Wuthering Waves has truly shot itself into the eyes of many people after the release of Rinascita. There were a lot of areas to explore, and a meaty three-act story that still leaves room for a lot of mysteries to be solved. Thanks to Kuro Games, Final Weapon recently had the opportunity to try out an early access version of Wuthering Waves Version 2.1 update, so let’s take a sneak peek at what the update has to offer before the public can enjoy it on February 13th (UTC+8).
Note: This article uses images from an in-development game build and may not reflect the final version.
The Secrets of the Vault, Revealed
The main signature event of Wuthering Waves Version 2.1 is titled Old Man and the Whale. In order to unlock it however, you must first complete the Exploration Quest titled Silent as a Falling Leaf. That quest takes us deep into the depths of what is considered to be the safest place of all Ragunna, and that is the Averado Vault.
It may seem like a simple quest at first, but it quickly devolves into shining a light on the complex truth about the vault’s depths. There’s a lot to it that meets the eye, and that’s about all I can say, in the interest of keeping this relatively spoiler-free.
Fishing Your Way to Fame
Upon starting the story, players will make their way to the Riccoli Islands, located to the far north of Rinascita. This location is home to a strong fishing industry. Upon reaching the islands however, you encounter Phoebe, who needs your help in order to see what truly happened with Cetus, the Echo whose rampage almost put the citizens of Ragunna in danger.
The event’s gameplay loop is extremely simple. All you have to is hop onto Rachel, the Gondola Echo, and find places to cast your line. There, by timing your button presses, you’ll hook up different types of fish, and place them inside your cargo hold. As you complete each of the requests, you’ll accumulate Fame, which will advance the story further.
The event has an interesting story, but the main appeal is that there’s plenty of Astrite and lots of character enhancement materials you can obtain using the event’s currency. This is perfect for those who need resources in order to pull for Phoebe or Brant, or perhaps build up their existing characters.
The only weird part about this event is how it feels like it wasn’t really designed to be played using a controller. When one is connected, you’ll use the left stick as a sort of mouse in order to drag the fish you’ve caught into the cargo hold. This isn’t too much of an issue on PC, but with Wuthering Waves now on PS5, I hope the developers take care to not make a user interface that is too clunky to navigate on controllers.
Wuthering Waves Version 2.1 Brings The First Ever Male Resonator Who Isn’t a DPS
In Version 2.1, we have two new resonators to play with: Brant and Phoebe. The former will be added in the latter part of the update alongside a reprint for Changli, and the latter character will be added all by herself.
I will admit that I was puzzled to see that Brant was the only one with a reprint banner running alongside him. However, after trying him out, and reading his roles in the character page, I soon realized that this was very much a deliberate choice. By himself, Brant isn’t capable of dealing a lot of damage. The idea here is to build up his buff so that another character such as Changli, can do the rest.
Brant has to be a character that satisfies something that players have been wanting for quite a while. The last two male 5-star characters, Jiyan and Xiangli Yao, were both main DPS roles. Therefore, a more support-oriented unit like Brant is just the ticket for a variety of interesting combinations. He especially seems to work well with Changli though, thanks to his Fusion and Skill Damage Amplifier, which further confirms the reasoning behind her banner being run alongside him.
The Tough Spectro Competition
Phoebe is more of a main DPS type of character compared to Brant. And I would not let her appearance fool you, because she can pack quite a punch. Her kit is designed around placing an AOE field around called the Circle of Mirrors, which is capable of immobilizing their target for 2 seconds.
Unfortunately, despite Phoebe dealing a lot of damage, she has quite the competitor. In my 2.0 impressions, I had previously mentioned about how Jinhsi is still widely used by many, she is also a Spectro unit that was recently reprinted. She has her fans, I’m sure, but personally, if I had to pick between Phoebe and Brant, the latter appealed more to me. Ultimately, though, it is up to your own judgement and play style on which character you choose to pull for.
Echo Building Made Easier
I have a confession to make. I actually hate building Echoes. Even after a close friend attempted to teach me the ins and outs, most of it is just lost to me. However, Kuro Games has specifically addressed this with a major quality of life update. First is the Echo Preset function, which allows you to save and quickly switch between Echo loadouts with the press of a button.
However, the bigger part of this update has to be the Echo Recommendation function. Upon clicking “Suggest”, Wuthering Waves will pull out from the data of the recently active players, and provide a guide on which Echo and what main stat and sub stat is more commonly used with that specific Resonator.
This feature is especially useful for newer players that happen to obtain characters from their reruns. This data will also be always updated, in case the meta changes or some other factors contribute to a different loadout of Echoes being needed. Speaking of Loadouts, Version 2.1 also allows you to save Echo Presets, allowing for a quick switch of entire Echo loadouts from the press of a button.
Wuthering Waves Version 2.1 is A Smaller Patch for Fans
I had a lot of fun with Version 2.1, though this patch does feel like filler for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of added content to enjoy here. Still, despite the permanent event and story content, I can’t help but feel there should’ve been more. However, it does seem that the developers have a lot of plans for the future patches, if the trailers are of any indication.
I feel that Kuro Games might need to be careful and step up their game, but also ensure that the game still remains fun to play, regardless of your play style. Version 2.0 truly shot Wuthering Waves into the eyes of many people, and only time will tell on how will the update cycle evolve in the next coming months.
