shb, reign of talon
Feb. 15th, 2026 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
requiemsPost-Shadowbringers adventures continue. Last week I did all the Nier raids (my beloved) and Eden 1-8, which I only paused on as you can't do 9-12 until Thancred and Urianger leave the First. I also did 5.1 this week - I really like 5.1 as it wraps up a lot of quandries leftover by SHB itself in that you don't really get a lot of time to see Eulmore out the other side of their leader abandoning them and their recovery from the influence of meol. You see a little, Alphinaud asks the important question of the next step being the most important one to take, and it is somewhat understandably rushed to keep the pacing, but it's largely reactive, and not on a day to day basis - how do they keep the change to their society going? How do they reach a stage that I, the player, can feel confident in giving the benefit of the doubt to them, when previously I hated being in Eulmore for any length of time due to being so disgusted by it? 5.1 answers that. Ran'jit gets one throwaway mention in npc dialogue, proving how pointless he was to the narrative at large. 5.1 also majorly introduces a cure for tempering being put on the table, something that has been dogging the wol since Ifrit in ARR, and Alisaie truly is the kindest person in this entire game ;w; she is always thinking of others before herself and her own well-being, always.
I started Bozja this weekend! Partly for glam, partly as Khlip has to go for Prih lore related reasons... an eagle for an eagle... I did try to queue in for Gaius weapons, but after 25 min at peak times I had to give up... I do really enjoy there's a bunch of side content for SHB that's introduced to you in msq and voiced, it makes it feel more mandatory, and a lot of it is on the Source so you get to catch up on the war with Garlemald that the wol has largely been absent for. I should maybe-hopefully get through to 5.3 during this week, although I am not looking forward to Elidibus wol... I've done this fight twice legit and remember nothing of it due to the sheer amount of pain it caused me so we'll see how bad it is for me past graphic update.
Overwatch had its launch, rewards are bugged (lol) because ofc they are. This means if you wanted to get both branches of rewards for the lore event you can't, they've been broken for four days of seven, yay :) couple this with unplayable lag on psn for day one, endless disconnects, five new heroes and a bunch of genuinely new players and tourists and it's been a little hellish. Due to the servers being so flunky I haven't touched stadium yet this season, as competitive points are also bugged and no way I am relying on up in the air promises of retroactively applied points for that, no thank you. Aim assist promises also did not pan out... there has been no new lore bites since launch, I'm antsy about Ashe but even more "okay but you should really do a lens for Overwatch the organisation atp given the attack on their main base, surely???" but no, no.
Sanrio is not my thing but Kuromi Widowmaker has invaded my brain, she's so cute. She has moogle wings (to me).
Of the new heroes, I have ended in the wild state of... not liking the three female characters at all, LMAO. As characters, yes. Playing them, no. Domina is Evil, like true corporate evil, and that's fantastic, she's everything Moira misreads are, and has some very obvious character flaws in that she lacks creativity and is thus very short sighted in her goals. I can't wait to see her and Vendetta crash and burn over the coming year.
Playing as Domina is a little too Sigma in her rotation for me and extremely static, she's very anchored, very much a I have setup here and I live here now. Anran is a squishier Tracer or Genji - she's designed to flank, but I honestly think she gets more success initiating with the team as it gives the tank impetus to walk-in after you (most of the time).
Jetpack Cat? Entirely playing with someone else dependant, imo. She is going to get crazy use in pro play due to their levels of coordination but playing solo you will never get the same value, and part of this is the lifeline tether. It has three (three!) different visual and audio cues but people don't notice it's being offered at best, at worst they won't accept the tether, because you surrender all movement to another person and that requires a level of trust you simply won't have between random players. Where is the cat going to take you? Where will it drop you? Will it drop you accidentally? You just don't know! Unlike Lifeweaver's pull, it has to require consent, because the pull moves you a set distance only and is one direction and if I get pulled, I'm invulnerable, I can look at the centre of the screen to save my brain. JPC's movement and camera in first person is a bit janky, which is applied to any character if they're tethered, and if I'm not controlling it it gives me a lot of motion sickness, so I simply... never accept tether. It's a shame because I really wanted to like and play the cat but I cannot 🥲 I don't like playing with one either, their heals are always low. And I hate playing against them because they'll undoubtedly be stacking and dragging people into your backline, and if you get catnapped with their ult, the only means to live is to shoot the cat. This is the one time the tether requires no consent. The first thing I have to do following the cat ult is to put my controller down on my knees and stare at the floor because it is vertigo inducing as hell. It's says something to me that the only other major distance displacement from an enemy, being Reinhardt pin, snaps you into third person (and why Doomfist's old punch into wall sucked as it didn't do that) and this doesn't.
BOYS. I really like Emre, I just wish I could aim at all. His playstyle is very Borderlands. Surprisingly I have bonded with Mizuki - he's kind of a hybrid between Brigitte and Lucio, as he has an aoe aura heal that's base value is increased the more damage you do, which includes to shields, excellent due to the amount of Domina's you're seeing right now. He took a couple games for me to get past not being able to actively heal with a weapon, you feel somewhat naked at first, but his ability heal plus aura is really good, when your team plays near you you can get so much out of him, he's very fun to play. His lore also completely got me which is hilarious from my first impression of "jrpg anime boy yawn", he's been told he's a curse his whole life and got sold into the yakuza at age 9 to pay off his father's debts and found himself a new dad. He's trying a little too hard to be coolTM, has kind of a deadpan empty delivery and I really like it on him, it's giving high functioning depression and that itself is Relatable when I was that exact age (22). And much of the fandom fucking HATES HIM, for reasons they would usually apply to female characters. Or they haven't looked at his lore at all. Me like yes, this makes sense. The prophecy of latching on and being endeared by the one character everyone hates is true.
The one downside is I keep losing due to the tourists, my stats are all good but there's not much you can with wrangling brand new players... or terrible Mercy's... this comes from a place of love, Mercy mains. Sometimes you must pick up a weapon. You gotta. And if you don't, where is your game sense and awareness, this is what you are playing Mercy for. omg.
Once the bugs are fixed (maybe??) I will get my gold weapons and decide what I want this year for comp... I have to add to the girls list, and seemingly Mizuki at this rate... the Crimson Wolf red looks much better in game as expected, except for the caveat of the Talon watermark all over the weapons, woops. It looks okay on thin weapons or designs where the red isn't applied to the bulk but the wrapping instead, which does mean it looks good on Ashe's mythic gun, and that's important to me. It also looks good on Wuyang P5 Joker, I may have to do it for Joker... and perhaps some of the other "evil" skins we have like Infinite Empire, Mirrorwatch Talon/normal Talon, we'll see.
They did however change 2/3rds of my mains in stadium so we'll see what the climb is like when I get back to it. I may have to learn stadium Orisa in earnest. Here comes horse.
I started Bozja this weekend! Partly for glam, partly as Khlip has to go for Prih lore related reasons... an eagle for an eagle... I did try to queue in for Gaius weapons, but after 25 min at peak times I had to give up... I do really enjoy there's a bunch of side content for SHB that's introduced to you in msq and voiced, it makes it feel more mandatory, and a lot of it is on the Source so you get to catch up on the war with Garlemald that the wol has largely been absent for. I should maybe-hopefully get through to 5.3 during this week, although I am not looking forward to Elidibus wol... I've done this fight twice legit and remember nothing of it due to the sheer amount of pain it caused me so we'll see how bad it is for me past graphic update.
Overwatch had its launch, rewards are bugged (lol) because ofc they are. This means if you wanted to get both branches of rewards for the lore event you can't, they've been broken for four days of seven, yay :) couple this with unplayable lag on psn for day one, endless disconnects, five new heroes and a bunch of genuinely new players and tourists and it's been a little hellish. Due to the servers being so flunky I haven't touched stadium yet this season, as competitive points are also bugged and no way I am relying on up in the air promises of retroactively applied points for that, no thank you. Aim assist promises also did not pan out... there has been no new lore bites since launch, I'm antsy about Ashe but even more "okay but you should really do a lens for Overwatch the organisation atp given the attack on their main base, surely???" but no, no.
Sanrio is not my thing but Kuromi Widowmaker has invaded my brain, she's so cute. She has moogle wings (to me).
Of the new heroes, I have ended in the wild state of... not liking the three female characters at all, LMAO. As characters, yes. Playing them, no. Domina is Evil, like true corporate evil, and that's fantastic, she's everything Moira misreads are, and has some very obvious character flaws in that she lacks creativity and is thus very short sighted in her goals. I can't wait to see her and Vendetta crash and burn over the coming year.
Playing as Domina is a little too Sigma in her rotation for me and extremely static, she's very anchored, very much a I have setup here and I live here now. Anran is a squishier Tracer or Genji - she's designed to flank, but I honestly think she gets more success initiating with the team as it gives the tank impetus to walk-in after you (most of the time).
Jetpack Cat? Entirely playing with someone else dependant, imo. She is going to get crazy use in pro play due to their levels of coordination but playing solo you will never get the same value, and part of this is the lifeline tether. It has three (three!) different visual and audio cues but people don't notice it's being offered at best, at worst they won't accept the tether, because you surrender all movement to another person and that requires a level of trust you simply won't have between random players. Where is the cat going to take you? Where will it drop you? Will it drop you accidentally? You just don't know! Unlike Lifeweaver's pull, it has to require consent, because the pull moves you a set distance only and is one direction and if I get pulled, I'm invulnerable, I can look at the centre of the screen to save my brain. JPC's movement and camera in first person is a bit janky, which is applied to any character if they're tethered, and if I'm not controlling it it gives me a lot of motion sickness, so I simply... never accept tether. It's a shame because I really wanted to like and play the cat but I cannot 🥲 I don't like playing with one either, their heals are always low. And I hate playing against them because they'll undoubtedly be stacking and dragging people into your backline, and if you get catnapped with their ult, the only means to live is to shoot the cat. This is the one time the tether requires no consent. The first thing I have to do following the cat ult is to put my controller down on my knees and stare at the floor because it is vertigo inducing as hell. It's says something to me that the only other major distance displacement from an enemy, being Reinhardt pin, snaps you into third person (and why Doomfist's old punch into wall sucked as it didn't do that) and this doesn't.
BOYS. I really like Emre, I just wish I could aim at all. His playstyle is very Borderlands. Surprisingly I have bonded with Mizuki - he's kind of a hybrid between Brigitte and Lucio, as he has an aoe aura heal that's base value is increased the more damage you do, which includes to shields, excellent due to the amount of Domina's you're seeing right now. He took a couple games for me to get past not being able to actively heal with a weapon, you feel somewhat naked at first, but his ability heal plus aura is really good, when your team plays near you you can get so much out of him, he's very fun to play. His lore also completely got me which is hilarious from my first impression of "jrpg anime boy yawn", he's been told he's a curse his whole life and got sold into the yakuza at age 9 to pay off his father's debts and found himself a new dad. He's trying a little too hard to be coolTM, has kind of a deadpan empty delivery and I really like it on him, it's giving high functioning depression and that itself is Relatable when I was that exact age (22). And much of the fandom fucking HATES HIM, for reasons they would usually apply to female characters. Or they haven't looked at his lore at all. Me like yes, this makes sense. The prophecy of latching on and being endeared by the one character everyone hates is true.
The one downside is I keep losing due to the tourists, my stats are all good but there's not much you can with wrangling brand new players... or terrible Mercy's... this comes from a place of love, Mercy mains. Sometimes you must pick up a weapon. You gotta. And if you don't, where is your game sense and awareness, this is what you are playing Mercy for. omg.
Once the bugs are fixed (maybe??) I will get my gold weapons and decide what I want this year for comp... I have to add to the girls list, and seemingly Mizuki at this rate... the Crimson Wolf red looks much better in game as expected, except for the caveat of the Talon watermark all over the weapons, woops. It looks okay on thin weapons or designs where the red isn't applied to the bulk but the wrapping instead, which does mean it looks good on Ashe's mythic gun, and that's important to me. It also looks good on Wuyang P5 Joker, I may have to do it for Joker... and perhaps some of the other "evil" skins we have like Infinite Empire, Mirrorwatch Talon/normal Talon, we'll see.
They did however change 2/3rds of my mains in stadium so we'll see what the climb is like when I get back to it. I may have to learn stadium Orisa in earnest. Here comes horse.
