Bric-à-trucs
de Myschin

To be fair, I wanted to make a post myself about my current mindset for the game and how I see things now, but I believe this topic is a perfect opportunity to give my own perspective since it's kinda similar in the engagement.

**LONG POST AHEAD**, there's no Tl;dr this time. It's personal.

> Am I the only one who feels like playing outside Hard in events is progressing backwards?

Obviously it's a big **NO** since there are people here claiming they feel the same way and I totally get the point, as I was myself int this mindset years ago.

And my current personal answer for the question would be **KI(TA)NDA** (Gonna hang myself for this summer 15 E7 joke).

As of this say, June 4th, in one month and 2 days, it will mark my 10th year of playing this game... Almost... Every... Day. Like seriously, how many days it has been since 2015 that I haven't at least "played" KC at least a bit ? Not that many, maybe like a month or two total.

I could feel burned out but that wasn't really the case... Until the end of Summer 2024 Event where a RL problem caused me to fall into a big depression (That is still isn't fully healed to this day but I've accepted to live with it) but also "awakened" a feeling within myself regarding Kancolle, like...

"Why do I keep pushing for HARD Mode in Events ? For the glory ? For the fame ? For the rewards ? Because **A LOT** of people keep saying 'Go Hard or die trying, there's NO OTHER OPTION you coward chicken !!' ? To see how far am I willing to challenge myself with each new Event ?"

When I started playing the game back on this faithful day of July 6th 2015, I had like "learned" how to play the game beforehand, reading the fandom wikia intensely and getting familiar with the mechanics of the game... And watching a certain content creator that I won't name but who ended putting EVERYONE against him AND humiliating itself in front of 2500+ people on Twitch on the last day of Summer 2015 Event (Those who were there and remember this mess know EXACTLY who am I talking about, and I know some of theses people are here).

Summer Event 2015 is considered by many veterans to be one of the WORST Event ever created in Kancolle history (I believe that Fall 2013 was the worst Event, E4 Suicide strat against a regenerating HP meter AND annoying, uncontrollable conditions to trigger a day battle condition, anyone ?) and I walked in, as a total noob, expecting to barely reach E2 on Easy and give up early.

But that did not happened. Instead I reached E3, the infamous Takoyaki party wasn't present on Easy fortunately. And I was able to move on. Oh god it's AIRFIELD HIME in E4, there's NO WAY I can pass the boss that gave traumas and trigger PTSD in players who played Fall 13 E4. One **FireTruck** of the most epic last dance later, I stayed there for literally a whole hour, unable to understand that I managed to pass E4. At this point, I was like "How far can I go ? Can I... Win ? Can I save Teruzuki ?!". E5 wasn't must of a challenge either. I was like "Wow... What is happening ?! I'm a freakin' one-month old player with bare minimum knowledge of the game and I managed to get THIS far already ?!".

Then E6 presented itself. Up to that point, I played every single map of that Event on Easy. I know this game require patience and time investment to be "playable without feeling much frustration". I knew what was in E6. The first Prototype Catapult ever available to players. The Key to be able to remodel Shoukaku and Zuikaku in the near future to their upcoming K2 form. BUT. That was Medium+ only reward. No catapult on Easy mode. I talked about that with some friends and it evolved into a whole debacle about how I was basically a chicken for not even WANTED to try to get the mighty Catapult.

So I did E6 on Easy Mode without even looking back. It was challenging ! It was HARD me for. This is the first time when I though about the situation and I was like "Okay, if I want to clear this map, I'll have to put the efforts on my side". A few days later, it freakin' happened. I cleared Summer E6 Easy. I felt extremely engaged in the game now. The feeling of overcoming a difficult task and savoring the victory was EXQUISITE ! Chief's kiss !

"Oh my god... It's possible... I can do it ! I can save Teruzuki !"

15 runs later without even reaching the boss node once and the best attempt being a Preboss Node with 3 Taihas in my fleet, I gave up for real on E7. Kitanda would be that boss that I could never fight (In the intended way) and I could only see as an unachivable goal.

So I went farming on the other maps. One week later, I ended with 30+ new girls in my naval base. Mizuho ? Got her ! Unryuu and (Deux)ryuu ? Back to back drops in E2 in two runs ! Harusame ? Found her in the preboss node of E2. Umikaze ? Literally dropped her 5 minutes before my old computer gave up and died on me.

And it was... The **BEST. EXPERIENCE. IN. AN. EVENT. I. EVER. HAD !** As of today, I have yet to feel the same level of excitement and engagement I have felt back in that first Event. For **ME**, Summer 2015 will forever be the **BEST** Event in my KC career. It was on Easy. I missed the catapult. I missed Kazagumo. I missed the Yamato radar in E2. I DIDN'T CARED ! IT WAS FUN !!

Once I got a new computer a few days later, 3-2 greeted me with a big slap in the face. "If you wanna enjoy the game more, you need to put some efforts in it". It took some time, but I managed to reach every regular map of the game. The only thing I haven't done was clearing 6-4 before the "reset" with Phase 2 in August 2018.

But during that period of time, I played MOST Events on Easy Mode, with an occasional Medium map here and there. Fall 2015 was "OK, I just want to clear that Event all Easy, but also clear the last map". Done ! With a cute Graf Zepellin to boot ! Not as fun as Summer 15 but the feeling of accomplishment was there at least.

Then Winter 16 came in... Iowa gun on E-1 Hard ? SURE ! Let me try ! And it worked ! E2 I had to take a step back to Easy because I was lacking equipments to deal with DJ Hime. E3 on Medium ? Surely this Ro.43 Seaplane will be a valuable plane later... NEVERMIND it's a very questionnable plane that got instantly added after the Event's maintenance... That's when I started to realize "What was the point of clearing that map on Medium and not Easy ?".

Spring 2016 was next. You know, Iowa Event, LOTS of good LBAS planes on Medium+ on most of the maps and... DJ Hime again on E2, YAY ! Barely had a T89 Daihatsu thanks to E1 Hard rewarding one... Oh yeah, back then, I put myself in the "3000 screws in the arsenal before starting using Akashi's Arsenal at all" situation so I couldn't get more. Back to E2 easy. And since I just wanted to clear the Event, it went "What is the point of suffering in Medium+ again ? I just want Iowa here".

It was more of less the status quo and I was enjoying myself a LOT in the game... Except for the fact that Sawaka took me THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE RUNS to drop on Winter 16 E1 in Hard mode ; and that freaking Katsuragi didn't dropped on Summer 16 E4's preboss node after 250+ attempts on Medium (But at least I got the Re 2005 plane !).

And then Spring 2017 Event happened. I looked at the rewards and it was like "Oh.. Theses LBAS planes... They are GOOD aren't they ?". It was my first time where I tried a Hard-only Event for the first time, despite not having used Akashi's Arsenal yet and... I did it. I got my first E-Peen Medal.

But then Summer 17 slapped me in the face again (Like TerminalMontage's type of slap in the face) and I was back to my old Easy-going in Events. But I was still enjoying myself a lot.

The next big challenge was Summer 2019 Event. All Hard, no Akashi Arsenal yet, no RE used at all, Fast+ required. Oh god Nelson, whay are you just carrying two guns with the boilers ?! After another epic battle against the abyssal form of my "daugther", I did it again. 2nd E-Peen get.

2021 is where I decided to get out of my confort zone by challenging myself to clear more Evnets on Hard mode and get better equipments in the process. I had reached the 3K screw threshold in 2020 so in a since I was more prepared and I finally allowed myself to use REs on ships. Life-changer in KC ? Probably. Managed to go from 3 E-peens to 11 in early 2024.

That's when I noticed the sudden increased in Event's overall difficulties. Events get harder and harder but my motivation was still there. And then came the infamous Spring 2023 E2 map. You know the one. What was the Hard-only Reward again ? Oh yeah, a (somehow good) liaison ASW plane that is good for ASW on CVLs/AO. Would I suffer THAT much for that kind of reward ?

No.

I cleared Spring 23 E2 on Medium and the rest of the maps on Hard.

And then...

Summer 2024 happened. The MO was fine, well balanced, it was hard but still fun to complete on Hard. E4. Enough said. It was the first clear "There's my own limit of acceptance" time for me. And then E5. Lexington wasn't the issue at all. It was the rewards themselves and the nodes compositions.

Would you **SUFFER** for extra planes that you would still get with Lexington's Kai remodel (And that aren't game-breaking on their own, even when Maxxed ?) while facing the Diva + Ne Kai wall of Spoon Doom before the boss ?

NO. Thank you, get the heck out of there ! Cleared E5 on Easy. No regrets whatsoever.

Then Real Life issue striked me HARD. Fell into depression. I started to neglict KC as a result, but I was still motivated enough to clear the mini-Events altogether.

By early 2025, depression went deeper (It didn't went to the point of existancial crisis or... Worse) but that's also when it hit me.

To go back above...

> "Why do I keep pushing for HARD Mode in Events ? For the glory ? For the fame ? For the rewards ? Because **A LOT** of people keep saying 'Go Hard or die trying, there's NO OTHER OPTION you coward chicken !!' ? To see how far am I willing to challenge myself with each new Event ?"

Looking at my arsenal. I have a lot of good stuff. Do I really need that much more ? And... I won't lie, clearing theses later maps on easier difficulties while overkilling some things ? That kind of re-ignited the "fun flame" I had when I started.

Spring 2025 Event came in. That was it. The deepest state of depression for me. It was bad enough for me to be like "I don't care anymore. The ideas might be good on paper, but the whole Event is a Firetruck dumpter of utter garbage. I bail."

I believe it was signs of burn-out. 1 week before the end of the Event, I barely started E2. I looked back at the Event. Actually... If... If I... Discard the idea of "pushing against the Dev's designs for the Event" and embrace the "Let's just have FUN, real FUN. The kind of FUN that make me feel alive and worth playing a **GAME** that I enjoy."

That was it.

Looked at the rewards overall. OK, the Hard-only torp is obtainable via Akashi. Drop E2 to Medium. BOOM ! Cleared ! E3 is hard ? What's the Hard-only thing again ? A meh gun with few stars AND not choosing between a Catapult and a Smoke Kai ? I only need the Smoke Kai. BAM ! E3 Cleared ! E4's Hard-only Rewards ? TWO T2 Tanks ? But I have like 7 or 8 already thanks to a previous Mini-Event on top of several T4s... And the night plane is still obtainable via Akashi AND I'm working on it already PLUS the map is insanely hardcore ? Bleh , go Easy then. BIM ! Cleared ! E5 is actually a big wall as well... Suisei 22 Skilled would be good enough to justify going Hard... But I don't have time and I can only pick Medium thanks to E4 Easy. Still get a Suisei 22 and a Night DB out of it. BADABOOM ! Cleared !

One day left. E6 is another gauntlet of pain and misery on Hard. What are the rewards ? Oh yeah, the Yamato Radar Skilled... So you mean adding ONE point of accuracy over buildables radars to my Support Fleet is a game-changed that justify trying Hard. On paper MAYBE but in practice, hello this is **KANTAI COLLECTION, where RNG rule EVERYTHING even the damage calculation formulas**. So no, I didn't see the point of ever thinking going hard, and I didn't want Casual either, must put a challenge to keep pushing clearing the map in less than 24 hours. Easy for the extra slots ? Sure let's go. 30 minutes before the Maintenance kicked in, I managed to clear the Event. I had "Fun" again, somehow. It was a very bad Event but I kinda enjoyed it because I had many gears already so I could just "roflstomp" some of the easier difficulties.

I was exhausted. I needed some rest as well. The burn-out feeling was still present. 3 days before the next maintenance "Oh crap, the anniversary quests !!"

I failed to finish all of them in time. I upgraded a Shiden K2 to +8 for nothing. I didn't got the 12th anniversary scroll furniture. A total failure and I can only blame myself for that case...

Except...

I didn't saw that as a failure.

I reached some sort of "Acceptance" like.

- I missed the scroll... But I never changed ANY of my furnitures since I get theses Nagatsuki ones early one and I would only change them if Nagatsuki get more official love anyway...

- I missed a Kikka Kai... But I managed to clear 11 Events on All-Hard without ever using a Jet so... Not a big deal ?

- Sure, I didn't get the Prototype Shinden LBAS plane... But I already have one, and other extremely good LBAS planes as well.

And in the process, I failed to do a lot of quaterlies quests, and even missed to fire the Yearly June Canon one. Oh well... It is what it is I suppose.

But right now, I don't wanna miss the Rainy Summer rewards because God know what Tanaka might give us this time.

... Dang I ended up telling my life and I didn't really answered the question above. Here it is :

*It depends on the map's rewards and usefulness compared to what you already own. So it is a tricky question. In my personal case, for the last two Events, I don't believe it is the case.*