Oh I guess I'm ranting about story mode Irontomb again...

[asiren]

I find myself pretty stressed out right now. It's not entirely new since this time of year is always stressful. And that's not even getting into work and personal matters. UGH.

Anyway, somehow I managed to finish Amphoreus during my time off in December. The story mode boss fight for Irontomb was HARDER than the weekly clear version. I basically had to use the meta Castorice team (Castorice, Evernight, Cyrene, and Hyacine), but I only had Hyacine in my box. I had to borrow the free story mode characters for the rest of the team and uh, boy... They felt super weak.

The boss was also pretty hard too (I failed like 10-13 times trying different parties after a few failed runs here and there), and I suspect this was done on purpose. The boss will mysteriously action forward itself without warning, and when used in combination with that energy-reducing move... Well, I wiped a lot before I got to the actual story save point cutscene.

And I know it was harder because at least 1-2 of the teams I used (I probably went through ~5-6 different team setups), are ones that have beaten the weekly clear version of the boss on difficulty VI (whatever the highest difficulty setting is).

I know the weekly clear version of Irontomb. Story mode Irontomb is really something else entirely. I almost feel like this is a way to get players to spend more so they don't have to worry about being blocked by a tough boss in the future.

It's kind of disheartening because for me, it felt like there was no way for me to beat it with my own characters. I had to fall back on the meta Castorice team to get anywhere. That's how bad it was for me. I can only imagine how bad it is for people who haven't farmed up the newer relic sets and are relying on older characters to get through it. I guess if they spent a lot in the past, it might not be so bad, but if you're F2P? I don't think you're going to get through it without the meta Castorice team.

Anyway, it just tells me that HSR only rewards those who spend. You really have to spend your jades wisely if you're F2P.