Yami's 3rd year with Fate/Grand Order

 Third time is a charm and I managed to survive the Salt Purgatory yet again! 2020 has been a hectic year with the COVID Pandemic but it has been quite a bountiful year for my journey in Fate/Grand Order NA. By this year i have consolidated my gains with this Salt simulator and also reached some significant milestones at the same time.

 2020 no doubt have FGO see some fierce competition from other Gacha games like recent Arknights or those games made by Chinese Devs who got some strong financial backing. While FGO JP is affected quite badly as the pandemic severely hampers their project, FGO NA still managed to reign supreme with its solid contents. Early this year i have tried Arknights and Azur Lane to diversify my Gacha experience, but those two are still not able to dethrone FGO as my mainstay Gacha game yet.

 Overall i managed to achieve my planned targets from last year which are Semiramis, Skadi and Gilgamesh as well as some of my wanted Limited/Story locked SSRs including Okitan, Lartoria, Medb and Ereshkigal.While i didn't think too much of it, I actually managed to acquire 12 new SSR servants which can be considered to be very good progress from last year. With my gains from this year, my Knight Class are well balanced now as it was severely lacking in SSR Lancer last year. I still only have 1 berserker SSR but not in great hurry too as i got plenty of the SR Zerker.

Not to mention i am also able to get limited SRs like Fujino, Ruler Martha and MHXX whose value can be higher compared to some SSR servants especially Fujino, who still remains to be one of the rarest SR servant in FGO.

Throughout this year with my accumulated gacha experience, i am able to control my SQ spending which allows a steady reserve for my target SSR banner. However i still did some blunders in two occasions. The first one is during the Semiramis banner which my 300+ SQs was not sufficient and forced me to buy $80 SQ pack in order to get her and the Poison Queen remains my most costly SSR. Then the second one is during the Nero Caster Summer 2 rerun banner shortly after Skadi's which i wasted 360 SQs and still unable to get her. Though the latter's damaged is still partially controlled as i still got Anastasia and Saber Fran from the roll and able to gather enough SQ for MHXX and Gilgamesh within a month.

Triple Shishou!

FGO Babylon All Star SSR

Big Three AKA Overworked Trio

Triple Choco Caster waifus

Knights of the Round

 The third year of my journey with FGO finally sees me able to field full SSR Support team and a full Waifu team no less! I also managed to complete full Summer team list with each unique class which is a great achievement itself. With the new servant additions from this year's gain i am able to complete many team sets with Triple Shishou being my most wanted completion. I haven't levelled up all of the servants skill in the set yet since i am still trying to achieve max QP first. My priority for next year's FGO would be maxing the bonds some of my set team especially Triple Shishou and Saber. But i think max bonding the Big Three will be quite easy since they are very frequently used.

 For 4th year FGO, these are the banners i am planning to save the SQs for. As long as i don't get baited and with a decent amount of luck, i should be able to nail most of them. My highest priority next year would be Reines and Proto Saber while i am saving for Prisma rerun mainly because i want to pull for Medea Lily. Summer 4 is also probably the candidate for the best FGO Summer banner as the servants in the roster are all Top tier waifus. I might roll abit for Nobu and Godjuna banner just for the locked R servants, but with some luck i might even get the SSRs.

 Since i have survived for three years in this game, i might be qualified enough to give some pointers in order to survive the Gacha Hell called Fate/Grand Order.

• If you are a pure F2P player, given that you participated every events and did all of the interludes and strengthening quest you will likely have around 1000 SQs at your disposal each year.
• With that amount of SQ you have decent shots to land SSRs at most 6 banners in a year, so choose six of your most wanted banners wisely.
• With 1% SSR Drop rate, on average it takes around 240-300 SQ for a decent chance to pull for an SSR. Plan carefully if your reserve is less than that amount when you are going to pull on a banner.
• Consider to roll later if your first 30 pulls are bad because it is not a good idea to brute force your way in FGO Gacha unless you are a whale. 
• Know your limits when rolling because the frustration of not getting SSRs after wasting your SQ reserve can be overwhelming. There is a good reason why FGO is known for one of the Saltiest Gacha game out there and their designs are predatory in nature.
• For Limited SSRs, You can always save SQs for next opportunity should you missed them. The popular ones tend to pop out every new year banner. Story locked SSR and Limited SRs are trickier though
• When presented a choice between Waifu and Meta, i will pick the former since FGO difficulty is not that high in the first place
  

While it is not proven yet here are some popular tricks among FGO Players that has worked for me sometimes which can be used in combination

• Rolling at nighttime yields better odds for as server are not as crowded during this time
• Consider rolling after getting Super or Great Success in Servant/CE levelling 
• Do some pulls in Friend Point Gacha until you are getting 3* servants which match with the SSR servant class that you want to roll. I used this trick the most
• While there is no guarantee from this trick, at very least you will know the odds of pulling an SSR in FGO because the odds of pulling a 3* servants in FP Banner is similar to SSR drop rate
  
• Maxing the level/skill of the servant related to the SSR you want to pull if you can
• Spend significant amount of time online in the game before pulling the banner, 2-3 Hours is recommended
• Have some physical merchandise as a catalyst if needed, keychains or pin badge is sufficient.

 Since this post is written at the time of Eresh banner ending soon, i will just use Ereshkigal's parting word in the event as motivator for other FGO Players out there. Fate/Grand Order is well known for its well made story and superior waifu quality which remains undisputed to this day. At the same time it is also known to have worst SSR drop rate which become the main source of player's despair. However the abysmal drop rate is counterbalanced with the stable value of SSR servants and FGO still have the best winning thrill if you pull the SSR with minimal amount of SQ.

 Personally i feel the main issue with FGO still lies in its business model. Up until now other than the Guaranteed SSR which are available only twice in a year, the Premium currency can only be used to roll Banners with 1% SSR chance with no pity rate. It is not fun for players who buy 80 USD worth of virtual currency only to see those Saint Quartz disappear in a fleeting moment without yielding anything. Fate/Grand Order managed to reign supreme all these years due to devoted fanbase but aging business model and gameplay will not do them any good. Because Chinese developers are more than eager to carve away the Pie that FGO enjoyed until now and the latter need to step up their game if they still wish to be on the top. The 5th year of FGO JP hopefully serves as wake up call for Delightworks and Aniplex. I don't really think radical gameplay change is necessary but i think free monthly Story Banner pull and purchasable NP copy for SR/SSR could patch up some of the current issues that FGO have.

 Despite its glaring flaws Fate/Grand Order is still a wonderful experience for those who are able to survive long enough. Careful planning and patience are required if you want to get the desired SSR and avoid the pitfall of despair. In exchange should you able to overcome these obstacles you will have yourself a fantasy themed mobile game that has the best waifus and production value.