[Coldsaturn]

So, combat.

I grok the gist of it. I was actually quite surprised and very pleased at the inclusion of combat at all. I am a MMO player and have been mostly sunk into FFXIV for the last few years, so having to dodge out of pools of lava constantly is ingrained in my fingertips.

It's awkward (well, more awkward the start but getting less so with time) because I'm playing using an emulator on PC and my keyboard/cursor keeps drifting out of the bounding window so suddenly I stop moving and shooting (no bueno) but I'm getting better at swinging the view around.

I've been mostly using the staff (does that LOOK like a "wand" to you?) as I really like the skills it has (heals are good too) but I'm fine with the guns as needed. I would LIKE to be better at the claymore but I read up on it and it seems fairly hard to learn to do well with and I don't have the patience or skill right now to be better at melee-range dodging. the regular sword seems kinda lackluster for "whee!" factor but I might be missing something.

- so level the cards, but don't waste resources on a 3 star unless you have to.
- matching card color to fight color is THE primary thing
- pay attention to which boy has which color cards, see point above
- there aren't enough resources, concentrate Chiclet, don't spend frivolously
- dodging is your best friend. dodge often, if not well
- protocores have sub-stats.  this is murky. which stat goes well with which guy? which protocores can you crush into powder to feed the equipped one without making a large mistake?

I probably have more questions but I have to leave work again.

High five to a fellow MMO player. I've been trying to resist FFXIV since it came out because I know it would devour me, but I still kept close enough to the community to know more than the layman about it. My poison of choice is instead the almost totally dead MMO Secret World Legends.

OK combat. You got the gist of it, but let me add to it.

Use the Training Room (inside the Battle button/menu) to get a feeling of the various weapons and skills. You learn basically everything in the various main story battles, but with the sword and claymore the training room becomes quite important. Also you can train for perfect dodge (if you dodge right before you get hit, you trigger a reaction from your companion that can be quite useful). I was happy with the option of a heal weapon, but the more you go, the more it will become a bit obsolete. Get used to dodging and you won't lose HP, and instead you'll find out you need to max the amount of damage you do in order to win the battle within the time limit. And that will be the tricky thing.

As you progress, all the battle options you'll have (hunter contest, bounty hunt, deepspace trial, core hunt) will rely on you knowing how to DPS your way to a three star rating. And sometimes other weapons will be necessary for that. I haven't really found a single battle that required me to really mind my HP, but dealing enough damage in the short amount of time I have is constantly the main objective.

Each weapon is kinda geared toward a certain battle position (whether tank, heal, dps, single target, aoe, you know the drill), and it is also geared toward possible synergies with specific companions. If you're a "battle girlie" as they're affectionately called in the fandom, then studying each weapon and then each companion is worth the time. For example, I think I'll be forced to use the claymore if I want to clear orbit #43 without having to spend resources on over leveling up cards because the claymore can push away enemies, which is what I need.

You can easily pass any battle if you have cards of higher levels compared to the requirement. Problem is, you'll soon find out that leveling up to those levels without spending real money will get harder and harder. But you can clear battles even with under leveled cards if your team is well equipped.

So:

Cards.
3 stars will become almost useless pretty soon. Until you get enough 4 and 5 stars they'll be all that you have, though. You can reasonably level them up to level 30 but I would suggest you don't ascend them past that point, as it won't really help you. Some will tell you to level up 4 star cards up to level 40 not ascended, so that you can then focus all your energies on leveling up 5 star cards (they cost so much resources, omg), but a girl's gotta battle for glory and red diamonds, so I'm personally juggling between ascending 4 stars past level 40 and 5 stars based on the need of the specific battle I have ahead.

Stellactrum.
Yes, matching the colors required by the battle with the colors of your team is HUGE. You'll often find yourself losing a battle if you don't, unless your team is waaaaaay above the level requirement. If you match the stellactrum you won't just get a big boost to your stats, you'll also destroy 2 shields of the enemy instead of just 1 with your charged skills (and since you're on a timer, you need to make it fast). If you happen to have solar pairs (solar cards of the same companion that go together, you'll know on the card if it has a matched pair), using them together will also add to your DPS.
Companions have their own primary and secondary colors, as you know. It's their area of expertise, where their stats will shine. What it actually means is that you'll pull 3/4 of the cards for your companion in a certain pair of colors, and then all the others as minorities. As you progress, the battle might require out of 6 colors 4 of the same, forcing you to choose the companion for which you actually have that many cards with the same color.

Stellarium of each LI:

• Xavier: GREEN dominate, YELLOW auxiliary, RED tertiary, PINK 4th
  
• Zayne: BLUE dominate, RED auxiliary, PINK tertiary, YELLOW 4th
  
• Rafayel: PURPLE dominate, PINK auxiliary, YELLOW tertiary, RED 4th
  
• Sylus: PINK dominate, GREEN auxiliary, BLUE tertiary, PURPLE 4th
  
• Caleb: RED dominate, PURPLE auxiliary, GREEN tertiary, BLUE 4th
  

(another implication is that often enough 5 star cards in the companion's primary color are spicier :cool: )

Protocores.
They're so important it's insane. They will make or break a battle.
They've just uploaded the protocore section just yesterday to make it easier? Apparently? I still haven't checked it, but you might find it more intuitive than before.
The important thing with protocores is: just like cards, try to avoid the lower level ones (the blue ones; rarity R) and focus on the purple (mid level; rarity SR) and even better the gold ones (rarity SSR). R type protocores are upgrading fodder. Purples will be useful until you can clear enough Core hunt levels that you start getting SSR types consistently. Go with those then. They'll cost more resources to upgrade, but will also give you a way higher return on investment.
(in case it isn't clear, we're not talking about the color of the protocore itself, but the color of the slim band at the bottom of each protocore. That will tell you if it's R, SR, or SSR.)

Something I was ignoring when I started playing with protocores is how each companion is geared toward one type more than the other. It was ignored by players enough that now the new game version has a "match helper" added to the protocore section of each card. Basically when you go to the Protocore tab of a selected card, you'll see the Attribute stats for that card, and then a very important section: "Talent"
It will tell you what stat that specific card scales on. Scaling on that specific stat with your protocores will add to your weakness DMG of that card by an increasing %
At the beginning you can get away with only choosing protocores that focus on ATK, but you'll soon find out that giving your companion's card the right protocore for its talent is what really makes the difference. Some will scale on DEF, others on ATK, others on HP, etc.

Choose protocores that have those stats as primary or at least secondary. Otherwise by leveling up the protocore you still won't increase them. In absence of anything else, you might still choose a protocore whose third or fourth stat matches the talent of the companion card. Better than nothing.
Sometimes you'll receive a protocore that has only one or two stats out, while the others might get unlocked as you level it up. I'd suggest to favor those protocores that have all the stats already out, so you know what you're getting right from the start.

In order to level up cards and level up protocores you need to spend your stamina to clear those battles and receive the resources you need. Don't do what some players do, where they keep their stamina above the max amount you can own (ie they have 340/170 stamina). Spend the stamina when you have it, otherwise you won't get more. Yes you have your daily rewards giving you stamina, but so long as you're above the max number of stamina you can own, it won't increase passively by 1 every 6 minutes. In the course of 24 hours, so long as you stay below the max level you can contain, you'll receive up to 240 stamina daily just by waiting it out. SPEND IT WHEN YOU HAVE IT or you won't have space to receive more.


Ok that's a lot. I hope it's not too confusing lmao