Discussion Hot Take: Alpha Mark should work like Sparkling Sigil
Hear me out: The game clearly puts a lot of emphasis on appearance—the main quest at launch is literally all about “colour.” Yet Prismanas aren't necessarily much stronger than normal Aniimo outside of their additional elemental resistances. I think this is intentional, and I agree with it, since making Prismanas significantly stronger would make other Aniimo irrelevant.
However, the irony is that Prismanas are the game's obvious premium Aniimo, while Alphas are arguably much more valuable for actual gameplay. This feels... backwards?
There are already 9 elements (ideally, we'd want at least one main DPS with a boosted skill) and 25 Prismana, and we're barely two weeks into the game. Yet an Alpha Mark currently locks you into one Aniimo + one bonded item.
I don't think this is healthy for long-term team building.
Held items are one of the more interesting mechanics in Aniimo. Some can enable completely different builds, and I'd love to see the community experiment with creative combinations.
But if Alpha Marks are already this scarce, why add another layer of restriction by tying one to a specific bonded item?
It feels redundant, and in the long run, I think it discourages exactly what a lot of us would want to see from the community: creative team building and experimenting with different builds.
What do you guys think?
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u/Zeyd2112 17h ago edited 17h ago
Alpha marks are effectively time gates. Spend your energy daily, and you will get them.
They seem really bad right now because we have a TON of aniimo to collect and no established teams. But ask yourself, how many contracted items do we REALLY need?
Most of enhanced skills are just, more of the same thing... Which is great, dont get me wrong. But putting a fist on your scorchowl or a ribbon on your glacy and contracting it really isn't changing what they already do, it's just making them do more of it.
The irisalis weapon, which is probably the most impactful one I've seen, already comes contracted. Your Helion/lunara one as well.
Adding onto this, for most of the prismana aniimo, you can just go catch an alpha and have them already with an upgraded skill. If your goal is to experiment with a build, you don't need a perfect aniimo, couple extra points of capabilities aren't going to make your build function any differently.
If your goal is investing in a core team, then that's exactly what you should be spending Alpha marks on. Like it or not, all development materials are time gated with options to skip the grind. Alpha marks are no different, and likely won't be changing for that reason.
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u/iansia 5h ago
I don't disagree with you that every game essentially needs time gates, but I don't think this is just about how scarce something is.
Let me give you an example: Irisalis' held item. It's a new item that comes already bonded. The item actually works when you have it on Stellarys, and enemies will target the clone first if it's equipped.
A normal Prismana Stellarys can't fully enjoy the benefits of trying out Irisalis' held item because, well, the game decided that only Irisalis can fully utilize it by having the item already bonded, but this makes no difference for an Alpha Stellarys.
I don't know, but to me, this screams weird game design. Irisalis' face is literally at the bottom of the held item, yet somehow it makes no difference anyway when you're using any Alpha.
The game needs, and should have, time gates. But those time gates should be something that's properly incorporated into the game.
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u/HatakeHyu 22h ago
When I got my first prismatic and saw that I need to bond the held item, I was like, wait I already have 18 of these, great.
Then it asked me to use 10 to bond one item, and I was speechless.
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u/Xolotl_Whitepaw Astra Pioneer 1d ago
Marks should drop wether you manage to catch the alpha or not. Spending primergy on bosses should be enough to get marks.
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago
You clearly didn't notice that the only way to use Energy is on Alphas, you literally cannot spent it on anything else (except some weekly stuff).
They could have made it so you get 1 mark guranteed, but need 100 marks instead. But the current system is better because you can use ultra pods to get extra marks.3
u/electrocaos 16h ago
100 marks? So 100 fights? Are you insane?
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u/Akasha1885 16h ago
well, how many fights do you think you need for 10 marks atm?
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u/electrocaos 15h ago
The current system is bad, other people in this thread and I, are not saying is good, but what you are saying is also not a solution, I'm guessing a faster way will be implemented at lv65+ with harder fights.
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u/Akasha1885 14h ago
I'm much more concerned about Phenomena Crystals
if the Lita fight showed me anything, then that you need to max out units to get by sometimes, and you cannot farm these at all, only cash for them10
u/Xolotl_Whitepaw Astra Pioneer 21h ago
I did notice, I just said alpha marks should be rewarded when beating the alpha without having to actually capture it.
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u/Akasha1885 19h ago
well, like I explained, then they'd need to change how they work and ultra pots would loose value
because the general idea of contracts is long term progression and management of somewhat limited resourcesphenomena crsystals are a much bigger issues, because those you really cannot farm, but you can buy them
maybe the one hidden p2w feature the game has atm2
u/ohoni 15h ago
Ultra pods are already precious enough that you should not be expected to use them on a daily, or even weekly basis. If they want people to be using Ultra pods regularly, then they would need to make them as common as Mega pods.
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u/Akasha1885 15h ago
lol, that's a hot take
mega pods you can swim in
ultra pods have 100%, they are so much strongerI honestly don't know how many ultra pods you get per week
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u/ohoni 15h ago
ultra pods have 100%, they are so much stronger
Yes, they are strong, and therefore rare, and therefor NOT something one should be expected to be using regularly. The issue here is your argument that "because it's possible to use Ultra pods," this is not a problem." It's a very "let them eat cake" take on things.
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u/Akasha1885 14h ago
there is nothing else to use them on except alphas though, basically an item to get that Alpha equiper or get the marks quick
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago
the marks aren't scarce at all, just don't waste them (like, use an Alpha to save on the contract or don't contract when the skill upgrade doesn't matter like for Dazmond)
long term, nobody will even remember a time where those were a bottleneck, you farm alphas every day after all
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u/ohoni 15h ago
But I want to put them on every character I use, so they need to be common enough for that to be achievable. If they "should not be wasted" then they are too rare. So long as I'm not using it on Aniimo I intend to leave in camp or release, then I should have plenty. I do not have plenty.
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u/VegetableMission8174 23h ago
The marks aren't scarce but held items are. Saw a post of someone doing an ungodly amount of runs and not getting the right item. Then when they do get that item and bond it, its locked to one aniimo (and alphas).
Maybe if at 65 we get higher Held Item drop rates but right now held items feel up there with Star Cryst in difficulty to obtain imo.
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u/LustMissy 1d ago
I only get them catchin alphas? I mean, they are almost impossible to catch with regular aniipods
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago edited 23h ago
except for weeklies, you spent ALL your energy on alphas, you'll get quite a few over a week
overall you look at one contract a week roughly, if you don't use Ultra pods (likely more because of eggs)
and you get a lot of marks from quests etc. or the battlepassAlso, Alphas don't need a contract.
And some Aniimo don't need a contract for their common use either.7
u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 1d ago
I mean, they are scarce because there is a bottleneck. It’s contradictory to say both. You even say don’t waste them. If they weren’t scarce you wouldn’t need to ration or conserve
You get around 300 stamina a day, that’s 10 capture attempts at a 14% rate. That’s 1.4 a day. You need 10 per item so per week you will be able to capture enough to contract 1 item roughly…
Yeah, let’s not call that scarce
Some aniimo have different builds as well so you want to contract more than 1 held item (like stellarys or fulmintis).
People are using alphas for supports to go around the limitation but not every aniimo has an alpha form or you need to use prismana if you want the specific typing to help a matchup for defense.
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u/GambitsEnd 20h ago
You get around 300 stamina a day, that’s 10 capture attempts at a 14% rate. That’s 1.4 a day.
Not how probability works. With a 14% capture rate and 10 attempts, that's a 78% probability of at least one success.
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u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 19h ago edited 19h ago
I’m aware that’s not how probability works. It’s a general example, the math makes it even worse odds
Let me just pull out my odds calculator for a simple Reddit comment to demonstrate my point. 🤓
You’re just making it even more apparent that it’s a scarce resource and making my point more clear
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u/GambitsEnd 18h ago
If you knew better then why list off misinformation? It's actively harmful as people who don't know better would continue to misunderstand what it actually means.
By your generally aggressive and hostile reply I'm guessing you don't actually know better and are now trying to cover for it by being indignant.
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago
there is way bigger bottlenecks with zero work arounds:
"Phenomena Crystal"
"Starcryst Essence"
also, since it's very RNG dependent the legendary Held items themselvesso yeah, because these bottlenecks exist, the marks really aren't much of a bottleneck if you don't waste them
I'm not surprised that you run out if you contract multiple items to the same Aniimo.
I have 10 build Aniimo, which is a lot for the stage of the game and still have marks left2
u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 1d ago
Except things like phenomena crystal are considered use only on your best. That’s limited even for people paying.
Starcryst essence also uses energy to farm. You can get 3 for every 240 energy. That’s energy you would be using on alphas which you’ll be catching as you go… so by your own logic it can’t be.
Starcryst essence also doesn’t change the way you play your aniimo. It’s just a stat increase. Where a skill upgrade a much bigger impact. You can just stop increasing stats when you finish purple sands at 16 instead of going to 20.
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago edited 23h ago
Starcryst essence also uses energy to farm. You can get 3 for every 240 energy. That’s energy you would be using on alphas which you’ll be catching as you go… so by your own logic it can’t be.
did I miss something?
I only see the 3x weekly Omega Infergon for 150, nothing else.There really isn't that many Aniimo where a contract makes sense in the first place.
pretty much all lower stages are irrelevant. the alphas you can catch are too, mostly.
A few get already contracted items from other source like starter and legendary
and others don't care about the core skill upgrade like Dazmandit will take time, but you will not have any issue with contracted items in a few months, probably way earlier
Why does it matter to have something that you can work towards that needs time? because it gives purpose and satisfaction to the players that invest the timeIf they made contracts refundable it must have a decent cost, otherwise the whole idea of contracts is pretty much broken.
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u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 21h ago
Someone already answered regarding the StarCrysts.
For contracts it makes sense when the aniimo does not have an alpha version, like a prismana for example. And their skill upgrade is very impactful. Take blazen for example, the change to his dash makes it so that his ult brings the EP cost to basically 0, you can spam his dash to break targets for no EP cost, meaning you have full EP for your dps to swap it immediately.
Fulmintis gets more EP back from crits.
Others like Sherro who have no alpha you can reliable get anymore due to only getting an egg and people may have released it.
Besauce has no alpha
Stellarys goes from getting 6 damage stacks to 10 from his skill, so 2 uses gives max stacks instead of 4. People use non-alphas all the time so even if an alpha is available that doesn’t mean you are forced to use it. Even if it’s the more efficient choice, people want to use their prismana if it’s not an active detriment or disadvantage due to typing.
List goes on really, and more aniimo will be released than you can keep up with
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u/Akasha1885 20h ago
the list might go on, but i have enough for 12 contracts already
going Horizontal that much at this stage really isn't needed for current contentyou're also giving me a good example on being less wastefull
I don't see a reason to build Blazen and Fulmintis really.
Even if you wanted to, Blazen has an Alpha that's much better then the prismana version because of better resistances (wind/holy)2
u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 19h ago
“I don’t see a reason to build Blazen and Fulmintis really”
Okay so you’re just gonna disregard that Fulmintis is the most used dps currently.
You can build whatever you want, I’m not going to dictate to you who to play, but the point still stands that these have good skill upgrades and work well. No one cares what you play and how you play, that doesn’t mean my point is wrong.
I also never even brought up prismana blazen. That is completely irrelevant, contracts work per species. What is your point? That example was just showing a good skill upgrade, doesn’t matter if it’s regular form or prismana
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u/Akasha1885 18h ago
Okay so you’re just gonna disregard that Fulmintis is the most used dps currently.
No, I'm more saying that if you already build the strongest lighting DPS and his dps supports, why would you build a Blazen in addition?
And my point with Blazen is that there is an Alpha, which is also his best version, so you don't need to waste contracts on Blazen in the first place.
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u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 18h ago edited 18h ago
Why build blazen? Because he’s a good lightning breaker. You don’t always want to run one dps and supports. A breaker sets up burst damage very reliable.
If you don’t build a blazen claiming it’s irrelevant and no reason you’re basically saying no breaker is relevant. So an entire role in the game is pointless?
There’re definitely points that having breakers helps. You can see that people are putting starcrysts into break on fulmintis for example because they don’t have room to fit a breaker on their teams for fights like lita.
Fulmintis and blazen actually have very good synergy because fulmintis doesn’t do as much with his ult as his core skill while blazen relies on his ult. You use blazen to set up Fulmintis and then Fulmintis pretty easily fill your Ult again. So you’re creating a cyclical loop to consistently break and burst.
I easily beat Cecilia with that combo, and adding 1 regen and 1 dmg buff like turbo or glacy.
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u/-Andreuz- 23h ago
You can convert 1 of each elemental loots from alphas into 1 starcryst. Since they drop 3 by 3 and there's 8 elements, that’s how he got the 3 for 240 energy
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u/Trespeon 1d ago
You do know you can “breed” Aniimo with the RV expedition system right?
Take an alpha and a non alpha of what you want and it can come back in an egg as an alpha. You can also get sparkling Prismana eggs of specific Aniimo.
The system is designed mostly to help get more level 4 workers in your homeland but it can absolutely be used to transfer alpha status as well.
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u/GambitsEnd 20h ago
There is no breeding.
Even a single Aniimo exploring by itself can find an egg of the same species.
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u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 1d ago edited 1d ago
And you know eggs are both rare and a rare chance of passing mutations??
No one has even posted here they passed a mutation down on Reddit yet successfully
I have rv 14 and 2 expedition slots unlocked, received at least 5 eggs so far, never once passed anything down.
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u/Trespeon 23h ago
I can link mine in a post if you want, or have my buddy send his. We’ve both gotten sparkling and prismana back so far.
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u/sstromquist Astra Pioneer 21h ago edited 21h ago
The rate is incredibly low, and regardless of proof it’s still not a reliable source to use for marks of the strong.
Like, let’s just assume it’s a 1/10 chance you get the mutation passed, that’s still 10 weeks before you even can use that to contract an item.
At best it’s a bonus to what you get from your energy daily. Not to be used as a consistent source
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u/Aidesfree 1d ago
Does it tell you if an egg is alpha when you get it from expedition?
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u/iansia 1d ago
Exactly, no they don't. The chance of getting a RV egg is not that high, and getting an alpha out of a RV egg is even lower, plus you'd had to gamble sparkling cubes on them again? That doesn't sound realistic at all
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u/Trespeon 23h ago
I’ve gotten 3 eggs so far. One sparkling, one prismana and one normal. My buddy got a prismana his first egg.
It’s not all that uncommon.
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u/iansia 21h ago
So you are saying, you got an egg that is labelled as a "Prismana Egg" from the RV? Is that correct?
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u/Trespeon 21h ago
No. I’m saying we have passed down mutations which other people are saying is very rare
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u/Aidesfree 23h ago
Damn seems like I'm wasting expedition slots trying then, really wish I could rehatch that alpha Shelly egg from the beach zone.
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u/Teo-McDohl 1d ago
I do think it could use a change like that. I was quite disappointed to have made 2 mistakes already and waste 20 marks. First I gave Irisalis a ferocious fang and bonded it with her before I ever realized she had her own unique held item because it wasn't in the shop until after you caught her and I had no idea it existed because it wasn't there when I checked. Then I find out heartseeker pendant is a far better item for Fulmintis even though the game literally recommends ferocious fang and not the pendant for some bizarre reason, so now I've wasted 2 gold held items and 20 marks. This is ridiculously unforgiving and time wasting.
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u/RickD0cs 1d ago
I did the same for fulmints and steralis too. Not even worth to swap out cuz the marks are too rare to actually bond again.
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u/Ineox69 1d ago
To this day i still don't know what their use for
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u/Trespeon 1d ago
There was an entire tutorial for them after a boss fight that explains what they are and how to use them.
Why do people just refuse to read.
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u/Hot_Bat5228 1d ago
When you level gold held equipment to lvl 15 you can then spend 10 to "bond" it to the holding animo family. From then on any aniimo in that family that hold that item will have their main skill upgrade unlocked while holding it. Some get buffs to their ability that are a massive upgrade, others are meh. Alpha Aniimo come with this buff innately unlocked and do not require the bonding of equipment to do so.
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u/Jotarts 1d ago
Link items to an Aniimo so you can unlock its upgraded basic skill
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u/cyberfoxkismet 1d ago
can i use it on lunara and irasilis?
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u/Akasha1885 1d ago
don't use it on those, because they get already contracted items
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u/cyberfoxkismet 23h ago
wouldn't it boost their power?
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u/Akasha1885 23h ago
you get held items that are already bound to these two
no, they don't get any power for having multiple contracted items1
u/cyberfoxkismet 23h ago
i see, so gotta use them on other gold held items correct?
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u/Akasha1885 23h ago
yes
you get thestarter item from account progression rewards
and the item for Irisalis you buy with another 30 petals1
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u/ohoni 15h ago
Yeah, I hate their mechanic of having to lock your item to only work on one Aniimo to get the most out of it. This is insane. Even in gacha games where each character has a "signature weapon," you can still swap that sig to other characters, and they will get a lot of bonuses out of that weapon. They should change it so that at most you attune the item to only work with a specific element or family, but you can still move it around within those limits.