Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links

[Silverly]

I’m as bummed as the next guy concerning Ayra being a summon only instead of a free unit, but I do think there are some positives to take from here.

1. She’s got 4* stats so she’s likely to be demoted. It makes no sense how they could be visible if she was intended to be 5* locked. So if you skip here it might not be a big deal since she’ll be available at a better rate, which leads me to...

2. Swift Sparrow fodder. We don’t know which skills will be available at what rarity, but assuming she’ll indeed be demoted to 4* there will be greater access to a in-demand skill. At worst we’ll have to promote her in order to gain access, at best she’s got it at 4* out of the box.

3. IV access. Okay, she doesn’t really need this since her neutral set is decent enough, and it can very well work against her (inb4 I get a -Speed +Res), but the fact we can get optimal IVs for her doesn’t hurt.

No, I’m not defending IS for their decision; it’s honestly a huge dick move. I’m just saying there are a couple good things to come of this.

[Korath88]

This is not okay

https://twitter.com/CuvSspkcmPj9Qou/status/920943288860884992

[LuxSpes]

They're so many things wrong with how they handled this situation.

First, they tease Ayra in the release trailer for the World of Holy War banner trailer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty all the units who were teased in a banner reveal trailer but that weren't on that banner ended up being free units. So even without taking into account that she was datamined, the expectations of most people would be that she'll be a free unit, either a TT or GHB reward.

Second, inflated BST, CYL-worthy Prf Weapon and unique Special made Ayra a clear upgrade to any and all infantry swords that don't have DC built-in their weapon. The only reason I was able to justify it was because she 1) free, so everyone will get a non-RNG dependent chance at her, 2) she's be locked to neutral stats and 3) she's have limited merge potential. As such, units like Lucina, Athena, Hana and Lon'qu would still have an edge over her. And related to this, but the statement from the devs stating their concerns in regards to power creep sounds like a joke when they release two units that outclasses most of their kind. Sure they might not be 'true' power creep, but I'd consider Ayra a straight upgrade to units like Karel and Sigurd one to units like Luke. And straight upgrades are definitely not healthy for this game IMO.

Third, they add Ayra three days after the World of Holy War banner on a separate banner where she's not only the sole new unit, but also shares it with a unit of the same color as her. If she'd been released alongside Sigurd, people would have probably been fine getting spooked by one when pulling for the other, but getting an Eldigan, a unit that' has been in the game for nearly 8 months, when looking for her would probably be incredibly frustrating. This is also the first time that a unit is added to the game through a banner featuring old characters.

Fourth, the TTs bonus unit. Having four 5* exclusive units as the 40% bonus units is nothing new, the "Reunited at Last" and "Moment of Fate" TTs already did it. However, those two TTs got flack for that and there was at least one saving grace. At least 1 of the 40% unit had been available through pulls for months. This time though, every single 40% unit will have only been available for 1 week at most. 

All in all, this move only sets bad precedents for the future of the game. How they handled Slaying weapons was this game's first strike for me. This situation is now my second strike against the game. If it ever gets a third strike, I might just stop playing it.

@MrSmokestack Regarding Ayra's 4* stats being on the wiki and her being announced as a 4-5*, they've now been removed and she's listed as 5* only.  Considering there was no update, I think we can rule out that IS changed the stats, which would have been really scummy, and assume that the people at the wiki assumed that she'd be a free unit and put her as being available at 4-5* and extrapolated her 4* stats from her 5* one. We'd have to ask someone on the wiki to be sure though. And as others have said, I'd be really, really surprised if she dropped to 4*. 

[r_n]

Hopefully the backlash over this results in them not doing this again moving forward

Hopefully

[Alkaid]

17 minutes ago, SilvertheShadow said:

I’m as bummed as the next guy concerning Ayra being a summon only instead of a free unit, but I do think there are some positives to take from here.

1. She’s got 4* stats so she’s likely to be demoted. It makes no sense how they could be visible if she was intended to be 5* locked. So if you skip here it might not be a big deal since she’ll be available at a better rate, which leads me to...

I wouldn't say likely. I know why you're saying it and I know what the datamine showed, but everyone also got wrapped up in the assumption she'd be free due to the same kind of info. I wouldn't bank on her getting demoted, since doing so and skipping this banner on that assumption could mean getting burned if that's wrong. I hope she does, but I'm not going to make more assumptions like that for a while after today.

[MonkeyCheez3K]

I feel the new banners should all be 1 new unit and three old ones, heck two old ones, no need for those 4-man banners anymore, am I right? Four banners every two week, sick!

Anyways, typical greedy move I would expect from this type of game and producers who are overwhelmed by success. I'll stick around for now without too much worry as I don't care for Ayra, it won't change my opinion on atrocious payment concepts from mobile games, this is still the only way I can enjoy all the FE chars together at once, and IS still kinda listens every once in a while (let's just hope money doesn't make them blind for everything else too often)

[Punished Dayni]

9 hours ago, phineas81707 said:

"So this place has no fire mages? Shameful. No matter- I shall establish my empire here, and none shall rise to overthrow me!"

I just imagine how he reacted if Sanaki was there:

"I shall establish an empire...." "Do you mind? I am already the Empress of this dirtpile. You can leave."

(Course I have her. I even have Takumi as kindling)

(Sorry to be quoting a post so far back, but I though it was good enough to do so)

As for reacting to thei decision with Ayra, that was bad on their part. The game's reminding me of May, when they intentionally tightened up the orb supply. They way they've been doing banners is certainly worse though.

[bethany81707]

1 minute ago, Dayni said:

(Sorry to be quoting a post so far back, but I though it was good enough to do so)

I needed a laugh. We all need laughs. I just need more than are currently available to me- and writing isn't helping.

Such a shame I still need to write that test.

[Othin]

Guess this is the upside of no longer caring about most infantry. Arvis and Arden are much more valuable to me.

[Michelaar]

Fire emblem heroes is making me hate Ayra so much. Just because there is ZERO reason for her to be THAT strong. She has the same amount of BST that Armored, Trainee's and Bike have. When she is just an infantry sword user. She isn't a lord or important villain either, so much special treatment shouldn't be given, right? IS threw that right out of the water. She has SO MUCH SPEED and she has really good stats all-around really. I HATE this move.

[Shiki]

12 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

Fire emblem heroes is making me hate Ayra so much. Just because there is ZERO reason for her to be THAT strong. She has the same amount of BST that Armored, Trainee's and Bike have. When she is just an infantry sword user. She isn't a lord or important villain either, so much special treatment shouldn't be given, right? IS threw that right out of the water. She has SO MUCH SPEED and she has really good stats all-around really. I HATE this move.

Her SPD is pretty much justified for being THE Myrmidon archetype. However  41 HP and 31 Def? That's what I call excessive. No unit with that much SPD should have this kind of durability. I mean, they could have just lowered her Def and Res to make her different from Athena ...
But hey, let's just give +5 BST for no reason, right?
 

Edited October 19, 2017 by Talandar

[Michelaar]

1 hour ago, Talandar said:

Her SPD is pretty much justified for being THE Myrmidon archetype. However  41 HP and 31 Def? That's what I call excessive. No unit with that much SPD should have this kind of durability. I mean, they could have just lowered her Def and Res to make her different from Athena ...
But hey, let's just give +5 BST for no reason, right?
 

I know right? It makes NO SENSE.

[DefaultBeep]

8 hours ago, Eridras said:

I could have been much clearer with how I phrased my response, so it was my fault as well. That said, we were both wrong in the worst possible way!

Yeah, in the end we're crying together regardless.

1 hour ago, Michelaar said:

Fire emblem heroes is making me hate Ayra so much. Just because there is ZERO reason for her to be THAT strong. She has the same amount of BST that Armored, Trainee's and Bike have. When she is just an infantry sword user. She isn't a lord or important villain either, so much special treatment shouldn't be given, right? IS threw that right out of the water. She has SO MUCH SPEED and she has really good stats all-around really. I HATE this move.

Even when she was assumed to be a free unit, I was feeling kinda bad about wanting to use her. She's one of my favorites from Genealogy though, so hey, I'll get over it I guess. But I'm just... I dunno. Her Spd at least makes sense as an original Myrmidon, and her HP kinda makes sense because Genealogy units had weirdly high health in their game anyway, but... why the 31 Def? Why the 21 Res? She does have mildly respectable Defense in Genealogy I guess (7 base and 20% growth is what I'd consider respectable anyway, considering that game's standards), but her Resistance is awful in Genealogy. 1 base and 5% growth? Why does she need so much Res anyway? 21 isn't really that much, but 16 would've made almost no difference for her performance. It's just... such an odd choice.

[Michelaar]

5 minutes ago, DefaultBeep said:

Why does she need so much Res anyway? 21 isn't really that much, but 16 would've made almost no difference for her performance. It's just... such an odd choice.

All they do is pumping her BST up even more. If I get Ayra, I'll use her, but I won't pull specifically for her and I will feel like a total cheater for using her.

[Nosmur]

Well, Ayra is definitely a crush for me right now.

I had like 150 orbs and get hyped because of Sigurd's pull, and I just spent all my orbs 'cause i thought that Ayra would be a reward of the new TT, but MEH.

Well, i have Sigurd and Tailtiu in this pull and i'm thinking about make a cavalry team, but i don't have any 5* green member cavalry.

I'm thinking about evolving Frederick but he's weak in RES, will be nice to balance the team with some member with Fortify res or something, idk. My question is: Is 5* Frederick worth? Or maybe i must to evolve other green cavalry unit? I have Titania, Cecilia, Gunter... Idk if Titania is better for that team or not D:

[DefaultBeep]

Just now, Michelaar said:

All they do is pumping her BST up even more. If I get Ayra, I'll use her, but I won't pull specifically for her and I will feel like a total cheater for using her.

I still hope to get her, but I can totally understand why people wouldn't want her, or why they would feel bad for using her. I will too, honestly.

If there's one small bright side for me, like I said somewhere last night (I forget if it was here or on the Tempest thread), I have been hoping for Eldigan for a while. I'd rather have Eldigan on a banner with another new red that I also want, than having him on a banner with Seliph, who I already have as a 5-star +1. I think I changed my mind from last night though, and will still go for Deirdre first. Her banner ends first, more green mages are never a bad thing, I already have a pity rate of 3.50%, and, well... I would just feel better about using her compared to Ayra. If I get Deirdre (or when the banner ends), I'll go for Ayra and Eldigan, but it's still a weird thing.

This is honestly the first time that I've felt disappointed in Heroes. It's certainly not the end of the world, but it's a shame to see such an otherwise great mobile game start to go down a slippery slope like this.

1 minute ago, Nosmur said:

Well, Ayra is definitely a crush for me right now.

I had like 150 orbs and get hyped because of Sigurd's pull, and I just spent all my orbs 'cause i thought that Ayra would be a reward of the new TT, but MEH.

Well, i have Sigurd and Tailtiu in this pull and i'm thinking about make a cavalry team, but i don't have any 5* green member cavalry.

I'm thinking about evolving Frederick but he's weak in RES, will be nice to balance the team with some member with Fortify res or something, idk. My question is: Is 5* Frederick worth? Or maybe i must to evolve other green cavalry unit? I have Titania, Cecilia, Gunter... Idk if Titania is better for that team or not D:

Depends on what the rest of your team is weak to. Cecilia with TA3 works well for my team because she can check blue mages and colorless units on enemy phase very well. If you want a heavy-hitting physical unit, Frederick works great, especially with +Atk and a Brave Axe. Titania can be good too, but I feel that she works much better with Distant Counter, so that she can use her solid Res to check mages on enemy phase, similar to Cecilia. I've used her in place of Cecilia before though, and she can still work fine if all you need is a green unit to handle blues. I can't speak for Gunter personally, but I think he's normally considered to be similar to Frederick, but perhaps a bit worse overall.

[Lord-Zero]

5 hours ago, Korath88 said:

This is not okay

https://twitter.com/CuvSspkcmPj9Qou/status/920943288860884992

Absolutely disgusting. 

Whoever thought this was a good idea should be Valflame'd. 

 

[LuxSpes]

I used my free pull from the TT banner +8 orbs since there were a total of 3 reds, but that's probably the extent that I'm pulling from that banner. I kind don't want to give IS orbs after they pulled that move. It's kind of sad, Ayra went from a unit I was kind of cautiously hyped for to one I now kind of dislike just because I saw her portrait on a banner this morning.

13 hours ago, DefaultBeep said:

Edit: @LuxSpes Sure wish I could get a pity-breaker Lucina... Would be nicer than getting another 5-star Tharja...

Ah, see, that's where are mindsets are different, and where my problem comes in: I have a favorite on every banner, often more than one. That's my curse of playing and beating every FE game (except FE10, ironically enough), and getting too attached to the cast of all of them. I do go into most banners expecting nothing, but to say I hope for nothing every time wouldn't quite be the truth.

Yikes, I'm sorry to hear that. I think my highest pity rate was 5.50% on the PA banner, but I did eventually get the Olivia I was hoping for. At least you realized the potential danger before going any further with it. As long as you've found the best way for you to enjoy the game, I'd say that's the most important thing. And hey, maybe Brave Lucina will break one of your pity rates in the future! Hopefully not for someone you want more than her, though...

I'll send her your way once I get her to +10.  And I have that feeling with Abel myself.

I realized that whenever I had a unit I was pulling for in a banner, the banner would give me anything but that unit. It's like the ever so infamous desire sensor in the MH fandom. For example, before getting 1 Katarina in her starting banner, I got 5 Luke and 1 Athena. Now I trick the desire sensor by going into a pull expecting a combinations of Batres Stahl, Oboro or Lissa.

B!Lucina could break my pity rate for Micaiah and I'd be happy. I'd have been ok with not getting B!Lucina if my pity breaker had been Linde, Tana, Amelia or Celica instead of the riff-raff of 4-5* pity breaker I got.

 

[Michelaar]

Wait. Someone already made A+10 AYRA? What the fuck is this crap?
 

[Sunwoo]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

I just imagine how he reacted if Sanaki was there:

"I shall establish an empire...." "Do you mind? I am already the Empress of this dirtpile. You can leave."

I think the first 5-star red mage that I pulled actually was Sanaki, and she was the one that I wanted the most and the one that actually showed up the instant I decided that I wanted to get her. Sanaki is already the empress of my "dirtpile"

Edited October 19, 2017 by Sunwoo

[DefaultBeep]

11 minutes ago, LuxSpes said:

I used my free pull from the TT banner +8 orbs since there were a total of 3 reds, but that's probably the extent that I'm pulling from that banner. I kind don't want to give IS orbs after they pulled that move. It's kind of sad, Ayra went from a unit I was kind of cautiously hyped for to one I now kind of dislike just because I saw her portrait on a banner this morning.

I'll send her your way once I get her to +10.  And I have that feeling with Abel myself.

I realized that whenever I had a unit I was pulling for in a banner, the banner would give me anything but that unit. It's like the ever so infamous desire sensor in the MH fandom. For example, before getting 1 Katarina in her starting banner, I got 5 Luke and 1 Athena. Now I trick the desire sensor by going into a pull expecting a combinations of Batres Stahl, Oboro or Lissa.

B!Lucina could break my pity rate for Micaiah and I'd be happy. I'd have been ok with not getting B!Lucina if my pity breaker had been Linde, Tana, Amelia or Celica instead of the riff-raff of 4-5* pity breaker I got.

 

I wonder if IS can tell what banner we use our purchased orbs on. I haven't bought any for either of the Genealogy banners, but I'm almost tempted to buy and spend on the Holy War banner, to hopefully send the message of "I would rather spend money on a banner like this than try for Ayra." I'm going for Deirdre first anyway, since... well, I'd rather have her, I guess.

It's interesting to see the exact opposite experiences we've had in that regard. Like I said before, my odds of getting units I want seems to have increased greatly since I started sniping. Although it helps that there's normally only one or two units that I really want in a banner, so I can stop safely once I get them. Although, funny you mention Katarina's banner; I was so scared of getting Luke and Athena, I avoided pulling on that banner hardly at all. Now I just hope that we'll eventually get an -owl tome banner, so I can safely snipe for her.

...Oh no. What if they make that -owl banner be the next skill banner? Just to add insult to injury with this whole Ayra situation. Maybe I won't pull at all for a while, just in case Katarina does show up...

Agreed on Linde, Tana, and Celica 100%, they could break my pity rate any day without complaint. I do have Amelia, but she would be nice to get again too; the one I have is +HP/-Def, and I can think of quite a few units that would like that Slaying Axe+ and Armor March.

[Zeo]

Probably just going to pull on the Geneology banner at this point and call it a wrap for my orbs. I dumped over 70 orbs into the Dancer Banner and got a Genny, Sakura and Inigo. Seems like a bad move to pull more for them even if they're limited. I'd like Sigurd but what's most important is gettting a 40% unit for tempest. Going to probably sacrifice my 3.50% rate on the dancer banner and stick to the main FE4 banner for a bonus unit then just save my orbs.

This whole thing feels slimy for F2P and it repels me.

[Alexmender]

I'm still burned out due to all the crap IS pulled but looking at the positive side Arvis just got his 5* promotion guaranteed and I have Sigurd and Tailtiu to get big boy Arden soon. 

I still like Ayra as an awesome character in FE4 and kind of want to pull for her but I learned the hard way from Celica's TT and Elincia's banners that summoning from a banner with units sharing a same color is a recipe for salt and disaster so I'll just use my orbs on Deirdre and that's it.

[DefaultBeep]

11 minutes ago, Alexmender said:

I'm still burned out due to all the crap IS pulled but looking at the positive side Arvis just got his 5* promotion guaranteed and I have Sigurd and Tailtiu to get big boy Arden soon. 

I still like Ayra as an awesome character in FE4 and kind of want to pull for her but I learned the hard way from Celica's TT and Elincia's banners that summoning from a banner with units sharing a same color is a recipe for salt and disaster so I'll just use my orbs on Deirdre and that's it.

Heh, yeah, I guess that's another bright side; no need to save feathers for Ayra anymore. Now, to decide between Arden, Arvis, or one of the dozens of other units I want to promote...

I'm in the same boat here. Shame that one of my favorite characters ended up like this. If the new skill banner doesn't end up being an -owl tome banner, then I'll be going back to Deirdre as well. If there is an -owl banner though, then I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't try for Katarina.

[DehNutCase]

The biggest irony is that the current situation, 2 banners of 3 units each, is far better from a statistical perspective than any other option---barring the rare case you wanted Sigurd and Ayra but not Eldigan at all.

If Ayra had been on the Holy War banner, she would've been sharing a color with another focus, like now, except she'd be on a 4 person banner rather than a 3 person one, meaning:

A, it'll take more orbs to get her, on average

B, it'll take more orbs to get any red 5*

(Eldigan & Ayra on a 3 person banner means red orbs rains 5*s)

 

Whereas, right now, we have 2 banners excellent for sniping: Holy War has 3 units in 3 colors, which means you can just heavily snipe the only color you want if you wanted to focus a unit.

Ayra is a bit more difficult to get because she's sharing a color with Eldigan on her banner, of course, but she's still easier to get than if she had shared a color with Sigurd, because she's on a 3 person banner rather than a 4 person banner.

 

tl;dr This is basically the opposite of a cash grab, except, like many reasonable people/companies, IS completely misread how people would interpret it.