DefyingFates

The NY banner trailer and update always go up early, probably so the devs can take the NY's week (or weekend) off.

That was my first thought too. I'm sure she'll powercreep her Mythic version at that point too. As for this banner, I'm skipping it and saving for AHR. It's dumb Kana brings Tier 3 versions of coveted skills but they're not in the main pool yet, as is tradition. Also, I forget who said it but it seems NY being "the dragon banner" was true!

"Good enough" is why I started on Elincia but as I said, getting Sabotage A/R almost twice in a row was what set me off. Micaiah has everything except it while Elincia still needs a good B skill and Whitewind Bow, so I guess I'll focus on her for the time being? We'll see how it goes. Best of luck, everyone! Update: Elincia now has Whitewind Bow+, Deadeye, Flared Sparrow, S/D Far Trace and Spd/Def Hold, so I'm going to focus on Micaiah and come back for a better B Skill later. Again, best of luck, everyone!!!

Yeah, I can't remember who said it in the Xmas thread but this really does feel like IS smashing their emergency "print money" button. And it seems this Camilla will be even more frustrating to deal with than Ninja Camilla. Yay. I think this means every CYL winner now has a Prf skill associated with them though, so there's that scratched off our bingo cards at least.

Thank you for thinking of me! I currently have Ruptured Sky, Fireflood and Def/Res Ploy on Micaiah so I may switch to building Elincia if you think that's a good stopping point, or should I keep pushing for Atk/Res Ploy and Still Water? Thanks again! Update: I got Still Water 4 for Micaiah, but should I keep going for Sabotage A/R 3? Thanks again - again! Update 2: I decided to train Elincia and got Sabotage A/R 3 on her. Twice (with only one round without in between). Then when I went back to Micaiah I got Flared Sparrow. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thank you so much, I'll keep this in mind!

I didn't realize HoF talk happened there, thanks for the link! It's nice Micaiah seems relatively simple to build, RNG not withstanding. I don't have any Arcane bows to spare so Elincia will be sticking with Whitewind Bow & Deadeye and the rest I'll play by ear (if I get a defensive A slot I'll choose an offensive B slot and vice versa). Is Flared Sparrow still her best option with that weapon choice? Thanks as always, Ice!

They're about the same. If anything the War Phase has more to do since that's when you actually S Support them (and can learn from them instead of being the teacher all the time). I can't help think they focus on the pre-skip versions to capitalize on people infantilizing them though, such as with Bernadetta and Marianne (not that those two are much better post-skip, but Marianna at least theoretically gets development from her Paralogue in the War Phase).

True. I was going to say some of the pullers may just be here for the fodder (because this banner is full of brand new premium skills), but all IS is going to see is "3H sells", not "we treat 3H units really well and that's why they sell" 😕 I hope you foddered the ones you gave skills too. You could have kept the limited ones at least, but I get the frustration. I confess I pulled on this banner, but I just wanted No Quarter and to a lesser extent Atk/Spd Prime (because I've deluded myself into thinking we'll get an SI increase in Feb). Yeah, it just feels like IS is aware part of their audience hates the 3H bloat but they're also catering to the more important 3H fans (even if they've locked themselves into a self-fulfilling prophecy as I suggested earlier) and their solution was to throw a random Engage unit onto their banners and hope it'd shut people up. It's telling they picked the two most popular female characters from Engage to be their smokescreens too. Unless this is their ploy to get those two out of the CYL running so Bernadetta and Nidhoggr can win next year, which I wouldn't put past them either at this point.

So to get ahead of this week's Hall of Forms, what builds should I look for for S!Micaiah and Elincia? Micaiah's especially hard to plan since she's a ranged cav, but right now I'm thinking something like this? Micaiah: Ruptured Sky + Flared Mirror + [Prescience or A/R Far Trace] + Alarm Def/Res Rouse Atk/Res? Elincia: Whitewind Bow+* + Deadeye + Flared Sparrow + A/S Far Trace (or a Flow skill) + [Soaring Guidance or Guidance 4] * I think W!Claude's bow is better for this build? Thanks in advance!

Just like Summer Ivy, I can't help but think they were thrown in to stop people complaining about getting a full 3H banner again 😕

Oh? This is a surprise suggestion! But I guess you could give them Tempo/ Velocity and the NFU Seal to make up for those two blind spots.

Or just cavs and fliers, huh? This is my third banner in a row where I hit the spark without getting a single focus unit. I got two 4* focuses and two pity breakers instead, but at least they weren't A!Hilda, I guess. I got Byleth because he seemed more useful to use but I may keep going for a Dimitri... once I've recovered.

The banner's out now so we can talk about this: what a nice surprise that infantry can use it too! This gives slower units a fancy special as well, but it also powercreeps Ruptured Sky I think? I'm even more tempted to get a Dimitri now. Also I don't know if this is off-topic, but did P1 of the Paralogue have the longest pre-battle conversation (i.e. while the map was displayed) yet?

I'm not going to look at the datamined text, but that intro went a lot harder than it had any right to and seeing Plumeria freak out over having spent so much time bullying her "Lady" was hilarious, as brief as the cutscene was. As for the rewards, Res Wave is a waste but might as well complete the set. Special Fighter could have some niche uses I guess and Claude's bow will be great for building nukes. Cool!

Oh, you're right! I should save Orbs for that... somehow!

No, everyone gets four Sparks like a CYL banner. Given the rampant powercreep it makes sense. A real Xmas miracle(!) I thought the male silhouette looked like Claude and female either Eirika or F!Byleth but that didn't make sense because Claude just got the Wind Tribe alt and Eirika's already been a Xmas Hero. But I forgot the 3H bias at IS (also the girl was Yunaka, I think). Anyway, banner thoughts. I'm surprised Yunaka didn't get a Prf skill but I like the incorporation of her Personal into her weapon. I wonder if IS is trying to stop her winning CYL? Edelgard and Dimitri are getting upgraded Prfs. Thank goodness Claude is the freebie and doesn't, but he already has Deep Star from the Wind Festival. Speaking of Edelgard, it's about time we get Range = 1 versions of the Armored skills! I was getting worried the first two were all we'd get and this gives Near Savers more options. Dimitri: I assume No Quarter will be a Cavalry exclusive skill. I'm surprised M!Byleth is in the lead but putting them together is a neat idea. I'm curious about their Duo conversation. F!Byleth lost even more of her shirt though, poor thing. Also, Sublime Heaven got powercrept and we have Wary Fighter 4, I believe. Since there are sparks I'm tempted to pull for Dimitri (and hold onto him until the anniversary to see if we're getting a SI increase before feeding him to B!Eirika) and maybe the Byleths. I only have enough Orbs to spark once so here's hoping they're kind to me.

More terrible luck. I stopped at the first spark and my only focus unit. I got pitybroken by A!Hilda again... but hey, at least I have fodder if we ever get Velocity 4!

When you put it like that, yeah: Alfadhor doesn't even need to do anything, he just needs to wait and humanity will wipe itself out faster than it will in our world! Ratatoskr mentions a brother in her Lv 40 conversation so I assume it's him, since as Lemmy says that mask could be a surgical one. She's holding a horn which could be a Heimdall reference, but for now I'm thinking she's a hawk - specifically Vethrfolnir who has magical sight (hence her weird eyes). She may be another of Ratatoskr's sisters, which means the translators avoided the issue with Gunnthra early on when she only mentioned having sisters. But again, Hrid is non-existent at this point so she may have already been onto something.

Wow, that is a mess up of incredible proportions. At least the Ratatoskr typo was just someone getting the wrong subject and even that kinda makes sense now we know she has an older brother too.

Wait, what? Anyway, I like the gameplay and story integration in Chapter 1: I like how everything was set up and the Askr acknowledgment, but I think FEH's always done a decent job of establishing the stakes: it's everything else that it messes up. It seems the mystery guy and lady from the poster are Ratatoskr's siblings too... so yeah, the guy is doubly dead unless Hrid blesses him. Also:

I didn't expect to have to follow that question up so soon kinda, but does the new Buffer 4 make GLR more viable or no because it pre-charges it on turn 1? It's "-2 CD on turn 1" + a Spd/Def -4 debuff + Phantom Spd + 50% Dodge for those who haven't seen the new trailer. Thank you in advance! P.S. And from the datamine:

Oh, you're right! And Nidhoggr keeps it around her neck too, which also fits really well! I'm surprised the Book didn't start today, but waiting another isn't such a big deal.

I hate you. Just kidding, that's awesome! And you have some great fodder in the latter two to boot!

Aren't some of Fate/GO's stories really popular? While some gacha stories are bad, I think it comes down to how much the devs/ writers care than a problem with the medium itself. Heck, HoYoverse's games are all gachas and they all have good to great plots (you can argue that Genshin and Star Rail feel more like console games ported to mobile but that still leaves HI3 and their older titles). And while I wasn't a fan of them myself, Yoko Taro's mobile games have a lot of fans too. So FEH could have a great story if the writers cared about more than having an excuse to introduce new OCs and Heroes, it's just that they don't want to. At least some of the Forging Bonds and Paralogues have some nice interactions. As others have said, it's not explicitly stated that each antagonist is stronger than the previous one (though obviously the first three Books raised the stakes) and while the units have gotten powercrept, that sort of power scaling shows up in a lot of stories anyway. Edit: I forgot what I came here to say! @Mercakete: In hindsight while Ratatoskr looks like a nurse, her role as a messenger (i.e. she travels around a lot) may mean she's more about emergency care or first aid... which would still require her to stick around and look after her patients, so the outfit still makes sense.