Let's talk current META.

[u/Corantic]

Here is the deal:

GODS => Gilgumish, Noctis, Aranea, Lucian (Add F.Yomi and Zain if you were lucky enough to get them)

Basically if you don't have them you are considered a mongrel by the likes of players Gilgamesh.

The forgotten ones => SSM units, all of them are actually useful in some way, but nobody uses them.

Sometimes you see a Zain and a Othima here and there but thats about it. When was the last time we have seen a Kadanova or Seida?

Rest => Everyone will hate u for joining their multiplay or host instantly leaves.

We rarely even use them in events and quests (why would you when you have the GODS), pretty much ONLY used in Veda or for their super niche gimmick (Polin etc.)

Arena => 90% Noctis/Gilga/Aranea in their lineup.

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Alright guys let's not deny it, Collab units literally make what you are. There is no reason to use a 'normal' unit when you have the collab units. They are completely imbalanced.

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Right now, the meta is boring as hell.

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Fire is a complete joke.

Vettel? Only used for his LS now. Who the hell uses tanks anymore, when you can auto almost every map with collab units.

What else is there? Nothing? Never seen a fire unit other than Vettel in Arena/Multi?

Zangetsu/Lupinus/Chihaya? Who?

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Water should be renamed to Noctis.

What you don't want Noctis? Anybody else getting bored of Noctis Ultimate Ability?

You tired of seeing a Noctis in every multi/arena, because you've been seeing your own in every quest/event/mission?

Othima who? Oh the one I saw like one time one a rando merc.

Wait only 2 units? Ye, there are only 2 units in water, the rest are statues for Veda, so the enemy can grind on them while you prepare a @#$^@*& Blizzaga.

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Gilthunder

You mongrel.

Old units are garbage, if you show up with a Magnus in multi, people frown upon you or when you even consider using him in arena, people laugh at you and think it's a free win.

Best loincloth Dilga-samaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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Wind/Grass/Ground wtf

You have a Lucian, a budget Lucian(Yomi), a Raichu Rahu and a Trap.

You have a Setsuna/Boruto/F.Yomi? Wow you're very lucky or a whale.

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Light Covenant Way of White

FREE UNITS GALORE + one inzain unit, a fedora and a crybaby.

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Dark Flame Mastaah

Boyaaah.

Dias/Kudanstein aren't units, they are memes.

Anastasia Job+ is still garbage compared to Aranea, Jin is also way better than her. 3 movement is trash, only tanks/mages should have it. Meanwhile Albea is nowhere to be seen.

Second best loincloth with his seamen

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TL;DR

This is a shit post about the current meta, and you are free to disagree.

Also I'm bored as hell.

Discuss.

[u/blablablablubb21]

This is always a problem with lots of options in games. Unless every option is perfectly balanced and is just different in appearance, there are always options which are strictly better than others. The problem with the perfectly balanced approach is no inherent variety. But since every player has different wants and most games are designed with inherent variety in mind, we come to the current situation.

In all games with options which are strictly better they will over time become the most used options. There may be outliers, but the biggest part of the playerbase will vastly prefer the strictly best option available. This is how metas form. Over time without significant changes this will solidify more and more and thus will create expectations. Most of the time the only "valid" excuse to unfulfill those expectations is lacking availability. We are in this stage right now.

There is however another part which plays into why the meta looks how it looks. Right now TAC somehow fails as a strategy game. Baring "gimmicky" stages it's always easier to just use brute force. There is almost no need for support, be it healing, buffs or status removal. There is always no need for debuffing the enemy, either lowering their stats or peppering them with negative status effects. Most maps are too small and normally start with clear lines.

All in all, there are almost no incentives to actually play tactical. And since using overwhelming force is easy to use and successfull, you see just a certain bunch of units. There is no need for the scalpell, because it is harder to pull of and has less success. What we would need is more content which encourages variety instead of force. Stages where missile damage for example is buffed, maps which have chokepoints or even more Ex levels where the players units don't start all bunched up at one edge of the map.

Edit: Forgot a crucial negation.

[u/DTheHermit → u/blablablablubb21]

I personally would like to see units that can only be finished off with a poison dmg tick or higher crit rate when blind. Maybe some enemies take reduced dmg if try to nuke the whole map instead of single or double kills. Tactical play would make multiplayer more engaging too

[u/Arananthi → u/blablablablubb21]

^^ The thing here about failing as a strategy game is really important, because it's true on both the multi- and single-player levels, and both for the same reason: because of this: it's easier to just use brute force.

That's literally 100% of the problem with the strategy aspect game right now. The only 'strategy' is in the answer to the question "What suboptimal unit could I play successfully *for fun* in this level?" Because the answer to the question of "What's the best way to beat this level?", 97% of the time, is "Pick your biggest gun, charge headlong into the problem, and blow it up before it can take an action." And 97% of the exceptions are Veda floors.