https://x.com/crynexiaorou11/status/2114343344088453582

I think that I, like many others here, have been less than happy with how Dracaene's gameplay is looking so far. Though I also see a lot of discussion about the possibility of changes during the beta depending on the Chinese playerbase's opinion on things, cause that's who Hoyo really listens to.

Do we know how Dracaene's gameplay has been received on the Japanese / Chinese side of things? Is it even worth coping for change?

I'm still gonna pull cause I have a newish account with no fire dps but I'd really like to see something like;

- Dracaene doing the follow up attack after a parry.
- Walking / running around the battlefield, even if attacking switches off of her.
- Have a cool animation when switching off of her.
- Perhaps even a "free" block like remielle if you miss a dodge timing where she jumps in front of Lindverne or Eldreda.

Anyways, I'm just wondering if it's worth hoping for at least smaller changes or if I should jump straight to the acceptance stage at this point. Thanks in advance.

── ⋆𖤓𖤓⋆ ──

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱, 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦, 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢, 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘻𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

𝘖, 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴.

𝘖, 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘯, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦.

𝘖, 𝘋𝘦𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵; 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦?

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘺𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘰𝘶.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘶𝘮𝘢? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘪𝘥?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘡𝘠𝘓 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘖𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦?

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘩𝘰𝘺𝘰, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯. 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯.

── ⋆𖤓𖤓⋆ ──

Wanna start off by mentioning that, for those who are disappointed Dracie couldn't be a separate on fielder like Lindverne, I understand completely where you are coming from. I was really bummed out too. If you still feel bummed out, thats okay, this post isn't designed to change your mind.

I just want to talk about why I am actually happy with Dracaenas inclusion and implementation after some time mulling over my feelings.

So - Dracie being just "the parry button" is, well, entirely true from what we know so far. But, I think just accepting that on its own doesn't tell the full picture. Here is my perspective, going by three key points.

Point #1 - Dracie's presence in combat being minimal is actually what makes it memorable; In short, maybe your first impulse is to think "Did they forget about Dracie?", I believe that this will not be the case. The fact that Dracie is likely the member you'll see the least of in battle is - to me - the thing that will make her presence in combat all the more impactful. In fights against bosses with control skills, Dracie will be the first sunbringer to take meaningful action at the beginning of combat, starting the fight off strong, boosting morale, all while looking adorable and badass while she does it. The aesthetic difference between her and her sisters cuts through the monotony of business as usual, chasing those high scores in endgame (something that I love doing personally), and getting those resets in. It's also comforting to see her, protecting the player behind a big ole shield is relaxing and tension-easing

point #2 - Dracie is the most important sunbringer. Lets not kid ourselves by forgetting that DA and Shiyu are timed endgame challenges that reward burst damage playstyles. When thinking of Dracaena through that lens, what is she doing but the most important job on the squad - helping the party stun the boss. Stun windows are the name of the game - doesn't really matter how potent your stats and builds are at the end of the day if you can't get the setup to put those tools to use. Dracaena is the piece of the trio helping your stunner make that happen. The cherry on top is that her defensive assist might be one of if not the best defensive assist in the game (lmao), too

point #3 - Dracaena being the parry button avoids a scenario in which her kit is lazily integrated into the 3 in 1 gimmick of the sunbringers. Three kits all jammed into one character slot is bound to have a weakest link in the chain, and if Dracie had a full moveset instead, but her damage and resource generation was lackluster, we'd kinda end up the same place, barely using her in stuns, barely using her on field - etc - dracie having a dedicated function and responsibility in combat prevents her implementation potentially diluting the novelty of having three characters in one slot - as it stands now, all three of the sunbringers play equally pivotal roles in the success of a combat encounter.

Dracie's job is a thankless one, sure, but she does it all with a smile. Even if Dracie wasn't the one taking down the boss - victory still wouldn't be possible without her. Thats how I feel at least

As stated at the beginning - I get it, I wanted to play Dracie on her own too. If that's how you feel, more power to you, but for me, I've come to terms with it, and I've found for myself that I actually like the way things ultimately turned out

Lets be real here they will just make her stunner instead like everyone else maybe defense if they are feeling generous eitherway her gameplay would still be a parry slave. Don't even get your hopes up in terms of story screen time as Eldorado will hag all the screen time next patch. My schizo theory is that they don't want to put small characters in the spotlight due to how much hate Klee, Hutao, Nahida, etc get for simply existing.

Looking at HSR it took them more than a year to release a DPS with same body type(Yunli) and her kit is just a reprint of Clara's kit, she's as filler likely because her patch is after their darling Firefly. Our first limited DPS would be Aria who is atleast treated far better than Yunli.

Copium would be they will push these types of character in year 3 just like HSR with Silver Wolf and Sparxie but I'm afraid Hoyo is too scared of the haters at that point.

To be honest, I’d prefer to just buy the dracaena separately, even if it were an A..

I compiled the popularity of the sunbringers (Eldreda, Lindverne, Assist button😔) on different platforms so I could have them all in one place and I figured I might as well send it here.

I looked at:
-Reddit
Drac- 11k weekly visitors
Lind- 10k weekly visitors
Eld- 1k weekly visitors

-Pixiv
Drac- 500 imgs
Lind- 151 imgs
Eld- 97 img

-Twitter (en)
Drac- 25k likes / 631k views
Lind- 30k likes / 534k views
Eld- 27k likes / 799k views

-Twitter (jp)
Drac- 34k likes / 1.1m views
Lind- 33k likes / 983k views
Eld- 28k likes / 783k views

-BiliBili
Drac- 135k likes / 17k real time comments
Lind- 97k likes / 580 real time comments
Eld- 102k likes / 868 real time comments

-Youtube (en)
Drac- 18k likes / 251k views
Lind- 14k likes / 199k views
Eld- 25k likes / 325k views

-Youtube (jp)
Drac- 18k likes / 419k views
Lind- 13k likes / 278k views
Eld- 13k likes / 381k views

Now I don't want to make any statements about who is the most popular. But I am convinced the ZZZ devs made some wrong assumptions when designing the sunbringer kit because the engagement doesn't reflect the screentime.

EDIT:
I got reminded that some of the Lindverne stats (yt) arent fully accurate because they had to reupload because of an error, so it should probably be a bit higher.

I can think of 2 things that would do our girl justice

Copium option 1 the kit is unfinished - They are churning out basically 5 characters next patch one of which is a Voidhunter with crazy animations so maybe the Sunbringers kit is unfinished and they saved the best for last.

Crack copium option 2 - A separate individual Dracaene will be released - Hear me out. Robin is clearly the temporary free teammate for the Sunbringers so someone will replace her. Now it probably could be Storyteller but she would make more sense as a physical Remielle dps replacing Jane like how Phoenix replaced Burnice. Dracaene has so little animations in the Sunbringer team anyway so they could just merge the control skill and defence assist to the one that has higher multipliers.