease like you do now.

You’ve spent the last decade in and out of highly hazardous working conditions, and then for a few years after that, you were in and out of the worst hotels in Coruscant. Always running from the thing that just won’t leave you be.

It’s a breath of fresh air to enter your chambers and know that you can sleep soundly tonight.

Careful not to wrinkle your only presentable clothing, you fold it all neatly, setting it aside for the days to follow. You’re ready to get into bed when the hair on the back of your neck stands up mid stretch. The all too familiar feeling of being watched.

That can’t be right, not here, not now.

Nothing should have been able to follow you here, turning and scanning the walls of your room you don’t see any obvious signs of danger.

A patch of discolored paint in the corner catches your eye. It vaguely resembles a shadow and your blood runs cold, ever so slowly you tilt your head, trying to see if it’s a trick of the light. Slowly, the feeling of being surveilled eases. It’s just paint, dark patches of paint.

It’s normal to be nervous. That’s what you tell yourself.

Good things don’t happen to you.

They never have.

You deserve to enjoy this fleeting sense of peace, for however long it lasts.

After messing around with the buttons near the door you manage to turn the lights off. Leaving you in complete and total darkness as you slide under the wool blanket that’s been left on your cot.

You have no control over the smile that creeps across your face as you deeply inhale the air on the ship, allowing yourself to savor it.

Oil, iron, gunpowder, sweat.

With the lights off and your vision completely obscured, your other senses are enhanced. You don’t just smell his sweat, you taste it. The distinct and metallic tang. Him.

A combination of flesh, and leather, and something deeper, something so uniquely him. So familiar.

Something that lit up that sharp and all consuming fire inside you. It started as a quiet hunger but has been growing for days, for weeks, for years.

You feel your pulse quicken and fight to keep your breathing steady. How are you supposed to maintain your composure when you aren’t afraid? When was the last time you didn’t feel a constant underlying sense of dread? Unable to contain yourself any longer, you whisper into the silence of your cabin. The name that you’ve been repeating in your head for ages.

“Din Djarin.”

The name that has lived only in your mind reverberates around the small space, as if the galaxy itself was whispering it to you. You’d never spoken it aloud before now. You’d been saving it for a special occasion, it had taken time to learn it, patience, a deep dive into records, and rumors. It had taken quite some time but it hadn’t been hard. Not for someone who knew where to look, not for someone who was meant to know it, not for you.

You’ve spent nearly a year on his trail, your studies, your life's work, they'd all lead to this moment. To him.

You don’t have to be afraid anymore.

He’s real, he’s here. You can feel his presence here, taste him, smell him, feel him. All of him, as he fills the space, you bury your face in the blanket and deeply inhale. The stress and the panic that have been building in your chest for Maker knows how long, starts to melt away bit by tortuous bit.

You found him.

And he’s going to save you.

a/n : I'm super super rusty so if this is bad let's blame it on that and hope it gets better lol, love y'all and thank you for reading if you made it this far <3

follow @lincolndjarinnotifs for updates!!

#lincolndjarin #hollow star fic #the mandalorian #the mandaloria/reader #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #din dijarin fanfiction #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din djarin #slowish burn #eventual smut #strangers to lovers

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leighsartworks216 · 4 months ago

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@comatosebunny09 I have been given more horny thoughts ;p

Imagine sending Sylus an audio message of you getting off. Your moans, whimpers, whines, gasps, cries of his name - all recorded and sent to him without any additional messages

He's at "work", in his office at the base, but he always answers your messages no matter what. So he pulls out his phone and sees the audio and raises a curious eyebrow. He doesn't click the transcription first. He just plays it aloud, thinking that you may have just gotten so excited about something, fully intending to listen to it while he finishes up whatever he's doing

Only to stop dead at the first sinful sound that slips through the speaker. Swearing under his breath as he closes his eyes and listens, imagining exactly what you're doing to yourself and palming himself through his pants. He tortures himself, keeps his cock tucked in his pants and never allowing himself to reach the edge for the entire duration of the message

As soon as it ends with a cry of his name from your lips, he's recording his own message, commenting on how much of a tease you are, how easy it is for you to affect him as he finally pulls his cock from his pants and jerks off, making sure you hear every thought he has as he imagines your mouth, your cunt, your ass around him instead of his hand

Breathlessly says he hopes you listen to this the next time you're alone and wanting him to fuck you, just like he's going to listen to yours. Cums into his palm with a guttural groan of your name and how good you are, how fucking perfect you are. A few seconds after where you just hear his heavy breathing and the wet sound of him stroking his spent cock with his own cum as lube

Sends the audio and types out a message with one hand, face still flushed:

"Tell me the next time you're thinking of me, kitten. I'll drop everything to be there with you"

#imagine just having a recording of his moans to listen to at any time #god i would never recover #sylus #love and deepspace #smut

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twstgameplay · 1 year ago

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[JP] NRC Master Chef: Rice to Meet You

From April 26th, 16:00 - May 10th, 14:59 (JST)

Event Info

Send the boys on expeditions to gather ingredients and cook to receive Chef Medals.

The last 2 ingredient spots unlock by collecting 100 and 300 Chef Medals, respectively.

Apprentice Chef SR Azul and Ortho have drop bonus of 20%, so take them with you if you have them.

There’s 3 quality types for ingredients: Gold > Silver > Bronze. The higher the ingredient quality, the better the score you’ll receive when cooking. It’s better to start cooking with low rate ingredients first, to build up skill.

Expedition durations are: 20, 60, 150 and 360 minutes. The only thing that changes is the quantity of ingredients you get, quality isn’t affected.

Recipes, Missions, Shops, and Skip Timer Info under the cut

Recipes Info

Remember to start cooking with bronze ingredients (to level up your dish skill) and gradually add in silver and gold ones.

Missions Info

Shop Info

The newest pieces for the Guest Room are the two Foregrounds.

The Master Chef SR Key can be used to exchange for either Apprentice Chef SR Azul or Apprentice Chef SR Ortho. The cards can also be obtained on the gacha event banner.

In addition, there is an Ingredients Shop that provides Bronze ingredients for 20 Master Chef medals each.

Skip Timers

Skip Timers can be obtained from event missions and also purchased in the usual Gem Shop (not the event shop). When you come to this screen of the Ingredient Procurement screen, you’ll see two golden buttons.

The middle left gold button will give you the option to spend a certain amount of Skip Timers to lower the time necessary to procure ingredients.

The middle right gold button will give you the option to spend gems to completely skip the procurement time.

Skip Timers will stay in your inventory after the event is over and can be used for future Master Chef events!

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst gameplay #twst strategy #twst jp info #twst master chef

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felassan · 7 months ago

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard - unofficial BioWare forums post - 'Gameplay Hot Tips from Dev'

Post under cut for length.

Luke Barrett: "So I've been watching a lot of streams and YT channels and many people are playing on the highest difficulty, not reading tutorials, and then just trying to buttonmash/dodge their way through the combat since if you're good at dodge/block you can muscle your way, painfully, through the beginning hours of the game. Anyway, here are a bunch of random tips from me. Also worth noting almost all of this except things I denote with an * are tutorialized in the game when you encounter them. I'll spoiler wrap it all just in case anyway wants to try to learn this stuff naturally (or not be overwhelmed)"

"BASICS - Light attack base damage is the highest dps (but you can itemize the others to be higher) however it deals reduced damage to Armor (yellow bar) and Barrier (blue bar) - Heavy attacks deal bonus damage to Armor (yellow bar) - Ranged attacks deal bonus to Barrier (blue bar). Super important note: when the text says "RANGED ATTACK" it's specifically the core attack type, not anything that attacks from range. So this is Rogue bow, Warrior shield toss, Mage beam. - Charged attacks deal bonus damage and stagger as well as break Block and certain channeled abilities - [MAGE SPECIFIC] The orb light attacks build charges (Arcane Marks) on enemies, on the 3rd one it converts into an Arcane Bomb which can be popped for bonus damage with the dagger heavy attack"

"ADVANCED - *during Ability, Ultimate, and Potion usage you have iFrames (immune to damage) for the entire duration getting new copies of items automatically upgrades them, unlocking the next item mod (stat property) - items can only rank up as high as your Caretaker shop level - new items you find are automatically ranked up to the Caretaker shop level, this includes things you buy - potion effects are controlled by your equipped belt and can add a wide variety of things later (something something bees ) - *Each ability has 2 ability tags associated with it, this denotes which upgrades and items will modify them. No 2 abilities have the same 2 tags but each tag type has 4 or 5 abilities for it - Staggering enemies allows you to immediately branch into a Takedown which will instakill normal enemies at <30% (some items modify this) - *Staggered enemies are stunned, you have until the bar goes down to use your Takedown which means you can just smash them for free and then use Takedown at the end (the duration of this is modified by difficulty) - *The debuff from Primers are VERY strong and scale well, as above don't feel like you need to detonate immediately if they have lots of health still, it's more optimal to leave it on for awhile and then detonate at the end"

"MATHY - Every ability you unlock grants additional ability damage and stagger (which also applies to ultimates) Every trait you unlock grants additional weapon damage and stagger - *All stat damage is sum'd together, the things that are multiplicative after that are: Crit, Weakpoint, Sunder (primer), Enhanced Damage (buff). This means the buff/debuff/crit are ALWAYS going to be a benefit whereas eventually somethingg like +20% fire damage will actually increase your total damage by less. (I can go further into this if anyone loves damage calc theory) - [ROGUE] *Short bows fire slightly faster and regenerate more but cant be charged as much (and have slightly lower weakpoint base damage) - [WARRIOR] *Round shields deal more damage and can charge up higher, Kite shields deal much more stagger (and usually have defensive properties) I'll add more as I see people struggle with them."

[source]

Extra comments and Q&As:

"Once you get further enemies all get unblockable attacks, and theyll be more likely to use them when you're turtling like that. The 'intro' enemies are stripped down to make it simpler." [source]

User: "Parrying: I'm playing on nightmare and one thing that is difficult to get used to is the parry window. When the UI goes from white to yellow, I'll press the parry button, but it will still be too soon. Is that by design? Am I supposed to hold the parry button?" Luke Barrett: "Depends on the class as they're all slightly different for this but yes the yellow just flashes a specific time before the attack comes down so you'll have to offset a bit on Nightmare. Iirc, you can disable those warning telegraphs in the options somewhere if you want, as its a UI setting not a difficulty setting." [source]

"stats and appearance are disconnected. There is a button in the character sheet that will also hide any overrides you have so you can flip back and forth between default and your selection. (It's a little box beside the larger item equip box)" [source]

User: "For the specialization trees, do you have to unlock the abilities next to them in order to activate the specialization once you reach the level requirement?" Luke Barrett: "Yes, they still require you to connect into them with adjacent skill purchases if that's what you mean. Keep in mind full respec is free so typically what I would recommend is just make a build up until you hit 20 and then respec and redo it for the specialization." [source]

User: "I have a question about a rune that makes your weapons deal cold damage. Is it only true for warrior and rogue weapons? Because it doesn't seem to work with staff and orb/dagger. Also, and i understand that you likely won't be able to answer that, but are there any plans to add presets that let you to save abilities/gear? Enemies' resistances being important means that you need to swap abilities and weapons and it's a bit annoying to do it manually every time." Luke Barrett: "It should be working for Mage too it just doesnt override the actual visuals. As for loadouts, tbh it's something we wanted to provide but it kept getting out of scope so I'm hoping there will be time post-launch for it but no announced plans as of yet, unfortunately." [source] User: "Yeah, i noticed that it applied Chilled status on enemies, but because visuals are the same, i got confused. Another question that i probably should've asked in my original comment is about Elemental Catalyst passive. It gives you bonus damage based on the damage type of your Staff and Orb weapons. Let's say i used rune that makes my weapons deal cold damage. Does it mean that my abilities that deal cold damage will also gain bonus?" Luke Barrett: "Nope, it'll still work. The way the rune actually works on the backend is we intercept the damagetype and just switch it in the calculation so anything relying on the damagetype for checks would still pass. Basically for all purposes except the enemies resistances, the damage is the original type. (Those runes were designed entirely for getting around resists fwiw)" [source]

User: "what's the gameplay design reason behind global cooldowns? Is it to emphasize the player needing to use light and heavy attacks, or to dissuade constant detonator spams?" Luke Barrett: "As a tl;dr it would have required a resource for each follower as well. When I do my stream ask me again and I'll go into greater detail. There are a lot of things I've seen suggested that are better ideas in isolation but a lot of times something is the way it is to support some other goal." [source]

User: "Are there any traits or perks that make charging either ranged or basic attacks go a bit faster? I'm doing a warrior and would love charging up the shield to go a bit faster." Luke Barrett: "For Mage yes (staff heavy specifically) for the other ones no, it's mostly because of interrupt spamming enemies. I would recommend using Time Slow, Taunt, or Invulnerable from companions to make it very easy to get off." [source]

User: "What's the difference between an agile attack and a light attack?" Luke Barrett: "Light attack is simply pressing that button (square on PS or X on Xbox controller). Agile attacks are ones coming from sprint, jump, or roll (regardless of which input you use to attack). So an attack can be both a Light attack and an Agile attack. " [source]

"And yes, all bolded terms should appear in the additional details section. There is also a section in the glossary that lists them all, along with what each of the enemy Enhancements do." [source]

User: "Noticed something possibly weird. I forgot to respec the skills on Neve and took an ability that wasn't upgraded, while removing the upgraded one (Glacial Pace) from the bar. And suddenly she still fires her unslotted ability (Glacial Pace) during combat. It has the upgrade for auto-fire randomly without cooldown. It happens regularly now. Is that a glitch or expected behavior?" Luke Barrett: "This is intentional, yes. Soon as you buy the autofire passive (each companion has one of them) they'll fire it regardless of what they have mapped." [source]

User: "Luke, the Warrior has a trait at the lower left section of the skill tree that allows you to follow-up a fully-powered Charged Attack with a Powerful Finisher attack. However, I can't seem to get the timing down on WHEN I'm supposed to hit X or Y (I'm on xbox) after the Charged Attack. Is it as soon as the final Charged attack hit lands, or soon after? I'm playing 2H warrior btw" Luke Barrett: "I believe I saw a bug fixed for the next patch where it was picking a normal light branch instead of the charged. Try it with the heavy attack but the timing is pretty tight for all those perfect timing ones." [source]

User: "Luke, I had two questions for you: 1) A couple weeks back, I believe before launch, I had asked about what went into the decision regarding global cooldowns. You mentioned that you had another system in mind, but couldn't answer at the time due to the game not having launched. Since we're nearly a year removed now, do you feel open to discussing what you had in mind with cooldowns? 2) A lot of people who like having the ability to use a large number of active abilities weren't too thrilled about Veilguard. At the same time, I've found that most people who fall into this group tend to be mostly concerned about what fewer active abilities means for mages. Since we now have two types of mage-based weapons, could one possible solution be to have the 3 active skills for the Orb & Dagger combo, but the Staff allows you 6+ abilities by sacrificing block or the ranged attack option? Maybe I should be more general here. Is it feasible for one class of weapon to allow for more active abilities than other weapons?" Luke Barrett: "Hey, sorry been on vacation. This will be long but I'll try to be as succinct as possible. To the first one, we actually tried a bunch of different options but ones that felt better for gameplay ended up being even more overhead on the HUD as far as bars and things (which we were already bloated on). I actually did a bunch of gameplay analysis stuff back at the start of Joplin, basically just modding DAI (internally) and assessing feedback. And this will sound obvious when it's spelled out but basically for any ability system it's good to use both a resource and a time based gating system. When you only have cooldowns you typically just spam abilities off cooldown (which is why followers went Global specifically) and when you have resource only you basically just spray your most effective ability over and over. Now, you can design your abilities around these problems, for example if you make all of them situational and only having a "correct" time to use them it will mitigate the issues. But, that assumes your game is complex enough to have that many different scenarios to help the abilities have unique identities. Additionally, and we ran into this early, having a correct way to use things also means there is an incorrect way so a lot of players who didn't quite get it just felt the abilities were flat and useless (I see this constantly about the uniques when people don't understand the synergy intent).As for abilities, yes one could probably mod that in - the hardest part would be the UI for mapping them but still doable with a mod. One big concern about us officially doing it, which we did talk about, is that all those abilities are loaded into memory when you have both sets. So for our minspec systems it would have been too costly on performance. We also had a gameplay guideline that we intentionally never wanted to promote weapon swapping mid combat and that went against it. When I was in charge of that kind of stuff on Joplin waaaay back we had 6 abilities mapped (2 were controlled by your equipped items) and I preferred that but it was a different game and different target markets." [source]

User: "If staff could have 8+ abilities, they could also take my runes. Edit: Also for staff it is very important not to limit mana so much at the beginning of the game. I disliked this decision even more than only having 3 spells because it was often like having no spells and made the game very frustrating at the start." Luke Barrett: "Yes, this was unfortunately a tradeoff for not having to make the Mage abilities do much lower damage and be spammy, especially when we added iFrames to ability use - the goal for abilities is for them all to feel powerful to activate so there was some limiting factors. We actually had the mana start at 0 and build up for awhile to help with that problem but people haaaaated it from an immersion perspective. I agree though, it doesn't feel great at the start from an ability power fantasy perspective, however the entire combat system ramp up hinges on Players learning light, heavy, charged, block attacks. As above, you could theoretically mod in 8 abilities by taking the Rune input over, unhooking block or radial maybe, and making another set of modifier buttons (or make it just KBM only mod)." [source]

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost

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lovehypegirl · 1 year ago

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APPRENTICE OF THE DUKE

paring: platonic!gn!reader x platonic!wriothesley synopsis: the apprentice of the Duke of Meropide and heir of position of Duke wc: 0.6k warnings.ᐟ none type: headcanons

Before you became the apprentice of the Duke of Meropide, you were selected from a group of trainee Gaurdes as a teenager, to be sent to the fortress for a program to learn how to deal with high-intensity situations

During your time at the Fortress, you learned how to keep order within the rowdy prisoners, guard cells, and monitor the prisoners during their work hours

Towards the middle of your program, your instructors had been regularly congratulating you on how you've excelled during the duration of the program

Naturally, these words managed to reach Wriothesley who had met you and your fellow trainee's when the program began

He asked to see you and offered you a position to work at one of the top Gaurdes once you graduated from the program, and you, excited to move up in the world, accepted his offer

Once you graduated at the top of the program, you immediately moved to the fortress as one of the top Gaurdes

Of course, they didn't accept you in a warmhearted fashion since you were young and inexperienced which made you want to step up and prove to them that you were able to work on their level

You were able to move through the ranks quickly. Earning the favor and respect of your fellow Gaurdes and even the prisoners

As usual, Wriothesley heard of your endeavors and offered you a spot to work closely with him. As his right hand.

Your uniform changed drastically when you changed positions. It changed from a dark red and dark grey uniform to a black and gold uniform

It consisted of a black overcoat worn on the shoulders, a black waistcoat with gold detailing, a puffy white blouse underneath, black pants with gold detailing by the seams, and black boots.

You carried a rapier sword by your side as a show of your position in Meropide

In addition, you also wore a small broach that was similar to the one that Wriothesley wore with the wolf emblem

When you first arrived, you brought in exotic tea leaves from Sumeru, Liyue, and Inazuma as a gift of thanks for bringing you in as his right-hand

Because of this gesture, he immediately liked you. I mean, tea was his favorite thing

Your duties at the Lady/Lord of Meropide included a copious amount of paperwork, spending way less time on the surface, and your sparring lessons from Wriothesley

During downtime, he would take you to the boxing ring when it was unoccupied and train you in his style of boxing. Teaching you to use his gauntlets and whatnot

You usually were the one to run important paperwork to the Palais Mermonia and you were to hand said paperwork directly to Neuvillette

You handled a lot of arrests, but because of your position, you didn't handle your day-to-day arrests of treasure hoarders and pickpockets stupid enough to get caught

No, you handled the high-intensity arrests

Serial killers, heavily armed robbers, criminals at the top of Fontaine's wanted list

Wriothesley was very proud of your work and how you handled yourself considering how dangerous your job was

He decided to make you his heir

After he made his decision, your work became more intense

He felt the need to train you to the highest extent to ensure that you would survive

He began to show you secrets like the abandoned civilization of ships under Fontaine's seas

Far into your training, he showed you the sluice gate where the Primordial Sea was being held back. His main concern was how you would handle the emergency of the sluice gate opening when you were in leadership

You managed to prove yourself when you immediately took action when Fontaine was flooded

Your actions helped ease his mind and place more trust in you leading The Fortress of Meropide in the case that he would step down

After a while, the Duke's name was still one of fear for convicts but so was yours. The word had begun to spread of the right-hand Lady/Lord of the Duke of Meropide. A person who wasn't meant to be messed with

#hypegirlwhispers #genshin impact #genshin x reader #platonic genshin x reader #platonic genshin impact x reader #platonic genshin impact #wriothesley x reader #platonic wriothesley x reader

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starkerfestivals · 1 month ago

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May is coming to an end! Thank you to everyone who participated in our little Mer-may event. And now... it's that time again!!

StarkerFestivals Summer Bingo– No wait! It's now:

StarkerFestivals Bingo 2025

We've decided to make some changes to how we do bingo and here they are!

This SF Bingo will run from June 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025

Because this is no longer strictly during the summer, we're just now calling it StarkerFestivals Bingo 💗

Cards will have a theme and maybe a few theme related prompts for fun. (You can always request a prompt change if any of the prompts aren't to your liking)

This year's theme is travel/resort vibes. 🌍✈️

What else has changed? Not much else tbh!

For anyone new or just needing a refresher, here are the basics:

StarkerFestivals Bingo 2025 is an event where participants will receive a personalized card with a 5x5 bingo of prompts. To fulfill a prompt, participants create content using the prompt.

Sign Up Opens: May 25, 2025 Cards will be sent out by June 1st. Anyone signing up after June 1 will receive cards within 1-3 days. Duration: June 1 - Dec 31 2025 What is allowed: Anything! Fics, art, moodboards, gif sets, anything Starker related and fills the prompt, we'll accept it Minimums: No minimums Exceptions: Only one prompt per fill, or one prompt per chapter for multi-chapter works Tags: #SFBingo2025 and on AO3

We're excited to welcome everyone, new and old, back to SF Bingo!

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask to the blog or dm @the-mad-starker or @starkersparks

More info and FAQ under the cut

How Do You Play?

As a participant, fulfilling prompts can be done at your leisure. We want everyone to have fun, so whether you fulfill 1 or do the entire card, it's up to you! There is no obligation to "win" bingo, but for those who want to go for it:

To "win," you will need to get five in a row via horizontal, vertical, or diagonal means. You can also win by getting the free space and all four corners. Finally, you can get a blackout by completing every square on the board. Visual examples:

Free space is free prompt choice. You can write or draw anything you like as a fill. Just please make sure it follows the rest of our rules as they apply.

Please elaborate on the "one prompt per fill"/multi-chapters?

The only rule is that it is one prompt per fill. The exception would be multi-chapter fics (ex: the prompt "falling in love" can be claimed for chapter 1 and then a 2nd prompt, first kiss, can be claimed for chapter 2. Or you create an accompanying moodboard with the prompt "Falling in love" and the fic is used to fulfill "first kiss".)

Is there an age restriction to join?

All ages are welcome! The sign-up form will ask if you would like SFW, NSFW, or both. Only 18+ participants may receive a card with NSFW prompts.

Filling out the Sign Up form– What are the different sections?

Username: Where we'll send the card (can be tumblr or email)

Card section: where you select the type of prompts you want (SFW, NSFW, Both)

Likes: This will give us a general idea of what prompts to give you.

Triggers/DNWs (Do Not Wants): Please let us know any triggers or DNWs and these will not show up on your card.

Prompts section: is an area where you'd like to submit prompts to our prompt generator.

Additional comments: Anything you wanna tell us that isn't included in any of the previous questions.

Can I post outside Tumblr?

Yes! While StarkerFestivals is based on tumblr, participants are free to post anywhere they want- we only ask that it's not behind a pay wall.

Can I sign up for multiple cards?

You can only have one card active at any time. You may ask for another card after you have won your old one. As for a new card, you should receive it within 1-3 days.

Do fills have to be strictly Starker?

They do not have to be strictly starker, but we ask that the focus is Starker since this is a Starker bingo.

Can I use a work to fill both my Starker bingo prompt and another event's?

Yup! We're cool with that, just make sure the other event is also fine with it.

#starker #starkerfestivalsevents #SFBingo2025 #mod post

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seedlinggames · 6 months ago

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Nobody needs another TTRPG taxonomy but I made one anyway

Posted here: https://seedlinggames.com/blogging/discourse/game_taxonomy_part_1_v_1.html I have a second blog post that is going to explain the small diagonal line, but basically it's that I think there is influence between those two camps that people don't seem to talk about much, probably due to internet discourse reasons

A million people have already done this - I'm kind of assuming you have vaguely absorbed the existing Internet discussions, and are familiar with terms like OSR, Story Games, etc. If you haven't, run away now and save yourself. But Six Cultures Of Play is probably a prerequisite to understand what I'm talking about, or at least what I'm complaining about.

I will try to, as much as possible, only discuss games that I have played. A lot of taxonomies seem to be written by someone who clearly likes one type of game a lot more than the others. For instance, I will not be discussing LARP because I don't have any relevant experience. I'm also not claiming that I am discussing the complete set of all games that exist, but I think I have played enough of them propose a taxonomy. If you're curious, I have an approximately complete list of games I've played or run here.

What is a TTRPG?

First we're going to have to look at everyone's other least favourite subject of conversation.

TTRPGs have 2 or more people taking on the following 3 roles:

A player, who is responsible for one or more characters who are the protagonists of the story.

A GM, who is responsible for the remainder of the story, such as providing additional characters and other aspects of the environment that the main players exist in. To do so they might determine the outcome of uncertain events or interpret rules agreed upon by the table.

An author, who provides additional, reusable material without being present. I'm using the term "author" for a lack of a better one, but it includes game books, blog posts, maps, drawings, or even fixed principles transmitted orally from game group to game group. These serve to facilitate or even replace GMing, as well as to introduce new ideas to the table without someone being physically present.

The same person often takes on different roles at different times, sometimes in the same game.

If you have only one of these roles, you are probably writing a book, doing improv, or some other activity. Which is of course totally fine.

This isn't the only definition you could come up with, but I think most people would agree it isn't totally wrong, and it's a lens that I'll be using to discuss the game taxonomy.

Maximalist Games

Apparently "maximalist" means something specific in art but I am not educated in such things and might be using the word wrong.

Characteristics of a maximalist game:

The three roles: clearly present and distinct, with the GM and author each taking on a large responsibility for the game experience.

Modularity: Semi-modular: There is a main game system which is designed to be extended by other modules, but these modules cannot be used with other games easily. A game book is typically not a self-contained experience and games are usually open-ended in duration.

Rules: A lengthy, complex ruleset with subsystems for resolving different parts of the game that are likely to come up, primarily oriented around the success or failure of an action and its consequences.

Characters: The complex game mechanics provide an opportunity for players to develop a distinct character before playing them, defined by game mechanics. Character and player motivations are usually aligned.

Narrative structure: Campaigns usually follow conventional narrative structure, but this is driven primarily by the GM, or by adventure modules, which define an outline of the narrative.

Who makes them: Often require more resources to create and thus are made by corporations, but that is changing.

Relationship to other media: While often inspired by fantasy novels, their larger budget and longer history has allowed some of them to develop their own genre conventions distinct from other media, and in some cases have inspired movies and books.

Solo games: Rare, due to the prominent role of the GM.

"Trad" games are a subset of these but a) I hate that word and b) I think the genre, starting especially with 4E and other inspired games, have gone in some very different directions. It roughly corresponds to "Fight D&D" in the Between Two Cairns taxonomy, but some games in this category involve no fighting at all.

Narrative Mechanics Games

The three roles: Blur the lines between GM and player more freely.

Modularity: Usually not very. Each game is made to create a specific experience, and the blurring of GM and player roles makes adding external content more complicated.

Rules: Focused on resolving problems in the context of narrative structures. Rules may facilitate pacing, allow for storytelling outside of linear time, allow players to temporarily take on a GM-like role, and allow for players to work together to create conflict between their characters.

Characters: Mechanics facilitate creating characters according to genre conventions with defined relationships to other characters and to NPCs. Player and character motivations are often not aligned.

Narrative structure: Rules are designed to support conventional narrative structures and genre conventions.

Who makes them: The focused scope of these games mean that they are often made by individuals rather than corporations, but there is a trend towards some of them being made by mid-sized organizations. Long development cycles may be needed to provide a polished experience, leading to some amount of professionalization.

Relationship to other media: Usually strongly inspired by other media, allowing you to create stories similar to movies, books, TV shows, etc.

Solo games: Rare, with Ironsworn as a notable exception.

Some "story games" fall into this, but I think "story games" has split into two meaningfully distinct categories. I've met enough people who only like one of the two categories. I think they are perceived as more similar than they are because there's less internet drama about the difference between them.

Prompt-based storytelling

The three roles: Blur the lines between the GM, player and author, with the GM often being absent.

Modularity: Usually self-contained experiences with limited modularity.

Rules: Often entirely forego mechanics for failure or success; mechanics tend to be minimal and about making suggestions regarding the story to tell, with the written text sometimes acting primarily as a GM or even player who is not present.

Characters: Character creation is usually a minor to nonexistent part of the game, with characters being defined by decisions made at the table. In some cases, all characters are already predefined. Characters are usually defined in words rather than numbers. Player and character motivations are rarely aligned.

Narrative structure: Stories often forego conventional narrative structures, and are focused around exploring relationships, ideas, or experiences. If a narrative structure is defined, it is usually in the form of a defined endpoint, with the purpose of the game being to explore how the characters get there.

Who makes them: Leans heavily towards DIY or single creators. Often comes in formats other than books.

Relationship to other media: Inspiration comes less from established genres and more from life experiences. Genre fiction is less likely to be an inspiration.

Solo games: Very common, due to the reduced role of the GM.

Adventure/exploration games

The three roles: Blur the lines between GM and author, both at the table and culturally.

Modularity: Are highly modular: not only are supplements and adventures often interchangeable, but are often not tied to specific systems.

Rules: Have relatively short rulesets focused on generating situations (on the GM side) and resolving danger (on the player side).

Characters: Characters are mostly created organically in play through interactions with the environment, including the tools at their disposal. Random generation is common. Character and player motivations are usually aligned.

Narrative structure: Campaigns often do not follow a typical narrative structure, aside from perhaps an escalation in danger, scope and/or strangeness.

Who makes them: Their modular nature means that they are often created in a DIY manner, through zines, blog posts, and informal discussions, though mid-size companies are also prevalent.

Relationship to other media: Inspiration from other media is often mostly vibes-based, with genre fiction, folklore, and even musical genres and political movements (for better or worse) being prominent. It doesn't seek to emulate the characters or narrative structure of other genres.

Solo games: Relatively common, usually provided by an additional module that may be specific and general-purpose, often focused on a GM emulator known as an "oracle."

"OSR" games are a subset of these, but a good number of these also make many OSR people very angry. It roughly corresponds to "Door D&D", but dungeon crawling is not inherent to this genre.

Other ways of looking at these categories

You could also map these on axes:

distinct GM/player/writer role vs combined roles: maximalist vs prompt-based at opposite ends of this spectrum

Highly self-contained vs highly modular: narrative vs adventure/exploration

Strong genre conventions vs naturalistic approach: maximalist/narrative vs adventure/exploration/prompt based

Resembles a D&D vs does not really resemble a D&D: maximalist/adventure/exploration vs narrative/prompt based

for symmetry I want to put another axis for maximalist/prompt based but I can't think of anything they have in common. Oh well.

But I also don't think this is a complete enumeration of all possible types of games either - this is some kind of n-dimensional space that has only 4 blobs on it

The part of the taxonomy blog post where you realize this is actually just me going on about my own preferences this entire time

I've played and enjoyed all 4 types of games, but putting this together has helped me figure something out - why it is that I like both the NSR side of OSR games and like the "super weird" story games. And why I don't seem to be the only one, even though these are often talked about as opposites. Because if you split story games into two genres, the similarities between prompt-based games and adventure/exploration games comes out.

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #seedlinggames

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genderkoolaid · 1 year ago

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Is there a reason why common binding advice isn't pulled from this study: Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: a community-engaged, cross-sectional study? It seems to me like the most comprehensive research yet, but all online binding advice I see just repeats the "8 hours a day or less" advice but never mentions the "give yourself days off from binding" advice which was found to be more important.

I think most people probably just haven't heard of it! Although it is important to recognize that this is just one study. Still, it is good to see research being done by people who recognize the importance of binding for trans people's mental health and safety.

The full article can be read here for free. Here's the part being referenced from the Discussion section:

Binding frequency, or average days per week spent binding, was the factor most consistently associated with risk for self-reported negative health outcomes in adjusted analyses (22/28 outcomes). This suggests that taking ‘off’ days from binding could potentially reduce risk for negative health impacts. This is notable given that over half of participants bind daily and do not regularly take off days. Current community resources largely recommend reducing binding intensity (i.e., hours per day spent binding) to reduce negative physical effects (Hudson 2004; TransGuys 2014), but our data do not necessarily support this recommendation, as intensity was largely unassociated with physical health outcomes in multivariate analyses. Based on this study, individuals may consider reducing the frequency of binding, in addition to or instead of reducing the daily intensity of binding, to minimise or prevent negative physical symptoms. Binding intensity was associated with many outcomes in bivariate analyses, which may be why binding intensity is perceived to be associated with negative health impacts. However, after adjusting for other binding practices, intensity was unassociated with most outcomes in multivariate models, and was in fact negatively associated with four outcomes (numbness, lightheadedness, fatigue and weakness). This puzzling finding may indicate issues of reverse causation whereby individuals who experience negative health outcomes reduce their average binding intensity, so that lower intensities appear associated with negative outcomes. Given that many community resources recommend reducing binding intensity if negative symptoms are experienced, this explanation is plausible, but longitudinal data are needed to fully understand the relationship between binding intensity and negative physical outcomes.

They also discuss binding duration (how many years spent binding) and which types of binding had the least negative outcomes.

#m.#ask box

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the-griffons-saddlebag · 1 year ago

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💍 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! Ring of Retribution Ring, rare (requires attunement by a cleric or paladin) ___ This tarnished iron ring bears a dark pearl at its center. One side of the ring depicts a hellish knight, while the other an angelic priest. While wearing the ring, any armor you wear glimmers with a slight pearlescence. You gain a +1 bonus to AC while wearing this ring, and whenever you would deal fire or radiant damage, you can change the damage type to radiant or fire, respectively. In addition, you gain the following option for your Channel Divinity feature: 𝙒𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙙. As a bonus action, you can use your Channel Divinity to present the “ring of retribution” and cast the “protection from evil and good” spell from it, targeting yourself only. For the duration, when a creature affected by the spell hits you with an attack, it automatically takes 1d8 radiant damage. ___ ✨ Patrons get huge perks! Access this and hundreds of other item cards, art files, and compendium entries when you support The Griffon's Saddlebag on Patreon for less than $10 a month!

#illustration #digital art #dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d

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dungeon-strugglers · 11 months ago

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✨New item!✨ Luminous Arrow Weapon (arrow), rarity varies

The rarity of this ammunition is determined by the metal its tip is made of. An uncommon arrow is steel-tipped, rare is mithril-tipped, and very rare is adamantine-tipped.

Steel. A luminous arrow tipped with steel has these magical properties:

On a hit, this arrow deals an extra 1d6 radiant damage to the target. The damage increases by 1d6 if the target is an undead or a fiend. An undead creature of CR 1 or lower hit by this arrow must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or immediately die and turn to ash. Once it hits a target, the ammunition is no longer magical.

Mithril. A luminous arrow tipped with mithril has these magical properties:

The extra radiant damage increases to 2d6 for both the base and creature-type-specific instances.

The CR increases to 2 and the save DC increases to 15.

Illuminate. If you shoot the arrow straight upward, it creates a 60-foot-radius sphere of sunlight 30 feet above you for 1 minute. The sphere is bright light and sheds dim light for an additional 60 feet. The arrow is destroyed when used in this way.

Adamantine. A luminous arrow tipped with adamantine has these magical properties:

The extra radiant damage increases to 3d6 for both the base and creature-type-specific instances.

The CR increases to 3 and the save DC increases to 16.

The radius of both bright and dim light for Illuminate increases to 120 feet, and the duration increases to 10 minutes.

The charred statue of Saint Cyril stands solemnly in a sunny clearing. Tumbled stone and rotten timber are all that’s left of her home, the Chapel of the Sun. Desperate people seek her in times of need. In her open marble hands, wondrous magical gifts appear to true believers. Swords to strike down the dead, potions to cure plague, and luminous arrows to bring the dawn. - 🖌🎨 Like our work? Consider supporting us on Patreon and gain access to the hi-resolution art for over 200 magic items, printable item cards and card packs, beautiful creature art and stat blocks, and setting pdfs with narrative hooks and unique lore!🧙‍♂️ Thank you so much for your support! 💖

📜 Credit. Art and design by us: the Dungeon Strugglers. Please credit us if you repost elsewhere.

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genshin-impact-updates · 7 months ago

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"Tapestry of Spirit and Flame" Version 5.2 Update Details

Dear Traveler,

Below are the details of the Version 5.2 update "Tapestry of Spirit and Flame" and the update compensation.

〓Compensation Details〓

Maintenance Compensation: Primogems ×300 (60 Primogems per hour the servers are down)

Issue Fix Compensation: Primogems ×300 (please refer to the relevant compensation mail for more details)

〓Scope of Compensation〓

Maintenance Compensation: Travelers who have reached Adventure Rank 5 or above by 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8).

Compensation must be claimed before the end of Version 5.2.

Issue Fix Compensation: Travelers who have reached Adventure Rank 5 or above by 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8).

Please log in and claim your compensation before 2024/11/23 06:00 (UTC+8).

Our developers will distribute compensation to Travelers via in-game mail within 5 hours after the update maintenance is finished. The mail will expire after 30 days, so don't forget to claim the attached compensation in time.

〓Update Schedule〓

Update maintenance begins 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8) and is estimated to take 5 hours.

〓How to Update Game Client〓

PC: Close the game, open the Genshin Impact Launcher, and click Update.

iOS: Open the App Store and tap Update.

Android: Open the game and follow the directions on-screen.

PS5™ and PS4™: Highlight Genshin Impact from the Home Screen, press the OPTIONS button and select "Check for Update."

Please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service if you encounter any issues installing the new version. We will do our very best to resolve the issue.

〓Update Details〓

I. New Areas

New Areas Now Available

◇ New Areas: In Version 5.2, the following areas in Natlan will become available: Tezcatepetonco Range, Quahuacan Cliff, and Ochkanatlan.

※ As long as you have completed Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom," a Teleport Waypoint will be automatically unlocked near Tezcatepetonco Range in the northwest of Natlan's Stadium of the Sacred Flame. (If you have already completed this Archon Quest, the Teleport Waypoint will be unlocked after the update). You'll also receive the Primogem reward for this Teleport Waypoint when it unlocks automatically.

◇ Natlan Reputation System Update: With the opening of new areas, the Natlan Reputation System now includes Tribe Reputation for the Flower-Feather Clan and Masters of the Night-Wind.

◆ Unlock Criteria:

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

Adds the Natlan Fishing Association, where Travelers can exchange for new items here.

In addition, there will be new Fishing Points and "Radiant Spincrystals" in Natlan.

II. New Characters

5-Star Character "Skyborne Arbiter" Chasca (Anemo)

◇ Vision: Anemo

◇ Weapon: Bow

◇ The Peacemaker of the Tlalocan, the ender of all disputes.

◆ Elemental Skill: Spirit Reins, Shadow Hunt

◇ After casting her Elemental Skill "Spirit Reins, Shadow Hunt," Chasca immediately deals Nightsoul-aligned AoE Anemo DMG to nearby opponents, and enters the Nightsoul's Blessing state. Chasca then mounts "Soulsniper: Ritual Staff" and remains airborne, increasing her Movement SPD and resistance to interruption. In this state, tap the Normal Attack button to deal Nightsoul-aligned Anemo DMG to opponents. Hold the Normal Attack button to carry out "Multitarget Fire" and load up to 6 Shadowhunt Shells based on the duration for which the skill was charged, dealing DMG to selected opponents. Some Shadowhunt Shells will undergo Elemental Conversion based on the Elemental Types of the other characters in the party, dealing Nightsoul-aligned DMG corresponding to the Elemental Types.

◆ Elemental Burst: Soul Reaper's Fatal Round

◇ Chasca's Elemental Burst fires a "Galesplitting Soulseeker Shell" that deals Nightsoul-aligned AoE Anemo DMG to opponents. Afterward, the Galesplitting Soulseeker Shell will split into 6 Soulseeker Shells, which attack nearby opponents. Soulseeker Shells will undergo Elemental Conversion based on the Elemental Types of the other characters in the party, dealing Nightsoul-aligned DMG corresponding to the Elemental Types.

4-Star Character "Shadow of the Night-Wind" Ororon (Electro)

◇ Vision: Electro

◇ Weapon: Bow

◇ A young man from the Masters of the Night-Wind who instead lives in the wild alongside all manner of life.

◆ Elemental Skill: Night's Sling

◇ Throws a "Spirit Orb" that can bounce between enemies, dealing Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG.

◆ Elemental Burst: Dark Voices Echo

◇ Summons a "Supersonic Oculus" to continuously taunt nearby enemies and deal Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG.

◆ Passive Talent: Nightshade Synesthesia

◇ After a nearby party member triggers Nightsoul Burst, Ororon will gain a set amount of Nightsoul points. Within 15s after using his Elemental Skill, when other nearby party members' Hydro or Electro attacks hit opponents, Ororon will also gain a set amount of Nightsoul points.

Also, when nearby opponents take Electro-Charged reaction DMG or Nightsoul-aligned DMG dealt by other nearby characters, Ororon will consume a set amount of Nightsoul points and enter the Nightsoul's Blessing state. He will then deal Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG to a set number of opponents.

III. New Equipment

New Weapon (Examples based on Refinement Rank 1)

Astral Vulture's Crimson Plumage (5-Star Bow)

For 12s after triggering a Swirl reaction, ATK increases by 24%. In addition, when 1/2 or more characters in the party are of a different Elemental Type from the equipping character, the DMG dealt by the equipping character's Charged Attacks is increased by 20%/48% and Elemental Burst DMG dealt is increased by 10%/24%.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 5-star weapon Astral Vulture's Crimson Plumage (Bow) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Waveriding Whirl (4-Star Catalyst)

Decreases Swimming Stamina consumption by 15%. In addition, for 10s after using an Elemental Skill, Max HP is increased by 20%. For every Hydro Elemental Type character in the party, Max HP is increased by another 12%, and the maximum increase that can be achieved in this way is 24%. Can be triggered once every 15s.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 4-star weapon Waveriding Whirl (Catalyst) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Flower-Wreathed Feathers (4-Star Bow)

Decreases Gliding Stamina consumption by 15%. When using Aimed Shots, the DMG dealt by Charged Attacks increases by 6% every 0.5s. This effect can stack up to 6 times and will be removed 10s after leaving Aiming Mode.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 4-star weapon Flower-Wreathed Feathers (Bow) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Calamity of Eshu (4-Star Sword)

While characters are protected by a Shield, DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks is increased by 20%, and Normal and Charged Attack CRIT Rate is increased by 8%.

◆ Calamity of Eshu (Sword) and its refinement materials can be redeemed in the "Iktomi Spiritseeking Scrolls" event.

IV. New Main Story

1. New Archon Quest

Archon Quest Chapter V: Interlude "All Fires Fuel the Flame"

Permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act IV "The Rainbow Destined to Burn"

• The "Focused Experience Mode" function is available for this quest.

2. New Tribal Chronicles

"Of Fading Flowers and Falling Feathers"

Act I – Act III of "Of Fading Flowers and Falling Feathers" will be permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Act I and Act II Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

◆ Act III Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act IV "The Rainbow Destined to Burn"

The three acts must be experienced in sequence. You can only unlock the next act after completing the previous one and meeting the corresponding unlock criteria.

"Memories Flowing With Color"

Act I and Act II of "Memories Flowing With Color" will be permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Act I and Act II Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

The two acts must be experienced in sequence. You can only unlock the next act after completing the previous one and meeting the corresponding unlock criteria.

You can use the "Quick Start" function to accept and progress through Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn" while maintaining your current progress in the existing Archon Quests. After using the "Quick Start" function to complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I, you can continue to accept and complete the subsequent Acts of Chapter V until you unlock the latest Archon Quest or Tribal Chronicles introduced in the current version update.

3. New World Quests

New World Quests

"Lost Traveler in the Ashen Realm" Quest Chain, "From One Case to Another" Quest Chain, "Charge Forward! Go, Go, Go!," "Molting Season," "A Saurian Returns to the Nest," "Every Aspect of a Warrior," "Dancin' in the Moonlight," "Come Fly With Me," "Stand by Me," "The Mystery of Tecoloapan Beach," "Twisted Extension," and "Open Your Heart to Me," etc.

Adds new content to the "In the Footsteps of the Chosen of Dragons" Quest Chain.

V. New Enemies

Tenebrous Papilla

◇ A great black monster that has come from the abyssal dark, eroding the memories of the earth. It can warp itself and transform into a formidable foe.

Some of its attacks can cause stackable Attrition that, after a time, will cause your active character to lose HP. During combat, the Tenebrous Papilla will use Beseech the Dark to grant itself a Void Ward. At this time, use a certain number of elemental attack to break the Ward, which will cause it to enter a confused state. Nightsoul-aligned elemental attacks will break the Ward more effectively.

Located at Quahuacan Cliff

Wayob Manifestation

Burning-Aflame: Wayob Manifestation and Biting-Cold Wayob Manifestation

◇ The Wayob worshipped by the various tribes of Natlan manifest themselves in the form of these obsidian totems.

In battle, the Wayob Manifestation will deploy its Arena: Moment of Trial, creating a shield for itself and absorbing the Elemental Energy of all characters in the Arena. Characters in the Arena deal greatly increased DMG. If the shield is broken before the Arena expires, they will also regain a large amount of Energy. However, if they fail to break the shield, the Manifestation will generate a barrier based on the value of the remaining Elemental Shield.

Natlan Saurians

"Qucusaurus," "Iktomisaurus," "Qucusaurus Chick," and "Iktomisaurus Chick"

◇ The Saurians that inhabit the land of Natlan.

Special dragons that were better able to adapt to their environments, taking on different shapes and forms based on their surroundings.

Sauroform Tribal Warriors

"Winged Warrior: Skysoarer," "Winged Warrior: Feathershedder," "Winged Warrior: Skymaster," "Qucusaurus Warrior: Heartstar Hammer," "Qucusaurus Warrior: Blazing Sky," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Determinator," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Psychokinetic," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Contemplator," "Iktomisaurus Warrior: Icy Tidebearer," and "Iktomisaurus Warrior: Cryocrystal Cannon"

◇ The warriors of Natlan's great tribes who fight for the honor and glory of their people.

Over long years of living and fighting alongside their Saurian companions, these tribal warriors have gradually acquired their traits and learned how to apply them on the field of battle.

VI. Other Update Details

New Recipes:

○ Exploration Rewards: Grainfruit Wrap; Surf, Turf, and Perch; and Volcano Cake

○ Natlan Reputation System Rewards: Mystique Soup and Sing Your Heart Out

New Character Specialty Dishes:

○ Chasca's specialty: Moment of Respite

○ Ororon's specialty: Honey-Glazed Ceviche

Adds "Natlan: The Land of Fire and Competition (II)," and "Duelist: Series II" Achievement categories, and adds new Achievements to the "Wonders of the World" category.

Adds Set 36 of "Paimon's Paintings" chat emojis.

Adds some prompts for loading screens.

New Namecards:

"Chasca: Fully Loaded": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Chasca

"Ororon: Nightshade": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Ororon

"Natlan: Fleeting Dreams": Reward for completing all achievements under "Natlan: The Land of Fire and Competition (II)"

"Achievement: Fighting Spirit": Reward for completing all achievements under "Duelist: Series II"

"Travel Notes: Spiritweaver": Reward obtained via the BP system

Adds Glowing Hornshroom Harvestable seeds to the Seed Dispensary.

Adds new Wildlife: Cacaua Goat.

Adds Natlan wildlife that can be captured by the Omni-Ubiquity Net.

Adds new Fishes: Greenwave Sunfish, Dusk Sunfish, Phony Phlogiston Unihornfish, Floral Rapidfighting Fish, Diving Rapidfighting Fish, and Magma Rapidfighting Fish.

"Genius Invokation TCG" Gameplay Update:

New Character Cards: Rosaria, Sigewinne and their corresponding Talent cards. Corresponding invitation duel and guest challenges have been added to the Player List.

New Character Card: Golden Wolflord and the corresponding Talent card. The Tavern Challenge has also been added.

New Action Cards: "Flowing Purity," "Maiden's Fading Beauty," "Iktomisaurus," "Scions of the Canopy," "Ultimate Surfing Buddy!," and "Glittering Gemstones" can be purchased from Prince at The Cat's Tail.

The Forge Realm's Temper is once again available. The theme of this edition is "The Forge Realm's Temper: Endless Swarm":

(1) Defeat endless waves of enemies during the rounds in "The Forge Realm's Temper: Endless Swarm" to accrue score.

(2) After you complete the stage battle, you will gain a score and the corresponding rewards based on the highest score you got in the stage.

(3) Different stages will contain different special rules that grant buffs. Use these rules well to fight more effectively.

Imaginarium Theater

After the Version 5.2 update, the two Imaginarium Theater seasons will be as follows:

○The first season of "Imaginarium Theater" will be available on December 1, 2024.

Required Elemental Types: Hydro, Electro, and Anemo

Opening Characters: Sangonomiya Kokomi, Xingqiu, Raiden Shogun, Kujou Sara, Jean, and Lynette

When Imaginarium Theater is open, the corresponding Opening Characters will obtain Fantastical Blessings.

Special Guest Stars: Lyney, Bennett, Zhongli, and Collei

After the first season of Imaginarium Theater begins, the characters Fischl, Sangonomiya Kokomi, Alhaitham, and Gaming will each gain a new "Thespian Trick" that can be exchanged from the NPC Wolfy.

○The second season of "Imaginarium Theater" will be available on January 1, 2025.

Required Elemental Types: Pyro, Cryo, and Geo

Opening Characters: Diluc, Bennett, Ganyu, Kaeya, Navia, and Noelle

When Imaginarium Theater is open, the corresponding Opening Characters will obtain Fantastical Blessings.

Special Guest Stars: Kamisato Ayato, Fischl, Xianyun, and Sayu

After the second season of Imaginarium Theater begins, the characters Klee, Zhongli, Shikanoin Heizou, and Layla will each gain a new "Thespian Trick" that can be exchanged from the NPC Wolfy.

Spiral Abyss

After the Version 5.2 update, Phase 1 of the Spiral Abyss will be updated on December 16.

◆ Floor 11 Ley Line Disorder changed to:

• Characters' Charged Attack DMG increased by 75%.

◆ Updated the monster lineup on Floors 11 – 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

◆ Blessing of the Abyssal Moon:

Shield-Piercing Moon

All party members' Shield Strength is increased by 20%. While the active character is protected by a Shield, when they deal DMG to opponents, their attacks will unleash a shockwave at the opponents' position that deals True DMG. This can trigger once every 5s.

〓Adjustments & Optimizations〓

● Enemies

Adjusts the collision size of the enemy "Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant" to prevent it from getting in the way of Plunging Attacks.

Optimizes the combat experience against the enemy "Ichcahuipilli's Aegis": Characters cannot be returned to the place of exile again for a short time after leaving it.

● Quests

Adjusts the Artifacts equipped by Trial Characters in some Quests from "Noblesse Oblige" to an Artifact Set more suited to Trial Characters at Level 75 or above.

Adds the "Recollections" function to certain World Quests, which can be used to review plot which has already been completed. Travelers can choose whether they want to review content or not.

● Serenitea Pot

Adds the filter option for "Set Type" to the filters on the Furnishing Blueprints tab of the Realm Depot.

Adds the "Wood" exchange tab in Realm Depot which is refreshed every week.

When holding down to drag-select in Editing Mode's Multi-Select Mode, if selection is interrupted, or no new Furnishings are selected, the previously selected Furnishings will remain selected.

Increases the storage limit for seeds in the "Seed Dispensary" from 20 to 40.

Reduces the cooldown for using the "Boon of the Elder Tree" from 15 seconds to 5 seconds.

Adds a prompt message: A prompt will now appear when the number of unobtained Furnishings in a Replica in the "Serenitea Pot" exceeds a certain amount, preventing the Queued List from being created, Quick Purchase from being used, or Furnishing Blueprints from being used quickly.

● Imaginarium Theater

Adds a "Next Act" button to the finalization screen after combat events if the Traveler has completed Act 3 of the "Imaginarium Theater" and the quests related to "Wolfy."

Adds a "Supporting Cast Record for this Season" button to the Supporting Cast interface, allowing Travelers to check details of the corresponding records. (This feature will be available after the Imaginarium Theater is updated on December 1.)

Adds a character constellation display to the "Supporting Cast" interface.

Adds elemental statistics for characters to the "Performance Details" screen.

The "Performance Details" interface now remembers the tab Travelers were viewing when they last closed the page.

Adds Character Role and Character Elemental Type filter tags to the "Party Setup" screen and calculates and displays the number of characters selected with each role and elemental type.

Adds a "Villain" avatar at the bottom of the Event Selection interface and includes a description of the attributes that have an advantage against them in the Villain's description.

Calculates the number of characters of each elemental type in the remaining Principal Cast members in Companion Events, and will display the avatars of the corresponding Alternate Cast that can still be selected.

Increases the "Blessing Level" buffs for "Special Guest Stars" by 100%.

● Artifacts

Adds a function to display 5-star Artifacts in the order of when they were obtained on the "Artifacts" tab of the Inventory.

Adds an Artifact-marking function: Marked Artifacts will be automatically locked. When a locked Artifact is unlocked, its mark will also be removed.

Adds an option to filter by "Mark" status to the "Artifacts Filter" function.

Optimizes the sorting rules for "Marked," "Locked Only," and "Not Locked" Artifacts in the Inventory.

Changes the name of the "Artifact Auto-Lock" function to "Lock Assistance" on the "Artifacts" tab of the Inventory and adjusts its layout.

Adds a button to access the "Lock Assistance" function to the "Domain of Blessing" entry and Reward Collection interfaces.

"Lock Assistance" Function:

A. Adds a lock option for any slot to "Automatically lock Artifacts with both CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG as Minor Affixes."

B. "Set Lock Plans" allow for a certain Minor Affix to be set as a "Required Affix." Once marked, only Artifacts that include all the Required Affixes will be locked in the corresponding Set Lock Plan.

C. "Set Lock Plans" now allow for different Minor Affix requirements to be set for different slots.

D. Adds a "Recommended Plan" for each Set which can be enabled separately and will automatically update.

E. Adds a "Delete Plans" function which allows for the quick removal of Set Lock Plans that have been set.

● Map

"Waverider Waypoints" can now be tracked on the map interface.

Map prompts without rewards will not cause the area tabs in the bottom-right corner of the "Map" interface to display a red dot.

When opening the map interface in a Domain, the map will be centered on the Domain.

Original Resin regeneration time can now be viewed on the "Map" interface and in the "Adventurer Handbook" when in Controller Mode.

● Other Systems

Optimizes the reading experience of the interface display for challenges in the open world for some languages when the challenge text is long.

Adds "Condessence Crystals" as potential acceleration items to the Accelerate function on the Ingredient Processing interface.

In addition to indicating the locations of existing chests, the "Treasure Compass" can now indicate some locations and clues that may lead to chests spawning (including Open World Time Trial Challenges, Seelie that are yet to return to their Seelie Courts, and Monetoo that are yet to complete their graffiti).

Adds a new Quick Swap feature for "Treasure Compasses" and "Oculus Resonance Stones" which can automatically swap these gadgets based on the region your character is in (you can enable this setting via the pop-up prompt that appears when you first use one of these gadgets after the update or by selecting one of them on the "Gadgets" tab of the Inventory).

Speeds up the accompanying animations for creating items on the Crafting, Forge, Creation/Furnishings, and Cooking interfaces.

When claiming, forging, or redeeming weapons on the Battle Pass, Forge, and Shop > Starglitter Exchange interfaces, the amount and refinement rank of any duplicate weapons already in your Inventory will be displayed.

● Audio

Optimizes the sound performance of certain enemies.

● Other

Adjusts the criteria for unlocking the Tribe Reputation "Obsidian Totem Pole" teleport function once the Reputation System in "Natlan" has been unlocked: After adjustment, the Traveler can unlock the teleport function by approaching an "Obsidian Totem Pole" in a region where they have already unlocked the Statue of The Seven ("Obsidian Totem Poles" whose teleport functions have already been unlocked before the update are unaffected).

Optimizes the Aimed Shot animations for some male bow users.

The Limited-Time Area Exploration Reward page on the "Events Overview" interface now displays the Traveler's Exploration Progress in their own world when in Co-Op Mode (previously, only the Exploration Progress of the host player—or Player 1—would be displayed).

Increases the Base DMG of the Overloaded, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, and Shatter reactions.

The keyboard can now be used to select dialogue options during quests (using the default keyboard settings, the W and S keys or the mouse wheel will move the selection up and down, and the F key will confirm which option is selected).

Adjusts the Phlogiston recovery range of "Teleport Waypoints" in "Natlan" by increasing the height of their detection range.

After the Version 5.2 update, Travelers using certain mobile devices may receive a pop-up message saying "Some quest resources are missing. Returning to the login screen" when they first log in. Follow the instructions in the pop-up to enter the game normally.

〓Bug Fixes〓

● Quests

Fixes an issue whereby interacting with the tabletop to continue the adventure during Clorinde's Story Quest "Hunters' Gathering" would cause the game to enter the wrong scene under certain circumstances.

● Enemies

Fixes an issue whereby, when challenging the enemy "Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto," the DMG dealt would be erroneously reduced when all destructive waves from a single round of the Baleful Vajra's destructive waves hit the same character.

Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance that the "Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant" won't take DMG from Electro-Charged reactions when challenged.

Fixes an issue whereby the progress for "Adaptive Countermeasures" erroneously continues to accumulate even after the game is paused when challenging the "Secret Source Automaton: Configuration Device" or "Secret Source Automaton: Hunter-Seeker."

Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance the enemy erroneously exits combat and recovers their HP if a player is downed when challenging "Childe," "Signora," "Shouki no Kami," or "Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto."

● Characters

Fixes an issue whereby, when Xilonen activates a Source Sample, the corresponding special effect would not properly display on certain devices.

Fixes an issue whereby when Yelan uses her Elemental Skill to mark enemies, if her Lifeline explodes while triggering Nightsoul Transmission to switch to another character, the Elemental Particles generated will experience abnormalities.

Fixes an issue whereby Xilonen would erroneously remain in idle animation when she fell while climbing in the Nightsoul's Blessing state under specific circumstances.

Fixes an issue whereby Xilonen's Charged Attack special effect would not be correctly displayed as the corresponding element when she gains other elemental infusions.

Fixes an issue whereby other Travelers experience erroneous camera shaking when Kachina uses a Normal Attack while riding Turbo Twirly in Co-Op Mode.

Fixes an issue whereby characters with alternative Sprint Skill or Nightsoul's Blessing state would experience rapid, abnormal twitching on the surface of the water when using the related skills or entering the corresponding state under specific circumstances.

● Genius Invokation TCG

Fixes an issue whereby, when the Character Card "Chiori" is defeated after summoning the humanoid "Grouchy, Knife-Wielding Tamoto" and then revived, her Normal Attacks are unable to trigger said Tamoto's effects.

Fixes an issue whereby, when the Character Card "Abyss Lector: Violet Lightning" is frozen, its Talent Cards cannot be used.

● Audio

Fixes an issue whereby character movements trigger erroneous sound effects after completing some challenges related to "O Nightsoul, inscribe your shadow in this place..."

Fixes audio quality issues with some of Citlali's English voice-over during the Archon Quest "Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors."

● Other

Fixes an issue whereby Geo constructs can be abnormally created on the "Kaboom Box" after placing the gadget.

Fixes an issue whereby Saurians in Natlan who were being indwelt and controlled would erroneously recover HP even when there were no "Teleport Waypoints" nearby under specific circumstances.

Fixes an issue whereby the in-game camera would not return to its default distance after characters teleported from the heads of "Long-Necked Rhinos" to other places.

Fixes an issue whereby the achievement "Rhythm Tengoku" cannot be completed when preventing the enemy "Electro Abyss Mage" from regenerating its Ward.

Fixes an issue whereby there is a small chance that Saurians' special effects will not display normally from the view of the host player (Player 1) when other players are indwelling Saurians in Co-Op Mode.

Fixes some text errors in certain languages and optimizes text. (Note: Related in-game functions have not changed. Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.)

◆ Fixes Citlali's audio quality issues from the Version 5.1 Archon Quest

◆ Optimizes certain English translations

*This is a work of fiction and is not related to any actual people, events, groups, or organizations.

"PlayStation", "PS5", "PS4", "DualSense", "DUALSHOCK" are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #genshin impact news #official #genshin impact 5.2 #servers are down sorry i was busy lol

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