Well, it's finally over. I'm sure most people would rather leave this rollercoaster of an event behind (Seasun most of all, if I had to guess). But as they say, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. While the story-related fiasco has already been previously covered in detail, let's take a look at the gameplay side too, because - let's be real - it wasn't great, either.

Turbobituary

Sometimes, I wonder if Seasun actually plays their own game.

Anyone seriously testing the capabilities of Fritia - Turbo would be able to tell you that she was fundamentally problematic from a design standpoint. Being so inflexible with her extended periods of damage downtime in a meta full of high-speed, high-burst DPS picks was a recipe for failure from the start. And even for casual players, the short duration of Fritia's actual speed boost, the centerpiece of her exosuit's theme, often lead to a generally unsatisfying experience even with the damage numbers turned off. And I don't even want to open the can of worms that's the (apparently still) unreliable auto-aim.

All of this wouldn't have been so bad if Seasun had taken the same hard look at Fritia and put in a genuine effort to fix these issues. It's not as if they haven't done it in the past: Eatchel - The Cub's partial rework has aged wonderfully over time and given her a lasting presence even in top-level content. But it seems that they're unable or unwilling to put that kind of work in anymore, because Fritia's "buffs" came nowhere close to having that much impact. All she ended up getting were some glorified bugfixes that actually ended up hurting her performance against her designated pandering boss Iron Ouroboros.

No, really. To "fix" the problem of enemies moving out of range of Fritia's ultimate during the cast animation, Seasun made it so all enemies are effectively frozen in place during it (ultimate animations aren't true timestops - try ulting right as Fiend jumps at you to see what I mean). This meant that Fritia can no longer get "free time" by pausing the timer with her ult animation while Iron Ouroboros continued to progress through its underground invulnerability phase and re-emerge sooner.

And it's not like there weren't any easy ways to improve her performance either, even if only to provide a placebo effect. But again, it's not what we got. The objective mishandling of Fritia - Turbo solidly puts her as the worst release in modern Snowbreak history, as even other "disappointing" releases like Vidya - Agave and Marian - Riptide have their redeeming qualities. The fact that it didn't have to be this way certainly doesn't help. Even with my personal distaste towards her for having an auto-aim mechanic, I think she deserved better.

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I don't know how Seasun designs characters, but I have a few theories, with it possibly coming down to two main factors:

1. Content is designed via the "rule of cool," without giving thought to the effects that the content created in this way can have for the player experience or the game overall.
2. A mentality of "Seasun knows best," even when they clearly don't. Think: "this character has to be played this way, because I said so. I don't care if you think that they would benefit from this change, I want them to work the way I want."

Either of these issues in isolation isn't great, but certainly something that can be worked around. Both at once, however, is a different story. Because with a reckless design process and little willingness to meaningfully fix issues that emerge as a result, content releases equate to rolling the dice on whether they'll be successful. Sometimes the gamble pays off and you get characters like Lyfe - Infinite Sight and Cherno - Enigma, who are strong, effective operatives (perhaps even problematically so). But on the flipside of the coin, you can get Vidya - Agave, who also received underwhelming buffs, and of course, Fritia - Turbo. And let's not get into other elements of the game like boss and game mode design.

As I'm writing this on the first day of the new Maze of Darkness update, I will say that Bubu - The Geomancer is looking promising so far. But whether that was the result of a carefully crafted design or getting away with going all in on red at the roulette table, I'm not so sure.

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By the way, I did end up adding in the usual graphs and goodies to what is now the permanent Fritia - Turbo article, so go check it out if you're interested in seeing how awful any weapon that's not her event/gacha weapon or Chocolate Filling is on her.

Meta Updates

This is likely the last major tier list shuffle for 2024, so every operative has been given a good hard look to reassess whether they're still worthy of their placement. Not everyone passed the test.

Tier List Changes

You can find the full tier list here.

For a speedster, Fritia ironically takes too long to hit her stride and gets left in the dust by contemporary DPS alternatives.

Siris actually sees herself with a bit of Turbo syndrome of her own, as the lengthy shield rams required to feed her ultimate leave her damage rotation a bit too slow for top-tier contention.

Yao's gradual decline continues as despite all of Fritia - Turbo's shortcomings, even she can pump out comparable or better damage numbers without the hassle of a high U-Energy price tag.

Katya's "jack of all trades" nature served her well while her performance was competitive, but the existence of modern DPS picks that outshine her while being just as well-rounded means that her relevant use cases have drastically reduced.

This has less to do with Fenny's own performance as it is about "making space" for recent demotions from upstairs with more potent combat capabilities.

Even with the benefit of modern skill damage supports like Enya - Exuvia and Marian - Riptide, Wild Hunt still struggles to be a compelling DPS option.

With seemingly every new DPS release having some form of effortless wave clear capability, Haru's mobbing niche has only become less and less valuable. Even the historical ace up her sleeve that is her performance against the Fiends has started to come into doubt as new, faster strategies leave her watching from the sidelines.

Like with Fenny - Lionheart, this is more about making space. Given the lack of actual DPS operatives in the lower tiers, I would take this as just an organisational rearrangement, rather than an actual demotion.

Mauxir's original version... really hasn't been doing a lot, as her Shadow Ka form hogs the spotlight. And for all of her weird quirks, none of them have really had a major impact either.