Title screen update, so restart your app at this time tomorrow to access the update, of course making sure that you have the data and storage for the download.
Note that this will be the same time as weekly key shop update, so make sure to buy any remaining keys before this (if you plan to use them!)
- Premaya AS (Devotroid) will be available for summon or upgrade.
- Paid Fateful Encounter for AS Devotroid will be available, as well as paid Fateful Encounters for “Earth Force Edition” and “Main Story Special Edition”.
- Minalca reissue banner, at a 1% rate.
- “Encounter The Ways We Walked” available. 3 times max until 29th August, with only the following 5*s available; Radias, Yipha, Felmina, Bertrand, Victor, Laclair, Anabel, Elga, Lokido and Mariel. Looks like one of them is guaranteed on 10th pull.
- Manifestation added for Ruina AS.
- Round 1 of character quests added to the Replay Story feature. 21 characters added at this point, with more to come in subsequent updates.
- Beginner difficulty added to Main Story Part 3.
- Increased bearing drop rates for Standard - Master difficulties in Main Story Part 3 (presumably Beginner starts with a boost already in place). Since this is listed separately from the Catch-Up Campaign, presumably it’s an additional permanent increase.
Catch-Up Campaign!
- Duration: From this update until we catch up with Japan.
- Main Story Part 3 Progress Campaign: The drop rate of Bearings will be increased x1.5 for all difficulties (excluding Another Dungeon).
- Grasta Awakening Campaign: Amount of Fragments, Crystals and Git required to Activate and Awaken Grastas reduced by half. Excludes Jadeites and personal Grastas.
- A set of Grastas and Badges will be delivered to all players as a one-time gift, including Enemy Encounter- Badges, Git+ Bages, Power of Pain Grastas for each weapon type, and a supply of Fragments, Crystals and Jadeites.
User Survey: A survey will take place, running from 15th - 29th August, asking for player feedback. Every player who completes the survey will receive a 10-encounter Destiny Token (No rarity guarantees, but hey, it’s free!)
Next update is expected in a bit over two weeks this time, on 30th August, including a new Ensemble, a new character, and a 5* unlock for a long-suffering 4* character. Stay tuned!
(As an aside, I hadn’t previously noticed, but the ease with which post titles can be changed here compared to Reddit is fantastic. Kbin still has a lot of work to be done, but this kind of QoL is much appreciated)
I was thinking of it from the standpoint that newer players do not really care or are even aware about the prior disconnect between the Global vs. Japan servers, and even now many global players seem not aware that we get ads whereas the Japan server does not (& thus the daily CS from them, which btw is said to not planned to change after this merging of release timelines). So yes, newer players need more, yet also are more unaffected by the transition.
As you say, what REALLY needs to be done is to lessen the hella long mandatory grinding in this game - especially for pain grastas - and yet one of each type does not really do all that much to change that? Now, THREE of each would do more…:-) (or even like 2 sword + 2 katana, to support the Four Tales + CC collab chars) - but actually, not even really then, b/c the real Power Creep in this game as far as equipment is concerned comes from Ores, not merely Grastas.
So permanent changes are going to do better to change that than a one-off or even second reward drop. Except Frags & Crystals were not really the major bottleneck to begin with? These days I mean, with Kid & especially Cradle of Time. I dunno, it seems like they want to offer something and this is it, but offering to allow us a chance to gamble on a daily basis with the Cradle of Time does not seem like much of a step up to reduce the grind - it just shifts it over from AD running and hoping for rewards there to… pressing buttons and hoping for rewards there instead, in a process that is far LESS fun.:-(
Maybe I am just being cranky but I do not like the direction I see the game heading in. I quite my previous game - a multiplayer tournament-based tower defense game - for this exact reason: they turned it from one requiring skill to one requiring either money or daily gambling where you have to log in every 6 hours and spin a wheel, that’s it no skill whatsoever, for multiple years to be able to compete head-to-head against whales, who could also spin the wheel too. AE is nowhere near that bad, and it is single-player, and I might even welcome seeing “sales events” where players could choose to spend to get items such as grastas to lessen the grind, if that would help with their income and if it were not mandatory to be able to handle the content. On the other hand, I suppose that might creation tension in the future where doing such might BECOME closer to mandatory to be able to handle the newer content:-(.