W'sW

Big disclaimer: this is just a speculation post and should be taken with a grain of salt.

What we know so far is that the new armor will inherit Exascale's circuits and chips effects. This means that the new set effects are going to be similar to Exascale. The most obvious thing they would do is to copy the same effect and increase some value, but if that was the case, it'd be so boring.

The cartridge system behaves similarly to GCC's card collection system, where you can put the card in an equipment and level it up if you collect duplicates and increase its effect. Apparently, you can 'mix-and-match' the effect freely, so this is the part that I'm more interested about. The cartridges are probably these colored blocks in the Summer Update Overview.

This armor also doesn't have conventional identifiable lines that can be re-rolled via Blessed Time and Space Scroll, but rather something akin to UDW's Stat Change. On one side, this alleviates the gap between low and high enhancement level, but would definitely hurt your ED more.

They mention that the armor will be Legendary grade and has 2 possible sealing counts. This could mean that the armor will no longer be bank-sharable like many Legendary items, but I hope this is not the case.

What's also worth discussing is that the new armor will come with the new raid instead of with the new region. We can assume that this new, single normal dungeon has nothing related to the new armor and is just there for better EXP farming.

The new raid will consist of 5 dungeons, 9 phases in total, and will be released in 2 parts. I think of this as the same as Doom Aporia, where the first 3 dungeons were released first then the final dungeon later, although Wilting Tower was so long that they eventually separated it into 2 dungeons. I think the new raid will follow a similar trend, releasing the first 3 dungeons first, then the rest in the second batch. The first 4 dungeons will have 2 phases each with the final one having only one phase. Them mentioning that they would use Solo mode as a substitute for Story mode could mean that the new raid will come with both Solo and Normal modes on release.

Those who completed the new raid can also use the new 'Dark Elf Black Market' where they can auction rare items like max stat circuits, replicator circuit, etc. This will put a heavy toll (literally) on endgame players to hoard as much ED as possible to win these auctions, so the value of ED will increase significantly, and it could be a mess if ED bots or abusers aren't properly dealt with.

The new raid also comes with new accessories. While 5 dungeons don't necessarily equate to 5 new accessories, I believe all Serpentium and Doom raid accessories would be powercreeped. Otherwise, there would be ones that overlap with Atma parts and we have to mix-and-match them, because even with Atma, Baryon's Fur is still meta. It'd be great to see it finally getting replaced. However, I still believe Serp and Doom raid accs getting replaced is more likely.

The mark system returns as well. This will encourage more party play to help those in need. And since the current party composition allows one support per party (two if you want to suffer a bit but still doable), the leeching problem should be less of an issue compared to before (unless some party members have skill issue). The combat power required, if I were to guess, would be around 5 million like High Entropy, because that's where a player with +11 UDW and well-built Exascale sits at.

Lastly, the +12 pity is going to be added. I don't know how they are going to implement this. Could be making it impossible to downgrade from +11 to +10, or counting the times you have successfully reached +11. In any case, +12 will be the new +11, and depending on how merciful the pity is, +13 might be the new +12. To be honest, if you are not that invested in this game, getting +12 is totally optional thanks to Stat Change system. Personally, I would hope for a better balance patch instead, because CA on release was 'something'.

EP. 25 - It's sad that Makoto's episodes somehow have low budgets. Even though this is supposed to be an action-focused episode, everything is so stationary. Anyway, thanks to Petermon's shenanigans, GD is back being poor again even after claiming bounty from catching Klay.

EP. 26 - Now this is one of the bitter and better episodes of the Interlude arc. Haruomi survived the colosseum thanks to Elizamon's help and he agreed to help her avenge her Owner's murderer. They stumbled upon Nirinso by accident and Haruomi reunited with Commandramon. But Elizamon got jealous. After Haruomi explained their story, Gekkomon, who saw the ikemen cooking contest earlier, suggested they had a cooking fight-off. It was here that Haruomi learned that HE was the one who murdered Elizamon's previous Owner due to the signature pink curry. As always, Haruomi acted evil so that Elizamon would kill him. But Commandramon took the hit instead, which also completed the revenge in a way. After they reconciled, they settled down in the urban area where humans and Digimons live together, the same area that appeared in EP. 5-6, and opened a pink curry bakery, which attracted a lot of girls thanks to his ikemen trait. But since Commandramon and Elizamon are now under his wings, he would have to deal with their bickering every day, which is like a punishment of sort. He deserved it. Also this episode's pacing is SUPER fast. Too fast for anything to sink in at all.

EP. 27 - The most hilarious episode of this arc. Everyone got infected with love virus from Mummymon and took EXTRA care for their partners to the point of creepiness, especially Kyo who showed his true nature of liking Cougarmon's fur so much he made EIGHTEEN dismembered figurines from it (the Digimon is a mirror of one's self indeed). Thankfully Gekkomon was stubborn enough and gave Tomoro a headsmack which woke him up from the hypnosis, and soon everyone followed. The ending was also comically anticlimactic with Mummymon suddenly having a heartbreak and de-digivolved on his own.

Holy shit I couldn't believe I just binge watched all of that in one go. But that just proved how good this arc is.

EP. 15 is kinda slow with the Kinoko gang trying to get revenge on Glowing Dawn but instead of "It's just a prank, bro" things almost escalated into a massacre. Good thing the Baby Digimons are brave enough to stand off. In the end, the Mush Mush gang reflected on themselves and worked on Nirinso instead.

EP. 16 showed how Granit had survivor's guilt and wanted to "die with purpose" so that Stella, his sister figure, would forgive him for surviving a bombardment on his refugee camp. Thankfully, Reina saved him from under the snow and they both worked together to defeat Moosemon.

EP. 17 had Makoto and Hotaruko entered in an awkward situation where she's forced to play pretend as Makoto's coworker to fool her family whom she is constantly supporting. Their act was really enjoyable with them eating at her Okonomiyaki shop as both thanks and cover up. But their relationship got awry after she learned that Makoto was from Shangri-La Egg and hated how he had never had to work for anything unlike her. She proved how she could get things done on her own when she singlehandedly defeated the Burgamon and Burpmon pair as repayment for the debt that Makoto saved her family earlier.

EP. 18 had Haruomi and Commandramon who had enough of Tactics' shady business and ran away. Luckily, they met Glowing Dawn who clicked with Haruomi's dream of having COmmandramon living peacefully, so they staged an act where Commandramon was killed in a crossfire while the real one was hiding using his camouflage ability. In the end, Haruomi was captured and was properly Cold-Hearted while Commandramon was free, but reverted back to Baby from since he could no longer maintain his e-Pulse.

EP. 19 had Glowing Dawn infiltrating Klay's underground humans and Digimon's auction. Their cover was blown and fought against Tactics Team Seven. Raito got too ambitious and forcefully evolved his partner, causing him to go berserk and killed one of the valuable Digimon. This resulted in him getting fired and set up for the next episode.

EP. 20-21 had Tomoro kidnapped by Gokuwmon and entered into an underground colosseum where people bet on results. Those who lost were Cold-Hearted. Eventually, Tomoro and Raito fought, and Tomoro reminded Raito how the Digimon and its partner's overlapping beats can amplify each other, giving them more power. Raito lost and accepted his fate. Thankfully, the rest of Glowing Dawn came to rescue Tomoro in time, with Granit also resolving his issue with survivor's guilt, just as the ring was being destroyed. Turned out all of this was Kanada's plan to pit them against each other.

EP. 22 was the beginning of the end of the Tactics arc. All of them, Klay included, had bounty on their heads. Team Seven was trying to stitch together their members with the help of Glowing Dawn, and succeeded with Hotaruko giving a bitch slap to Naito as her resignation. Honoka was the MVP here, to be honest. I like her melodrama allergy very much.

EP. 23-24 was the final battle between GD and Klay. Klay used a special coffin which siphoned e-Pulse from its victim and fed into Proganomon, evolving it into Pyramidimon, a Mega, but unstable one, which Kyo and Murasamemon defeated. At Kyo's mercy, Klay launched an ambush and stole Kyo, Reina and Makoto's e-Pulse. Tenma, infuriated, overloaded Armalizamon with dark e-Pulse but failed to defeat Proganomon. After also another satisfying bitch slap from Raito, who survived the coffin thanks to his partner, Tomoro realized his mistake and reconciled with Gekkomon. They then evolved into Monarchlizamon and defeated Proganomon. Tomoro then finally learned about the identity of the mysterious monkey Digimon, yet Klay didn't tell them everything because they would definitely meet each other very soon. I know I've been complaining how Tomoro wasn't displaying his love for music as much, but having a flashback about him playing with his brother to reach greater heights is a good reminder how there are still beats in his heart.

I first thought Tactics were gonna be someone who made GD grew stronger, and it turned out the opposite was more correct. It was GD's unique dynamic that helped Tactics overcame their flaws and improved. Not that their influence wasn't important either, because it was their existence and actions that also helped GD slowly grew.

For the overarching plot, Chairman Wong is supposedly responsible for spearheading the e-Pulse research which resulted in Digimon outbreak that combined and eviscerated an island from the map, causing the city where Tomoro lived to be submerged as seawater rushed in to replace the missing landmass. After witnessing the action firsthand on a helicopter with "Professor Tenma" by his side, he is obsessed with Digimon and saw it as absolute power, and promoted Sapotama to make the world revolves around Digimon. His endgame is probably to give birth to an "ideal" Digimon using "ideal" e-Pulse, and Kanada, who is apparently playing the long game unlike Klay who was trying to usurp Chairman Wong very abruptly and violently, would probably intervene later. Professor Tenma might also be responsible for Tomoro's erratic e-Pulse as a countermeasure against Chairman's plan.

Overall this arc is a blast with plot, action, comedy and has a much better pacing than Glowing Dawn arc. It was the right decision to wait and binge watch this because if I had to wait for a week all these emotions that have been snowballing would be dissipating fast. This happened when I was watching Made in Abyss weekly and it just didn't feel the same when I binged it again two years later.

I was VERY busy during the time they aired. And when I finally had time, EP. 18+ has already been released. Since I've missed a lot of episodes already, I thought: What if I waited the whole cour to finish before resume watching?

And so I have only just begun watching Digimon Beatbreak again. Since this is a binge watch, I won't have to worry about forgetting earlier episodes' contents, and spoilers didn't work on me because I have absolutely no context of what's going on.

EP. 13 and 14 are the introductory episodes of Tactics, a special force specifically trained for optimal Digimon combat. They worked under Klay, one of the Five Stars, who seemed to be in Digimon trafficking business. Naito is the chief trainer of the Tactics squad. Raito is the leader of the seventh Tactics team, which is considered the best, with Hotaruko, a seemingly nice and considerate girl, and Granit, a quiet boy, as its member. They worked perfectly well with each other with 'optimal and controlled' e-Pulse for maximum efficiency at all times. They are a stark contrast to Glowing Dawn, whose emotions lead their actions. And they proved to be quite an interesting rival and a stepping stone for their growth.

Their methods are ruthless. They lured a Snimon to attack a boy just so that it would evolve to Scorpiomon, which would fetch a higher price in the market. Thankfully, Tomoro was able to retrieve the boy's e-Pulse back and restore him from Cold Heart. Raito, who was being very cocky, got humiliated by Tomoro and got a nice punch from Naito for disobeying his order (god who named these characters? Raito gotto fistto from Naito and gotto nightto nightto.)

Also, it's funny how Tomoro's first reaction after he got called out by Raito for being able to hurt him and his partner was to tell him his name. Like, boy, do you want him to specifically hunt you down or what? Speaking about Tomoro, I like how the attacked brothers reflected Tomoro and Asuka, and Tomoro related himself with them and was hellbent on saving the attacked brother at all cost.

I also like the pacing, which is a lost quicker than the earlier episodes. One nitpick here is that they seem to blow out a lot of budget on EP. 13 on an unimportant battle instead of saving for the first battle between GD and Tactics on who's capturing Scorpiomon first.

Same parts as Pepega artifacts.

Four types of options: Fixed. Conversion. Additional. Special.

Fixed - Cannot be re-identified but transferrable like Tenebrous. Determines the nature and usage of Artifact Skill (activated by accumulating a dedicated gauge and then use Master Skill). When transferred, retain the option.

Conversion - Have 3 lines. Can be re-identified using Mirror Del weekly mats.

Additional - Have 2 lines. Can be re-identified. Transferrable and can retain old option and value.

Special - Determined by Spirit Artifact stones from Pepega. Transferrable and can retain old option and value.

For Fixed option of Circlet, use 'Increase the number of times Artifact Skill can be used'. Maximum is 2. Combined with the default of 1, you'll be able to use up to 3 Artifact Skills per dungeon (which sucks, please either increase the base count or just remove the count entirely and change the effect to something else.)

For Fixed option of Armor, use 'Increase Hyper Adaptation by 5% for 60 seconds.' You need as many Hyper Adapt as possible because it ignores normal Adaptation limit, and it directly affects every type of damage you deal.

For Fixed option of Necklace, you can use:

Special Active MP cost -20% for 20s

10% chance of resetting cooldown when using a skill for 20s

Increase CDA by x1.2 for 20s

The buff from the necklace is pretty minor because of how short its duration is (especially in long content like Doom Raid). So don't worry too much about it.

For Fixed option of Rings, use 'Increase the effect of Artifact Skill from Armor by 20%'. Two rings make it 40%. So your Hyper Adapt will increase by 7% instead of 5%. The other option, which increase the effect of Artifact Skill from Necklace, is too short to be noticeable anyway.

For Conversion option, use any offensive stats you can get.

What's the first thing that comes in your mind between:

A: A buff guy wearing a compression shirt

B: A buff guy wearing a collar and armbands

Gorou: "Charge!" "Press the advantage!"

As usual, only relevant skills after the change is applied. Do note that they can always change stuff later.

Flame Geyser = Critical + Heavy Sandstorm = Critical + Heavy

These are the ones that get buffed the most in terms of damage with the additional 50% defense ignore from Critical. Sandstorm is getting buffed YET AGAIN. Depending on how much defense the enemy has and how large it is, it could even be on par with other BRV skills.

Double Slash = Gigantic + Heavy

Skill range buff. Should help him clear high floors a bit better.

Spiral Blast = Haste + Useful

There are better skills to use, sadly.

Triple Geyser = Light + Heavy Unlimited Blade = Light + Heavy Iron Body = Killing Blow(1) + Regenerating(1) Kick = Light + Haste Armor Break = Killing Blow(1) + Haste Dodge Step = Light + Regenerating(1) Windmill = Light + Absorbing Vertical Slash = Light + Heavy Shoulder Tackle = Regenerating(1) + Empowered Armageddon Blade = Killing Blow(1) + Regenerating(1) Impact Smash = Heavy + Light Counter Attack = Regenerating(1) + Evil Sonic Blade = Regenerating(1) + Critical Sonic Blade: Crescent = Empowered + Light Power Smash = Light + Regenerating(2) Imperial Crusher = Light + Heavy Grand Cross = Heavy + Killing Blow(1)

MP cost/CD/QoL buff group. Nothing noteworthy.

Will only list relevant changes.

First of all, KOG stated that this balance takes future content into consideration. The new artifact level will allow us to activate both traits at the same time.

Double Slash: Trait changed from Haste to Gigantic.

This will allow more hits on small targets when used at point blank and better horizontal/vertical reach (although not that much).

Grand Cross: Charge time reduced from 0.5s to 0.2s per stage (max 2 stages or 0.4s)

This will make you BARELY be able to spend all 5 usages from Gexa. If you want quick damage, Double Slash spam is still better. But this means that your rotation will be even shorter. Currently, you need at least 1.33x CDA to rotate properly. With 0.6s gone from that, the new required CDA could be around 1.4-1.5x. And with KOG's intention of getting rid of CDA/CDR buff to party, we have to hope HARD they will improve his personal CD management.

Fortitude: Changed from Vitality to Destruction skill (a.k.a damage +50%)

The average and max damage right now is 16,798.32% and 36,956.3% respectively. After WotS change, it will become 25,197.48% and 55,434.45% respectively.

I think I'll be getting Sandrone for sure now. Just to make a team of Digimon VAs hehe.

What I could NEVER forgive, though, is this single line that ruined the entire arc:

"I wish you should've never been born."

Let me slowly unravel my train of thoughts.

Tomoro's childhood was tragic. His erratic e-Pulse made him an outcast. His parent got arrested. Asuka and his life now in shambles, yet he skill new NOTHING. He was always the end-product of events that he could not control. So the only thing he could do was to reject that society and lived however he wanted, while hoping that he, too, could find a place to belong. He's not a bad kid, just a troubled child that on the surface seemed normal and cool, thanks to his brother's support, but beneath that fragile mask was a colossal mess, which was quickly shown when Asuka was incapacitated. That final barrier was destroyed, and he was ushered into the cruelty of the real world for the first time.

His emotional turmoil was natural, having lost everything that was his whole world, depicted by his command to Gekkomon when they cornered the Hyenamon that stole Hitomi's e-Pulse: Delete it. He was consumed by rage, completely against his nature, as shown with Gekkomon reacting negatively to it and lost control when overwhelmed by dark emotion that Tomoro forcefully poured into him, only to be saved later by Glowing Dawn.

He then slowly built his relationship with the gang and, most importantly, Gekkomon himself.

In EP. 3, Kyo told him that glitches should not be erased just because they were, which was something Tomoro could relate to owing to his own erratic e-Pulse. He, though still not accepting Gekkomon completely, apologized to him and started calling him by his name.

In EP. 4, Tomoro and Gekkomon learned to open up to other family members and worked as an effective team.

In EP. 5 and 6, Tomoro witnessed Gekkomon's personality and growth, and supported him along the way.

In EP. 7, Tomoro witnessed the sad state of an abandoned Digimon, and along with the rest of the gang, endorsed Kyo's vision of humans and Digimons coexisting, and that all Digimons that they saved, and would save, should have a chance at living.

In EP. 8, Tomoro saw how the society had distorted one's morality, how the government had absolute control over humans AND Digimon's affairs, and decided to go against all of that.

In EP. 9 and 10, he witnessed the catastrophe that Haruka, who vehemently dejected her partner, Shademon, caused, and how Makoto and Chiropmon bonded and reached digivolution.

After 10 episodes, Tomoro had seen it all. Both positive and negative. How Digimon being rejected mirrored his own situation. How understanding and accepting resulted in favorable conclusion.

The build-up of EP. 11 focused on arguments between Tomoro and Gekkomon regarding Asuka's birthday present. As annoying as Gekkomon might be, it was a fair plot point to create the conflict needed to further their friendship. Even though he could not understand Gekkomon and how he could be his mirror-reflection, there was absolutely no reasonable explanation how he could utter that line, because he too, although he did not realize it yet, was in the same boat. Denying Gekkomon's existence was no different than denying your own existence. The notion that earlier EPs have been established to refute. It's not just 2 steps back. This negated all character's growth since EP. 3.

When tension rose and all reasonings abandoned, all that was left was raw, unfiltered emotion. Truth. Blinded by rage, him being able to say that meant he still blamed everything on Gekkomon and implied that his perspective had never changed at all. Him being a kid also didn't justify this, since the overarching theme of the arc was to build trust and understanding of Digimon, and most importantly, your partner. And the protagonists ought to carry that theme along with them.