On Seminars (and other things)

[LSM]

Last week I began poring over everything we've seen of the game in order to attempt to discern the initial Skill Levels of the students. I reached out to @Cysx for assistance, and in doing so learned quite a bit about Seminars. I thought I'd make a post about it.

To begin, Seminars are options that you can do to train yourself and your students. I'm not sure whether they consume a Stroll point or an Instruct point. They have a symbol of the latter, but are done on Sundays. [If they do use Instruction points, I wonder if those "recharge" every Sunday, else you'd have to plan ahead every Monday in order to leave points for Serminars later.] On Sundays, you can choose to Explore, take a Seminar, do a Battle, or Rest. So while Seminars can be valuable, they do require you to sacrifice other potentially useful weekend activities.  

The Seminars themselves are held by Professors at the Academy. Each Professor specialises in two Skills, and students will attend the Seminar if one of the Skills they have focused as a Goal matches what the Professor is teaching. In addition to them, Byleth will always attend (regardless of if they have one of the Skills as their Goals), unless they themselves are hosting a Seminar. There is a maximum of six people who can attend.

It's likely that the number of teachers who hold Seminars increases over time. In the recent saves of the game being showed off to reporters/youtubers, Seminars can be held by:

• Byleth (C Swords, D+ Authority)
• Seteth (C Lances, C Authority)
• Hanneman (D Bows, C Reason)
• Manuela (???) [I think D Swords, C Faith]
• Catherine (???) [I think B Swords, D+ Fighting]

In the E3 Treehouse footage, meanwhile, the list is:

• Byleth (C+ Swords, B Authority)
• Seteth (B Lances, C+ Authority)
• Hanneman (D+ Bows, B Reason)
• Manuela (D+ Swords, B Faith)
• Gilbert (C Lances, C Axes)
• Alois (B Axes, C Fighting)
• Catherine (B+ Swords, C Fighting)
• Shamir (C Lances, B+ Bows)

//

My hypothesise really got going with the one video in this Kotaku article, where you can get a clear view of all the Black Eagles at roughly level 6:

I was able to account for most of the experience gains through things like weekly lectures into their Goals, Air Patrol, Choir Practise, etc. It took me awhile, but eventually I noticed that Linhardt and Dorothea's Bows were both exactly the same (32 experience until a D). At first I wondered if there was an "Archery Practise" mini-game, but then it hit me: Seminars. At this point, I also realised that Bernadetta had unaccounted for experience in Reason, and so a Seminar with Hanneman (who we've seen teaches Bows && Reason) was likely the culprit. He even has higher ranks in Reason, explaining why Bernadetta is closer to a D than the others are with their Bows. The only hangup I had was that Hubert had a flat D in Bows. It was possibly that it being a Strength for him affected things, or he might start with a rank in Bows. But that would have required him to miss the Seminar. 

As Cysx seems an expert on all the nitty-gritty of this game, I asked them for their opinion. And, of course, he had already theorised a formula based on footage:

Exp. Gain == Base Value  +  4x(Professor's Level Above E - Student's Level Above E) 

Where the Base Value is 16 (this might change based on the Professor's level), a student having a Strength adds a 150% boost, and there appears to be a floor of 20. (A student being taught a Weakness has not definitively been observed.)

From there, he calculated the Bows experience Linhardt and Dorothea would have received. They started at an E (with Hanneman having a D in Bows), and have gained 68 experience.

16 + 4(2-0) = 24 ; would put them at 16-to-E+. So Cysx suggested that they have in fact had three sessions.
Second Seminar: 16 + 4(2-0) = 24 ; putting them at an E+, with 52-to-D.
Third Seminar: 16 + 4(2-1) = 20 ; putting them at an E+, with 32-to-D.

Which matches their observed experience perfectly! (It's always nice when a formula proves itself in unexpected situations.) Bernadetta would receive 92 experience into her Reason from this (leaving her at 8-to-D), which we don't know for a fact, but which does match how full her bar is.

For Hubert, if he had started at an E in Bows (a Strength) and attended all three Seminars, he would have received 102 experience. Putting him 2 points over D, which we observe is not true. If he started at an E+ however, and attended two of the Seminars, he would receive 60 experience, putting him at a flat D. (Later on, I discovered in the EuroGamer Spain video that Hubert indeed had, at some point, changed out of Reason as one of his focuses. This backs him not attending all three Seminars. For my original purposes it's impossibly to know whether he starts at an E+ or a D, but one can confidently say he does not start with an E.)

//

At this point, in my original quest I also had a look at a screenshot in Famitsu of a Seminar. Catherine, a B in Swords and D+ in Fighting, is teaching. I excitedly applied Cysx's formula:

• For Ashe and Sylvain, they must have had at least one of their Goals custom focused on Swords or Fighting (from Axes && Bows and Lances && Axes, respectively). We know that Ashe is neutral in both, and so must be Sylvain. From Neutral E's, both would gain 40 points in Swords and 28 in Fighting. We see the latter matches with the 12 points remaining until E+. There are an unaccounted for 28 points for the Swords.
• Ingird has the same Fighting result (suggesting she's a Neutral E), but I suspect from my findings elsewhere that she begins the game as a Strong E+ in Swords. She has 54 point until D, meaning she's gained 86. Applying the formula nets a gain of 54, leaving 32 points unaccounted for.
• Felix is likely a Strong D in Swords, and a Strong E+ in Fighting. In the former he's netted a full 80 (to a flat D+), in the latter 80 as well. Applying the formula, he'd receive 48 into Swords, leaving 32 points unaccounted for. He'd get 36 points into Fighting, leaving 44 points unaccounted for.
• Dedue is Neutral E in Swords, and Strong E+ in Gauntlets. He has 35 points and 59 points unaccounted for. Strangely, the only odd numbers.

At this point, I couldn't help but notice the prevalence of 32 and 28. Then I remembered that in the thread on Known Character Strengths and Weaknesses Csyx had noted that the experience gained during a week's lectured was based on Strengths. And when I checked, indeed Neutral Goals get 28 experience, and Strong Goals get 32! So that means Ashe, Sylvain, and Ingrid have Swords as one of their Goals, and Fighting not. They have points into neither from battle or tutoring, but have all received a single bout of lecturing experience into Swords. Felix's level in Swords matches as well, but he has an extra 12 points in Fighting. Maybe these are from tutoring?

Dedue makes less sense, now with 5 and 27 extra points. Byleth... is a bit of a mess. If they're a Strong D in Swords and Strong E+ in Fighting (to match other playthroughs) they've gained 164 and 72, while one Seminar would provide her with 48 and 36.

At this point, Cysx pointed out to me that the "Level Up" icon pops in when the experience bar fills up and resets to nothing before continuing to fill. It then fades away. As such, this image is not the results of a Seminar, but occurring during a Seminar. Which means that... this might be the second time the player has attended one with Catherine. If that's true, then Byleth's Fighting experience makes sense (they started at an E+, gained 36 from the first Seminar, leaving them at 24-to-D, and have gained a second 36, putting them at 68-to-D+). The 96 points into Swords still leaves 68 points unaccounted for, but... Byleth appears not to gain experience during the week's lectures (which makes sense, as they're giving them) so they might have their own alternative method of gaining level exp? I'd also speculate that there's probably a tutorial mission or two with just Byleth (and maybe Jeralt and some others) where Byleth could have earned some of that experience. This could also explain Dedue: his bars are in the process of filling. 

If this is true, it also means that you get access to Instructing, setting Goals, and Seminars before you ever hit the field with your students. (Otherwise, one would expect them to have bits of experience in their Goals, as they'd gain some from every combat.) This is also backed up by a video on the Japanese website where Mercedes is healing Dimitri. She's at level 2, has a flat D in Faith and 4 points into an E in Authority, and has Faith Prowess 1 and Reason Prowess 1. The chapter itself appears to be the first level that we've seen with the Black Eagles, and the flat D in her Strength of Faith means that she hasn't used it yet. The 4 points in Authority suggest that she's already used one Gambit (when used, Goals don't gain exp; instead Authority gets 4). For using the Faith magic she gets 3 points into it, plus 2 into Authority (as one of her Goals). But the Prowesses she has equipped suggest that her default focused Goals are Reason && Faith, so the player has already changed her to Faith && Authority before the first map! Edit: my understanding of how experience is given from combats was flawed. In the Japanese website video where Mercedes heals DImitri she gets points into Faith and Authority because she used Faith and had a Battalion, not because Authority was changed to be one of her Goals. (The 4 points into Authority still suggests she had previously used a Gambit, and the flat D in Faith still means this was her first use of it.)

//

From there, I also used Cysx's formula to try to help me explain these images of level 2 Ingrid and Byleth (from Famitsu):

Originally I thought that Ingrid would be a "Ferdinand" and start with an E+ in Faith, and that Byleth had chosen Fighting and Faith as optional Strengths and so started the game with E+'s in them. The little bit of experience could then be accounted for by the two of them sharing Choir Practise. But in a video from the Japanese website, a higher level Ingrid has the Prowesses: Swords 1, Lances 2, and Authority 1. (Her Goals seem to be a custom focused Riding && Authority.) But no Faith 1. So I decided that her Faith here might be from Seminars, and explored.

Manuela is the only one who teaches Faith, and based on Hanneman I speculate that she's a D in Swords and a C in Faith at this point in the game. Byleth and Ingrid would both attend, as their default Goals likely include Swords. If Ingrid is a Strong E+ in Swords that's 30 points from the Seminar plus 32 points during lectures for a total of 62. This would get her to a D, with 78-to-D+. Less than what we observe. A second Seminar would grant 24 points, bringing her to 54-to-D+, which seems roughly where she's at (if this is after a chapter where she's gotten some additional experience from combat, which Byleth's Authority bar and heavily damaged Battalion suggests). She seems to have >60 points into her Lances (the bar for D is 80) which suggests tutoring (as her level is too low to be from use, and besides the 32 from lectures). Byleth's Swords remind me of the previous example with Catherine, except accounting for the difference in Professors levels in Swords (D versus B) creating a gap of 48 points from two Seminars, which would put her here around 84-to-C (a D+ bar is 120). Which looks right.

If Ingrid had a Neutral E in Faith, she'd gain 32 in one Seminar. Which is too little. Two Seminars would make her an E+, with 36-to-D, which is far too much. As it's not a Goal she wouldn't get lecturing experience. A Strong E in Faith would net her 48 exp, leaving her an E+ at 52-to-D. Which seems accurate. But then that raises questions:

• If she's had only one Seminar, how did her Swords rank get so much experience without her leveling up. Did she get tutored in both Swords and Lances?
• And if Ingrid and Byleth have undergone just one Seminar, does that mean that you choose two Strengths for Byleth, but one of them starts at an E instead of an E+?

Sadly, that last bit didn't work out as nicely as the others. But just because I haven't figured out a solution yet doesn't mean others mightn't. What do you think?

Edited July 10, 2019 by LSM

[eclipse]

Swap the theme to Night Forest and take a look at your post.  I'm not sure what happened, but I don't think it's supposed to look like that!

[SpiceMan]

Regarding the last part, the only thing I can currently think of is that Ingrid has goals in Swords and Lances, E+ Swords, D lances and E Faith, all Strengths. She gets 1 Seminar from Manuela and receives 48 Faith exp putting her up to E+ and 8 Exp, 30 Sword exp which puts her up to E+ 30 exp. Then the remaining points come from 2 lectures on her goals. 64 points in Swords which puts her to D rank 34 exp (Which seems accurate), and she gains 64 points in Lances which puts her to D rank 64 exp (Again seems accurate). Granted the first lecture would have came before the seminar but it doesn't really matter.

Byleth attends the seminar with a Strong E faith and a Strong D+ Swords. Like Ingrid she gains 48 Faith exp which puts her up to what is seen in the shot. For Swords, 16 +4(2-3) would normally make 12 if we count negative numbers but I assume the game would just change it to a 0, leaving Byleth with D+ 16 exp which fits (it could also very easily just floor at 20 which gives Byleth D+ rank 20 but I don't know where it was confirmed to floor at 20).

So boom, 1 Seminar with Manuela, and 2 Lectures for Ingrid. I think it works but if I made a mistake let me know.

Edited June 29, 2019 by SpiceMan

[Armchair General]

It looks good, but I feel that the game won't let you get very far from  an B or C rank solely by tutoring. (Although at that point, you should have been strong enough to actually fight.)

[LSM]

@eclipse (How do I switch my theme? I didn't even realise there were themes...)

@SpiceMan Oh, yes, that works. Do you agree though, with Byleth being able to have a chosen Strength that doesn't get an E+ starting level?

[Disclaimer]

1 minute ago, LSM said:

(How do I switch my theme? I didn't even realise there were themes...)

Bottom of the page, right beside "Contact Us." 

[LSM]

Oh, heh. Cheers.

It looks like a couple things I copy/pasted from my conversation with Cysx brought over the default colours with the text. How odd.

Edited June 30, 2019 by LSM

[SpiceMan]

10 hours ago, LSM said:

Do you agree though, with Byleth being able to have a chosen Strength that doesn't get an E+ starting level?

Yeah, as weird as that sounds I think it's true. For example in the latest Famitsu Byleth is shown to have an E in faith during choir practise, both with Male Byleth and Female Byleth, and in 99% of the screenshots we've seen Students get a teacher's boost in Swords, Fighting, Faith and Authority. As far as i remember we only saw something different to these 4 in one screenshot (I can't remember who but I feel like it might have been Dorothea).

Edit: I finally managed to find some of the tutoring images and Rhea's shows Byleth having a hidden talent in Faith, but no strength. So instead of choosing two strengths and one being E rank, I think you can choose one strength that will start at E+ (Canon would be Fighting) and one hidden talent which starts at E (Canon Faith). 

The Teacher's bonus is in Axes instead of Fighting, meaning Byleth can switch one of their strengths. I'd imagine you can switch the Hidden Talent too, but that is unconfirmed. Swords and Authority are 100% locked Strengths though.

Edited June 30, 2019 by SpiceMan

[LSM]

Yeah, most of the Famitsu screenshots have been Brawling/Faith. (Apparently they've changed their minds on the localisation of "Fighting", and it's Brawl/Brawling now.)

In the Direct footage (with Dorothea, yep) their Byleth was Axes and presumably one of Movement Skills (they didn't scroll down to Armour/Riding/Flying).

In the E3 footage with Black Eagles their level 15 Byleth is Brawling/Armour. Later with the Blue Lions they have Brawl Prowess 1 (at level 16), but no other Weapon Skill Prowesses (nor the weight reduction Ability the other Byleth presumably learned by levelling Armour).

In the recent media demos they've been doing, their Black Eagles Byleth has Lances and Brawling and their level 20 Blue Lions Byleth has Faith Prowess 1, but no Brawl (they have a couple other equipped Abilities, so they might have just deselected it). 

The Eurogamer Spain video throws a wrench into everything, though... I mean... ummm:

(Maybe it's the power of Ferdinand inspiring Byleth?) We have seen shots where Byleth has a Hidden Talent in Faith... Maybe you can select a couple starting Strengths, one of which can be E+, and then a couple Hidden Talents that can turn into Strengths?

[SpiceMan]

53 minutes ago, LSM said:

The Eurogamer Spain video throws a wrench into everything, though... I mean... ummm:

Oh.........Oh no......He's even more of a monster now.

[Onestep]

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding, but could Professor Expertise not be tied to Professor Level, rather than Byleth's Strengths? It seems a good way to keep tuition relevant as the game goes on and higher and higher levels of XP are needed for each Weapon level. Instruct doesn't necessarily need to follow the same rules as a Seminar either.

[LSM]

That's an excellent idea! In the video, when he's getting Faculty Training from Rhea, we can see that he's already C in Swords (Strength), E+ Brawling (Strength), E+ Reason, and E+ Faith (Hidden Talent).

[Edrey]

Um, guys... I think that there might be some other ways to improve our professor levels besides seminars and tutoring. Look at what I found in a video that came out a couple of days ago...

There is an item called training weight... maybe it can be used as a consumable item to improve the professor levels in which someone is focusing on, or perhaps an equipable accessory like shields, to increase the amount of experience whenever we gain it. 

Oh yeah; the link of the video from which the image was taken (The quest appears at 4:54)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8d1TLVcbws&t=295s

 

[ArsSanctum]

I thought Professor Expertise happened when Byleth had an equal or greater grade in a given rank compared to a student.

Hence why you don't see it with Ferdinand's notably high Lance and Axe rank

[Disclaimer]

45 minutes ago, Edrey said:

Um, guys... I think that there might be some other ways to improve our professor levels besides seminars and tutoring. Look at what I found in a video that came out a couple of days ago...

There is an item called training weight... maybe it can be used as a consumable item to improve the professor levels in which someone is focusing on, or perhaps an equipable accessory like shields, to increase the amount of experience whenever we gain it. 

Oh yeah; the link of the video from which the image was taken (The quest appears at 4:54)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8d1TLVcbws&t=295s

 

Training Weight is a gift item for Caspar/Raphael. You can see its icon is a gift box.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Disclaimer

[LSM]

21 hours ago, ArsSanctum said:

I thought Professor Expertise happened when Byleth had an equal or greater grade in a given rank compared to a student.

Hence why you don't see it with Ferdinand's notably high Lance and Axe rank

That would also make a lot of sense! (Though I think it would have to be greater than).

To back this up, in the recent Geeks and Com' video (where I thought Byleth had Strengths in Lances and Fighting which were giving the bonus) when the demonstrater moves to the Certification screen Byleth can 100% pass the Myrmidon and Monk exams (red circled) and has a chance at the Soldier and Fighter. This means that we do know that he has D or greater in Swords, Reason, and/or Faith, and E+'s in Lances and Brawling (and/or Axes and Bows, though likely not Axes as Linhardt isn't getting a bonus in those and he's still an E).

Meanwhile, in the E3 Treehouse footage when they go to Certifications Byleth has 100% pass rate for Myrmidon or Fighter, but 0% for Soldier and Monk. So in that playthrough, he still had E's in Lances and Reason/Faith, which is why those Professor bonuses don't happen.

I was wondering how to square the fact that the demo videos all seemed to be the same, except the different bonuses between the Eurogamer Spain video and all the others was odd to me. But there's no difference at all if that's how it works, so I believe you have the right of it!

//

Change of subject. If the Amiibo Gazebo were to give you access to "guest lecturers" to teach Seminars, what do you think everyone would teach?

• Marth: Swords && Authority
• Ike: Swords && Axes
• Robin: Swords && Reason
• Lucina: Swords && Lances
• Roy: Swords && Authority
• Corrin: Swords && Brawling
• Celica: Reason && Faith
• Alm: Swords && Bows
• Chrom: Swords && Lances
• Tiki: Brawling && Reason

//

If some of these new people we've seen can be roped into teaching Seminars, and the faculty/knights we already know specialise in the following:

• Byleth (Swords && Authority)
• Seteth (Lances && Authority)
• Hanneman (Bows && Reason)
• Manuela (Swords && Faith)
• Gilbert (Lances && Axes)
• Alois (Axes && Brawling)
• Catherine (Swords && Brawling)
• Shamir (Lances && Bows)

I'd guess that we'd see:

• Jeritza (Swords && Bows) - Looks like an Assassin type to me, so maybe Bows to not double up Swords && Brawling with Catherine.
• Tomas (Reason && Faith) - He's got the absurdly huge forearm sleeves of the Warlock class.
• Rodrigue (Reason && Authority) - He's doesn't match the other magic users' look, but he's wearing an ankle length dress and a cape so...

And maybe:

• Rhea (Brawling && Faith) - Brawling if she turns out to be a dragon, replace with Authority otherwise?
• Jeralt (Swords && Axes) - The Greil-ish choice.
• Anna (Axes && Bows) - Axes from Heroes, other good options are taken by Jeritza and Shamir. Maybe Bows && Faith?

That would make 5 Sword, 3 Lance, 4 Axes, 4 Bows, 3 Brawl, 3 Reason, 3 Faith, 3 Authority. Not bad coverage.

Edited July 1, 2019 by LSM

[eclipse]

@LSM sorry for the late reply!  If you scroll all the way down, there should be a menu that allows you to change the theme.

[Cysx]

"sigh"
Okay, is it fine that we've both lost 2 weeks of exchanging with each other on the subject because of my lazy butt? I'm starting to sound like a broken record though, and this is not a PM, so I'll get to the point. But I'll say it again, you're using the seminar formula way more liberally than I would(^_^') Also, sorry in advance if I completely miss the mark/you've long figured any of this out.

Oh, and great writeup on this one too! Although it's weird to see my name so much.

On 6/29/2019 at 5:43 PM, LSM said:

This is also backed up by a video on the Japanese website where Mercedes is healing Dimitri. She's at level 2, has a flat D in Faith and 4 points into an E in Authority, and has Faith Prowess 1 and Reason Prowess 1. The chapter itself appears to be the first level that we've seen with the Black Eagles, and the flat D in her Strength of Faith means that she hasn't used it yet. The 4 points in Authority suggest that she's already used one Gambit (when used, Goals don't gain exp; instead Authority gets 4). For using the Faith magic she gets 3 points into it, plus 2 into Authority (as one of her Goals). But the Prowesses she has equipped suggest that her default focused Goals are Reason && Faith, so the player has already changed her to Faith && Authority before the first map!

I don't believe you need a goal in Authority to gain exp through combat/healing though, only an equipped battalion. That's mostly because I don't think we've seen a single combat interaction with battalion equipped not give authority. We do also have a straightforward example with Linhardt in the treehouse coverage, as we know his focuses to be Lances and Riding, and yet by simply attacking, he earns 2 exp in Authority. It doesn't come from his class, either; I don't think Mercedes' case is any different. In general I don't think combat exp is tied to focuses at all, an example of that being F!Byleth gaining sword and authority when equipped with a sword, and only lance and authority when equipped with a lance in the King of Beasts Gamespot footage. Unless we're looking at a solo authority focus, here.

On 6/29/2019 at 5:43 PM, LSM said:

Ingrid

I feel that while the numbers match, you may have had the right idea by thinking of choir practice early on, since it would cover for both the experience being higher than a strengthless seminar with Manuela would give, and Byleth and Ingrid having the same Faith levels without either of them having a strength with an E rank. Two choir practices would give both of them 14 exp if they're neutral from my understanding of it, + 10 authority to Byleth. And while going pixel perfect may or may not be wise, if you resize the image so that the bar is 60 pixels long, 6 pixels are filled, which matches. It's just two points though, so that doesn't weigh all that much.

The 10 authority also fits Byleth's bar perfectly assuming they started off at D. The issue being that as you said, they've seen combat, judging from the damage of their battalions(and another shot from the same series, showing Felix, Dedue and Mercedes also with injured battalions). However, said battalion has 0 exp, so maybe, just maybe, all she did that chapter was tank a ranged attack, which depleted her battalion and got her no exp? Then again, Felix and Dedue don't have any exp either, and how likely is it that all three did just that... Either way there's something weird here.

Also, did you establish what level Byleth's sword started at? I don't recall, but if it's D+, the Manuella seminar you've theorized would give her 12 floored to 20, x 1.5 = 30... which fits. This would also work with the previous assumption that this was the second Catherine seminar Byleth was going through in that previous case, as their exp would then become 28*1.5 twice = 84, which is exactly how much exp they have in their D+ bar. Plus, when you look at lv2 Byleth having a D+ in our other case, this just fits better.
 

On 6/29/2019 at 8:55 PM, SpiceMan said:

(I don't know where it was confirmed to floor at 20).

Sorry, I get that this is an old post too and I should have answered much sooner. Note that neither the floor 20, nor the formula itself are guaranteed to be correct in every situation, mostly because the base 16 amount is a bit of an arbitrary number, but also because... well it just matches two situations, that's not proof. Anyway, the idea of a floor comes from the fact that when following a seminar in the treehouse footage, Edelgard and Byleth got the same amount of authority exp(30, or 20*1.5 due to their strengths) despite Byleth being at B rank, and Edelgard at C. Now this could mean either of two things from my point of view. 1, the student malus stops happening above C-rank, or 2, which I went with; there's a lower floor, which would be what Byleth gets, divided by 1.5, so 20. That's the reasoning.

Also, I'm not going to start quoting the entire planet when I'm two weeks late, but thanks Onestep and ArsSanctum, you've helped my understanding of professor expertise too, I think.

On 6/30/2019 at 8:26 PM, LSM said:

Change of subject. If the Amiibo Gazebo were to give you access to "guest lecturers" to teach Seminars, what do you think everyone would teach? 

It's now confirmed to not be a thing pretty much, but just pointing out, I think you nailed it. Nothing to add.

[LSM]

32 minutes ago, Cysx said:

I don't believe you need a goal in Authority to gain exp through combat/healing though, only an equipped battalion. That's mostly because I don't think we've seen a single combat interaction with battalion equipped not give authority. We do also have a straightforward example with Linhardt in the treehouse coverage, as we know his focuses to be Lances and Riding, and yet by simply attacking, he earns 2 exp in Authority. It doesn't come from his class, either; I don't think Mercedes' case is any different. In general I don't think combat exp is tied to focuses at all, an example of that being F!Byleth gaining sword and authority when equipped with a sword, and only lance and authority when equipped with a lance in the King of Beasts Gamespot footage. Unless we're looking at a solo authority focus, here.

Yeah, my understanding of how experience gets attributed from Combats was totally wrong. I thought the three possible slots were for the: Weapon Used, Goal #1, Goal #2. But I guess they're: Weapon Used, Movement Skill (if class has one), Authority (if Battalion is equipped).

(I wonder if Authority will actually count as a "Movement Skill" for the Lord Class, boosting its growth...)

Edited July 10, 2019 by LSM

[Cysx]

5 hours ago, LSM said:

(I wonder if Authority will actually count as a "Movement Skill" for the Lord Class, boosting its growth...)

Well, wouldn't you know(not an actual spoiler)!

Spoiler

 

[VincentASM]

I haven't been following that much, but Authority does get boosted if the class specialises in it. Is that what you mean?

On the official site, when Claude uses the Blaze Gambit, he gets 10 Authority experience. Assuming he has a strength in Authority, that's a base of 3 plus I'm guessing 2 for the class bonus. That puts him at 5. Double it for a Gambit, gives 10.

In Edelgard's case, the same applies but she hasn't used a Gambit so she gains 5.

[LSM]

That's cool. (And makes the Lord class more appealing for Edelgard and Claude if it helps grow their Authority, even if they don't get much out of the boost to Lances like Dimitri does.)

//

9 hours ago, Cysx said:

[On Ingrid]

I feel that while the numbers match, you may have had the right idea by thinking of choir practice early on, since it would cover for both the experience being higher than a strengthless seminar with Manuela would give, and Byleth and Ingrid having the same Faith levels without either of them having a strength with an E rank. Two choir practices would give both of them 14 exp if they're neutral from my understanding of it, + 10 authority to Byleth. And while going pixel perfect may or may not be wise, if you resize the image so that the bar is 60 pixels long, 6 pixels are filled, which matches. It's just two points though, so that doesn't weigh all that much.

I didn't realise it until later, but Ingrid can be seen in the E3 footage to (probably) not start with a Faith Prowess (she has Swords 2, Lances 2, Authority 1 as a level 14 Cavalier). I think that backs the Manuela Seminar and Strong E Faith for her and Byleth, as odd as the latter seems.

This gets me back to wondering if you're going to be given a "free" Seminar at the beginning of the game, to introduce you to the mechanic. I'd imagine early on that players would be more likely to be exploring the monastery on Sundays than doing a Seminar...

Edited July 10, 2019 by LSM

[Cysx]

2 hours ago, LSM said:

I didn't realise it until later, but Ingrid can be seen in the E3 footage to (probably) not start with a Faith Prowess (she has Swords 2, Lances 2, Authority 1 as a level 14 Cavalier). I think that backs the Manuela Seminar and Strong E Faith for her and Byleth, as odd as the latter seems. 

This gets me back to wondering if you're going to be given a "free" Seminar at the beginning of the game, to introduce you to the mechanic. I'd imagine early on that players would be more likely to be exploring the monastery on Sundays than doing a Seminar...

Yup, I had taken that into account. Hence the idea that Ingrid would start at E, get only 32 from Manuella's seminar, and then 14 from choir practice, putting her at E+ 6. Basically my point was she doesn't need to have an E strength for things to make sense. Same for Byleth, as choir and seminar should logically raise their faith equally, and give Byleth the +10 authority that she seems to have.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Cysx

[LSM]

Ahh, I had misunderstood. Yes, that would make sense.

[Jingle Jangle]

I think because of the seminars is going to make Byleth into a Jagen. Because he is going to less time to improve his stats/ weapon ranks compared to the students only on the weekend. Meanwhile on the week is the only time to repair the Sword of the Creator. 1-3 skill points for attacking in battle compared to classes where it gives around 24-32 point is quite a deal in the long term. Or it may be due to the exp system is based on rank and enemy promotedness/level like regular exp.With the little time give to the avatar why invest in him when you can make several others better? Maybe that's why he has an overpowered sword, to compensate for him lagging behind.