We can certainly sideboard arts, but at best that takes care of half the cost of picking up the art. If you are lucky and/or plan things very well, swapping things in and out lets you get away with skipping the typical work needed to open or compress meridians - but no matter how good your planning is, you aren't going to get around the fact that train arts costs actions.
Yeah, we can do what we did with AE and discard an art entirely - but that means trashing all the time that went into developing it! We could have spent the time compressing meridians, or getting sect points (to be turned into pills that can boost base cultivation or our domain or what have you), or exploring.
Sure, it is not the end of the world if we pick a weak art for our sideboard where it is used once or twice a year for some small effect. Nor is it the end of the world if we practice an art only to discard it outright. But just because it is not the end of the world doesn't mean it isn't a waste. We only have so much time to advance, and even if we might be fast enough to afford throwing some of our actions away on dead ends, that doesn't mean it is a good idea.
It's better to 'waste time' realizing we don't want to use something than to dedicate ourselves to something that simply doesn't pan out.
It's better to 'waste time' on Arts we might never use to find good Arts to slot into our Domain than to let our domain languish with a muddle of half-formed ideas.
While we are in a hurry, we have quite a chunk of time that can be spent training Arts just to see what they do, or what their final lesson is before our Domain is narrowed so much we can't add too many new Keywords.
Half of the tech text is about how it can be used defensively tho. It's very much intended as such.
It's intended to protect the other musicians in the party, yes. But it isn't intended as an 'oh shit I have no other defenses up' button.
I mentionned them since the very first comment I made on the subject tho.
Point, but your comment about the Ji Rong fight is incorrect, because we lost initiative. If we'd had initiative, and used that Art first, you'd be correct... but in any situation in which we DON'T have initiative, it's worse.
Now, if we can get the art to the point that they spring out of our shadow reflexively, or if our Dodge skill evolves in such a manner (I personally want the Substitution variant utilizing both Wood and Darkness), then you are correct... to a point.
Against single-target attacks, and opponents who's Hit doesn't surpass our Avoid, and in a duel, it's decent.
That's three conditionals; three conditionals is two too many.
Not my reaction, this reconfirmed to me that Renxiang is a worthy leader. I don't think you need to have a Way dedicated to an orderly society in order to live in or support that orderly society. Everyone is different and has different perceptions on the world, but that doesn't make it impossible for them to live together according to common rules.
Even the most orderly society will welcome barbarians of their own, so long as those barbarians are protecting the gates of the kingdom against those other barbarians.
Is her working theory that in the future she won't have to provide people with material rewards in exchange for helping her out? Or is it that she can dial down Ling Qi's compensation specifically since she's now committed and no longer needs to be won over?
We'll be getting those material rewards, but she won't provide Extras - non-material awards, like having people under our sway NOT pay their taxes, etc.
Edit: From discord:
yrsillar said:
I mean your still going to get tons of resources and a stay on taxes and stuff
your just not going to get legal exemptions
or 'favors' which break the system in your favor and such
