New Heroes & Rearmed Ingrid

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I figured we'd get a Three Houses banner soon, but I didn't expect this. Felix, Sylvain, and Rhea, all from Three Houses, but then Three Hopes Ingrid.

[Tybrosion]

It really says something when even Felix and an Ingrid alt only gets a solid "meh" out of me. The fact they're using her uglier Three Hopes look probably has some part in that.

But man, this game really doesn't want my rapidly dwindling attention. This lack of Engage is really getting dumb now.

[Sunwoo]

I wish the facepalm emoji still existed on this site.

On the one hand, it's about time that Felix's base form was finally added into this game. Rhea ... is fine, but I would've preferred a Blue Lion who didn't have their base form, like Ashe, over her. She could've sold a banner on her own, there really wasn't a need to drop her and Felix and Sylvain at the same time.

Speaking of Sylvain, why did they make him a demote with a weapon type that isn't even the same as his prf weapon? Unless they want to retcon that thing into an axe for this game? Why is he even a demote anyway? Isn't he still popular enough to be held back for another banner?

Also, Ingrid is just why. Yes, on the one hand I know why she's here, she's childhood friends with the dudes. On the other hand, they certainly didn't give a shit about that when they dropped her on a banner WITHOUT the guys, it would've been perfectly fair to kick her off this banner. Second, why Ingrid as the rearmed anyway? Like, isn't she less popular than everyone else sharing her banner? Third, didn't we get a rearmed lance veeeery recently anyway? Like, on Alfred back in January?

By the way speaking of Alfred, where the actual fuck is Engage at this point? I don't even give a shit about that game and this is just bizarre, especially with the male version of the avatar being so late. None of the other avatar pairs were treated like this. Are they going to just idiotically lose all their Engage momentum or something?

[Karuu30]

I did not expect this. On the good side, we finally have OG Felix, Rhea and Sylvain. And he has an axe, I assume they’re saving Lance of Ruin for an ascended version?

On the bad side, no arcane green tome/dagger. I thought they’d wait a bit before repeating weapon types.

Ingrid was not my first pick for a 3H rearmed hero.The Warriors outfits seem to be exclusive to ascended/rearmed alts. 

[Othin]

Blue Lions, huh. Good that we're finally digging back into the seasonal-locked students, but it's just two of them, and Rhea feels particularly redundant. I guess they wanted another female character who felt somewhat relevant to this specific theme, but still.

Remaining seasonal-locked students: Caspar, Dorothea, Ashe, Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz, and Leonie. I guess we'll get similar Black Eagles and Golden Deer banners in the future, then another one to clean up the stragglers? This is going to take a while.

I don't know anything about Three Hopes, but it's neat seeing more of its specific looks. That said - a second arcane lance, this soon after the first? There's still several weapon types that haven't gotten any arcane weapons. I can see benefit in offering variety, but still.

1 minute ago, Karuu30 said:

I did not expect this. On the good side, we finally have OG Felix, Rhea and Sylvain. And he has an axe, I assume they’re saving Lance of Ruin for an ascended version?

On the bad side, no arcane green tome/dagger. I thought they’d wait a bit before repeating weapon types.

Ingrid was not my first pick for a 3H rearmed hero.The Warriors outfits seem to be exclusive to ascended/rearmed alts. 

Problem is, they don't seem very interested in giving ascended slots to male characters. Joshua managed to sneak in early on, but for the most part they seem to want to use them to increase the number of female units available.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Also, Cornelia is the GHB unit. No surprise there, given this lineup of characters.

Sylvain was done dirty. I'm not even a big Sylvain fan, but this seems sad for a character that has been consistently popular, to very high degrees. As for Ingrid, I'm still trying to figure out why she's Rearmed and not Ascended. We just got a Rearmed unit last month with Tana. We're due an Ascended unit. Oh well, at least the base forms of Felix, Rhea, and Sylvain are all present, finally. Now if only Dorothea and Ashe could get in.

[Ether]

I'm mostly fine with this banner, but I think Felix should have been the rearmed hero. Swords needed a second arcane more than lances did, given it's the only one that doesn't give speed and also the first one in general, and if you replaced A/S bulwark with a Prf B in similar vein to reference the fraldarius shield his kit would still print money on a rearm. 

As for ascended vs rearmed, personally I would prefer it if every banner had a rearm, with ascendeds being the rarer of the two. Ultimately the utility that rearmed units supply is worth way more than an additional floret, and rearms are most of the reason why I even care about NH banners anymore. At least Ingrid being here confirms that rearm double-ups are on the table, I'll get a speed sword eventually!

[Karuu30]

5 minutes ago, Othin said:

Remaining seasonal-locked students: Caspar, Dorothea, Ashe, Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz, and Leonie. I guess we'll get similar Black Eagles and Golden Deer banners in the future, then another one to clean up the stragglers? This is going to take a while.

Rearmed Dorothea and Ascended Marianne coming, I can see it.

Cause there’s no way they’ll try to sell a GD banner with OG Lorenz, Ignatz and Raphael.

That aside, the way they handled getting the 3H students in the normal pool has been atrocious imo.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Rearmed Bernadetta with Dorothea, Caspar, and Manuela. Ascended Marianne with Leonie, Raphael, and Ignatz. Lorenz, Alois, Cyril, and Hanneman left out in the rain, sad. Ashe will get added randomly just out of sheer popularity, somewhere, somehow.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Fire Emblem Fan

[Sunwoo]

All gripes aside, getting a second rearmed lance - especially so soon after the first -- at least gives me more confidence in my assumption that like Alfred the rest of the elder royals will get an Arcane weapon. Diamant wouldn't be the first repeat weapon type user if he really does end up being Rearmed.

[Othin]

6 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

Rearmed Bernadetta with Dorothea, Caspar, and Manuela. Ascended Marianne with Leonie, Raphael, and Ignatz. Lorenz, Alois, Cyril, and Hanneman left out in the rain, sad. Ashe will get added randomly just out of sheer popularity, somewhere, somehow.

They could have Ashe, Lorenz, and Cyril tag along with a second Ascended/Rearmed Black Eagles unit like Petra, but that still doesn't look good for Alois and Hanneman. Unless they end up as GHBs or something?

Edited April 16, 2023 by Othin

[Fire Emblem Fan]

You know who could have been a really good Blue Lions girl to use for this Rearmed slot? Annette. Make Sylvain the blue unit with his signature lance, and make Annette the Rearmed unit with a green tome and her Three Hopes design.

7 minutes ago, Othin said:

They could have Ashe, Lorenz, and Cyril tag along with a second Ascended/Rearmed Black Eagles unit like Petra, but that still doesn't look good for Alois and Hanneman. Unless they end up as GHBs or something?

That'd be cool, but I don't see them doing that for both Lorenz and Cyril. I feel like it'd be one or the other.

[Xenomata]

Well already I like Engage more than Three Houses. It's already being overshadowed by the presence of TH even to the point where the Arcane Weapon it introduced was given competition mere months after being introduced. THIS IS A SARCASTIC STATEMENT (and I haven't even played Engage yet so I'm reserving my opinion for when I eventually do)

There's honestly nothing all that interesting for me here outside of the Arcane Weapon which I guess I'll try to get. Felix is pretty basic, Rhea amalgamates aspects from her prior appearances and introduces a new skill series which I'll assume is exclusive to Dragons and maybe Beasts, Sylvain is a demote and has nothing interesting to show for it, and GHB Cornelia is a bitch who's probably going to get a powerful Prf weapon because everybody I hate always gets them.

Arcane Luin is the first Arcane Weapon based off an existing weapon, which is nifty. All Stat +5, damage = 20% of Spd, enemy Spd/Def bonus neutralization, and full NFU if the wielder is faster than the enemy. It's explicitly a weapon made for fast units.
As for Ingrid, Prf skill that gives Ingrid reason to exist as more than just an Arcane weapon fodder, Guard Bearing 4 makes all those GB3 fodders actually worth something, and then a pointless upgrade to a skill.

11 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

You know who could have been a really good Blue Lions girl to use for this Rearmed slot? Annette. Make Sylvain the blue unit with his signature lance, and make Annette the Rearmed unit with a green tome and her Three Hopes design.

Slight problem there being that apparently they decided to make this not just a Blue Lion's banner, but one specifically centered on the small friendgroup between Sylvain, Felix, and Ingrid, which as far as I'm aware Annette is not a part of.
I've said it before, you gotta give props to their insistence on sticking to a theme...

[Sunwoo]

8 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

I've said it before, you gotta give props to their insistence on sticking to a theme...

Yes, sticking to a theme even to their detriment.

Just saying, I still think it should've been a general BL banner and that they should've put Ashe instead of Rhea. If they had to put Rhea with the students, she would be better off trying to help sell a Golden Deer banner where we have, uh ... Raphael, Lorenz, Ignatz, and Leonie still waiting for their base forms. Yeah, GD is screwed isn't it.

[Tybrosion]

52 minutes ago, Othin said:

They could have Ashe, Lorenz, and Cyril tag along with a second Ascended/Rearmed Black Eagles unit like Petra, but that still doesn't look good for Alois and Hanneman. Unless they end up as GHBs or something?

Alois and Hanneman (along with Gilbert and Cyril) aren't even playable in Three Hopes either.

If nothing else, that should be the biggest red flag regarding their chances of getting into this game. They already knew those guys weren't popular enough then so they didn't even bother making them playable in a Fodlan spinoff game.

15 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Slight problem there being that apparently they decided to make this not just a Blue Lion's banner, but one specifically centered on the small friendgroup between Sylvain, Felix, and Ingrid, which as far as I'm aware Annette is not a part of.
I've said it before, you gotta give props to their insistence on sticking to a theme...

They also already had Three Hopes Annette on that last winter banner.

5 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Yes, sticking to a theme even to their detriment.

Just saying, I still think it should've been a general BL banner and that they should've put Ashe instead of Rhea. If they had to put Rhea with the students, she would be better off trying to help sell a Golden Deer banner where we have, uh ... Raphael, Lorenz, Ignatz, and Leonie still waiting for their base forms. Yeah, GD is screwed isn't it.

Ashe's chances of being on this (the next TH New Heroes banner) died as soon as he showed up in that bunny suit.

Though, at least Ashe still has a slim chance of being a premium 5* because good God did Sylvain take the fall for him here.

[Sunwoo]

4 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Ashe's chances of being on this (the next TH New Heroes banner) died as soon as he showed up in that bunny suit.

Though, at least Ashe still has a slim chance of being a premium 5* because good God did Sylvain take the fall for him here.

Yes, sadly this is true.

That's why they should've put someone else in his spot on the easter banner instead. If they wanted a demote 3H guy, friendly reminder to Heroes that Lorenz's only version in this game S U C K S 

[Othin]

4 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Alois and Hanneman (along with Gilbert and Cyril) aren't even playable in Three Hopes either.

If nothing else, that should be the biggest red flag regarding their chances of getting into this game. They already knew those guys weren't popular enough then so they didn't even bother making them playable in a Fodlan spinoff game.

In the long run, I think Heroes is a lower bar than Three Hopes, not higher.

There's what, 46 playable characters in Three Hopes? Fates has like 63 unique characters in Heroes and counting.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

I'm baffled that base Rhea is a breath user again, when every single version of her thus far unless you somehow count being the cohort in Duo Byleth has been a breath user. How could they miss the opportunity to finally let us wield the Sword of Seiros!?

I wasn't expecting a repeat type for rearmed this soon. Should've at least gotten a rearmed dagger first unless we did already and it completely slipped my mind.

[Kirby1up]

1 hour ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

Also, Cornelia is the GHB unit. No surprise there, given this lineup of characters.

Gonna be honest I'd likely have been more interested in getting Miklan as GHB unit instead. could've worked him into the forging bond story, would've been an armored lance unit,

Spoiler

And he did technically work alongside the kingdoms forces in three hopes.

[Medeus]

Easy skip for me. Felix is nice to get him out of alt hell but he's still not a favorite of mine, Sylvain I do not like as a character so I wouldn't have pulled for him anyway but even I'm baffled at how screwed he got considering his popularity, Rhea I like but nothing about her kit makes me want to pull her, and Ingrid at best I'd go for the lance if Cormag's refine turns out to be bad. Just as well as I'm still picking at the AHR banner, so now I'm free to get that second spark.

Also, where is Engage? There is no good reason to hold off of a main protagonist this long from their counterpart, especially the opposite gendered avatar when every other one came debuted within a month of each other.

[Dylan Corona]

Is this lance better than the other arcane lance? Didn't we just get one? I may be confused.

Ill try for rearmed and Rhea. But just one or two of each haha.

[Xenomata]

3 minutes ago, Dylan Corona said:

Is this lance better than the other arcane lance? Didn't we just get one? I may be confused.

Arcane Qiang (from Alfred in the Engage banner) is a more general-purpose lance, since it has a guaranteed follow-up, follow-up denial, and a Special Charge Up Clash effect. Arcane Luin is made more for Fast units, as it has no guaranteed follow-up and has a Spd-based damage additive.

[Etrurian emperor]

Well this is certainly a banner that gets released at a weird time. It should have happened years ago, and today it should have been an Engage banner.

Cornelia is about the only Slitherer who's vaguely competent so she's a good choice but....where's Alois!?

[Humanoid]

Real Monkey's Paw moment there. Got a banner with Rearmed hero as I desired, and Ingrid is someone I like. But the unescapable negative is that as a lance, it's a repeat weapon type, and one not as versatile as the previous Arcane lance. In addition to that, I don't love any of the artwork of any of the units this time. EDIT: Her SI value is also incredibly narrow. Unlike Alfred who at least accommodated both fliers and cavalry, Ingrid is only good for the former. And worse than that, unless the unit can also supply Canto in the A-slot, it locks out any Trace skills. This banner is getting worse and worse every time I look at it.

I also feel that either Ingrid could easily have been Ascended and Rhea Rearmed, or just have Rhea Ascended. That probably confirms what we suspected: Rearmed + Ascended banners are well and truly dead. This is probably the thing that will most put me off in the long term: the value of those few banners in the halcyon days of 2022 sort of kept me interested in the game. Now New Heroes banners seem pretty dull once more and it's a real bummer not having a reliable monthly banner to look forward to. There's also now a real fear that we might not even get a full rotation of Arcane weapon types over the course of a full two years, and that truly sucks. Why am I here again?

 

EDIT: Also another source of the already easily obtainable Atk/Def Catch instead of the Atk/Spd variant. It's all going pear shaped. 😞

Edited April 16, 2023 by Humanoid

[Some Jerk]

Holy skip, Batman!

Yeah, this banner is pretty meh. About the only notable point is that Felix is bringing Godlike Reflexes and Atk/Spd Finish out of seasonal hell. I'll be sparking ReIngrid though, because that entire kit is good eatin' for Bridal Larum.