With the Season 5 announcement date for Final Fantasy 6: Worlds Collide – Ultros League coming soon, work has been proceeding on refining the updated racing flags for Season 5. As the new Worlds Collide v1.4 update is currently available in beta and planned for full release before the start of the season, we’re taking this opportunity to update the flagset with some balance adjustments and exciting new features.

Since there are a few changes that will impact our races, we’ve put together a summary of the changes you can expect in season 5, along with the reasoning behind each of the changes. Please note that this is very much an early sneak preview and some of these changes may not be final, so consider this an open beta test. Also note that these flags can only run on the development branch of WC – you can’t roll these flags on the current website! For now, the easiest way to try out the new Season 5 flags is through seedbot, using the !preset siegfried series command.

Also, it should be emphasized that for the most part, while some changes are bigger than others, ultimately this is a fairly incremental update. The intent is not to make transformative changes to the standard flag experience; despite the changes suggested here, the goal is that the flagset will still feel and play like “vanilla” WC.

What’s changing?

  • Objectives: Unlock KT Skip -> Complete any 1 of: Recruit 9 characters, Find 12 espers, Complete 21 checks (was Complete any 1 of: Recruit 9 characters, Find 12 espers)
  • Magic: Ultima – Expensive Ultima (254 MP) (was No Ultima)
  • Magic: Espers – Learn Rates Random Tiered (new flag!)
  • Items: Cursed Shield Battles – 6-14 (was 3-14)
  • Items: Shops – Expensive Super Balls set to False (was True)
  • Items: Shops – No Super Balls set to True (was False)
  • Items: Shops – No Exp. Eggs set to True (was False)
  • Items: Shops – No Illuminas set to True (was False)
  • Items: Coliseum Visible Rewards 100-120 (was 80-100)
  • Gameplay: Item Rewards – Possible Item Rewards: ValiantKnife, Illumina, Ragnarok, Atma Weapon, Fixed Dice, Flame Shld, Ice Shld, Thunder Shld, Minerva, Genji Glove, Offering, Exp. Egg, Snow Muffler, Cat Hood, Dragon Horn, BehemothSuit, Aura Lance, Force Shld, Force Armor (new flag!)

Detailed breakdown

Objectives: Unlock KT Skip -> Complete any 1 of: Recruit 9 characters, Find 12 espers, Complete 21 checks (was Complete any 1 of: Recruit 9 characters, Find 12 espers)
Gameplay: Item Rewards – Possible Item Rewards: ValiantKnife, Illumina, Ragnarok, Atma Weapon, Fixed Dice, Flame Shld, Ice Shld, Thunder Shld, Minerva, Genji Glove, Offering, Exp. Egg, Snow Muffler, Cat Hood, Dragon Horn, BehemothSuit, Aura Lance, Force Shld, Force Armor (new flag!)

One of the more frustrating parts of a Worlds Collide seed can be encountering an untimely string of dead checks just as you’re starting to get a full head of steam. Even worse is when those dead checks provide a steady diet of rewards that do little to help make up for the time spent chasing a dead end.

The simplest solution is to simply turn on the No Free Characters/Espers flag. However, this can often produce a more linear and predictable seed, and eliminates flexibility in approaching the earlier portions of the seed when players can normally choose to use free checks to adjust the early scaling as desired.

Instead, the above flag changes aim to mitigate the negative impact of dead checks without nullifying them altogether. Adding a third criteria of completing 21 checks to the existing Kefka’s Tower Skip takes much of the sting out of the nightmare scenario of a string of dead checks ruining an otherwise promising run. It also provides a reliable fallback plan for players aiming for one of the other skip criteria but finding that last character or esper to be a bit too elusive. Finally, it adds a bit of value to checks like the Lone Wolf Moogle Room or the Kefka’s Tower Cell Beast.

The second flag above pares down the list of dead check rewards, significantly increasing the chance that a reward from a dead check will be something that will offset the time spent on the check by speeding the player’s progress for the rest of the seed. The new list is comprised of:

  • Powerful endgame offense: Illumina, Ragnarok, Atma Weapon, and ValiantKnife
  • Powerful endgame defense: Cat Hood, Snow Muffler, Behemoth Suit, Force Shld, and Force Armor
  • Endgame elemental protection: Flame Shld, Ice Shld, Thunder Shld, and Minerva
  • Key build enablers: Genji Glove, Offering, Dragon Horn, Aura Lance, Fixed Dice, and Exp. Egg

This list cuts down some of the weaker and more situational pieces previously included, such as the Genji armor set or the Gem Box relic, which often found little practical use and were frequently either sold for GP or used with minimal noticeable impact to seed completion time. However, to maintain balance and to avoid dead checks becoming too good, and to keep dragon slaying from becoming a mandatory side hustle, the new list still retains items with a wide range of usefulness and effectiveness. At the end of the day, you’re less likely to find a dud, but they won’t always be slam dunks, either. They can’t all be Illuminas!

Magic: Ultima – Expensive Ultima (254 MP) (was No Ultima)
Magic: Espers – Learn Rates Random Tiered (new flag!)
Items: Cursed Shield Battles – 6-14 (was 3-14)

The rumors are true: After years in exile, the big blue bubble is making its return to mainstream Worlds Collide racing.

Ultros League, and its predecessor standard racing flags, has always excluded Ultima as it can remove much of the challenge of finding clever solutions to difficult encounters. This is largely because Ultima, in its traditional 80 MP form, is just poorly balanced; it’s massively powerful but costs less than Merton and has none of Merton’s (or Quake’s) downsides, and once available, it can quickly make any character into a powerful damage dealer with no other build pieces necessary.

With the combination of the new Tiered Learn Rates flag and v1.3’s Expensive Ultima flag, Ultima is finally reined in to a point that we’re ready to give it a shot. Tiered Learn Rates means Ultima will only ever be learnable at a 1x rate, meaning you’ll need to kill a couple dragons or a few bosses just to teach it to a single party member. The Ultima 254 flag means that without an Economizer, a Gold Hairpin, a Crystal Orb, or an investment in MP bonuses from espers, an Ultima user will likely only be able to cast it once before needing to recover MP. Combined, these flags make Ultima less of an automatic win and more of a specific combo build, similar to Merton, Genji Glove setups, or other multi-piece builds. Between that and the long cast time of Ultima, the intent is that while Ultima will be a powerful endgame tool, it won’t outright eclipse all of the other options.

Since the return of Ultima means a significant buff to the Paladin Shld, the minimum number of battles to decurse the Cursed Shld has been adjusted accordingly. Now, players with access to a Cursed Shld will often need to make difficult decisions on just how important getting Ultima is.

Beyond Ultima, the tiered learn rates also means Quick and Merton will always be learned at a 1x rate, again forcing players to be a bit more thoughtful on which party members are worth invest the time and resources to get these spells learned, especially when learning these spells competes with other important leveling bonuses from other espers. Other key spells, such as tier 3 magic and Life 2, will also tend to have lower learn rates, again encouraging a more specialized approach to building magic users.

Spell TierLearn Rate Range
G10x – 20x
F5x – 8x
E1x – 4x
D10x – 20x
C6x – 15x
B4x – 8x
A2x – 4x
S1x – 1x

For reference, spell tiers are found on the FF6WC wiki here.

Items: Expensive Super Balls set to False (was True)
Items: No Super Balls set to True (was False)
Items: No Exp. Eggs set to True (was False)
Items: No Illuminas set to True (was False)

While most FF6 players have fond vanilla memories of spamming Ultima, few probably hold the same soft spot for the lowly Super Ball. Despite this, bounding damage has been a mainstay of WC racing for years, offering a unique way to thwart early scaling and provide potentially large burst damage to any character with an Item command. When one racer finds Super Balls early and another one doesn’t, the race can sometimes be decided right there.

In season 3, we looked to rein in the Super Ball with then newly-added Expensive Super Balls flag, significantly increasing the cost. While early results were promising, ultimately it became apparent that even at a higher price point, being able to buy one or two Super Balls could still drastically change the shape of an early seed (especially if a certain Zone Eater cave dweller was involved).

So, after four seasons of dominance, the world’s supply of Super Balls is finally tapped out, and stores in UL Season 5 will no longer be selling Super Balls. Players can still find them in chests, and there may be occasional opportunities for lucky players to capitalize, but digging through stores to find Super Balls will no longer be an option.

In addition to Super Balls, Exp. Eggs and Illuminas have also been dropped from stores. Early shopping is an important way to gain power to address the early game and scout potential late game options, but these two items in particular can often single-handedly tip a race to a player who’s lucky enough to find them. Shopping remains important and relevant; removing these still leaves plenty of difference makers in shops (including weapons like Ragnarok and ValiantKnife, important relics like Earrings and Genji Gloves, and even race impacting consumables like Warp Stones), but should make finding that one key shop just a little less of a slam dunk.

Items: Coliseum Visible Rewards 100-120 (was 80-100)

Finally, the Coliseum receives another minor boost for the second season in a row. Combined with the removal of some of the big players in shops, the increased visibility of rewards means the Coliseum should be a viable play for racers more frequently. Remember, even Illuminas, Exp. Eggs, and Superballs are all still available to those who are willing to pay the iron price!

Closing thoughts

As with previous updates, the goal of these changes is not to be transformative but instead iterative, and hopefully the explanations above offer some insight into the thought process behind these adjustments. The end goal, as always, is a balanced and consistent set of standard race flags which embrace the healthy randomness of Worlds Collide and including as many of the fun elements of classic FF6 as possible while minimizing frustrating or discouraging race experiences.

The full flagstring for the S5 preview flagset is here:

-cg -oa 2.2.2.2.6.6.4.9.9 -ob 3.1.1.2.9.9.4.12.12.10.21.21 -oc 30.8.8.1.1.11.8 -od 59.1.1.11.31 -sc1 random -sc2 random -sc3 random -sal -eu -csrp 80 125 -fst -brl -slr 3 5 -lmprp 75 125 -lel -srr 25 35 -rnl -rnc -sdr 1 2 -das -dda -dns -sch -scis -com 98989898989898989898989898 -rec1 28 -rec2 27 -xpm 3 -mpm 5 -gpm 5 -nxppd -lsced 2 -hmced 2 -xgced 2 -ase 2 -msl 40 -sed -bbs -drloc shuffle -stloc mix -be -bnu -res -fer 0 -escr 100 -dgne -wnz -mmnu -cmd -esr 2 5 -elrt -ebr 82 -emprp 75 125 -nm1 random -rnl1 -rns1 -nm2 random -rnl2 -rns2 -nmmi -mmprp 75 125 -gp 5000 -smc 3 -sto 1 -ieor 33 -ieror 33 -ir stronger -csb 6 14 -mca -stra -saw -sisr 20 -sprp 75 125 -sdm 5 -npi -sebr -snsb -snee -snil -ccsr 20 -chrm 0 0 -cms -frw -wmhc -cor 100 -crr 100 -crvr 100 120 -crm -ari -anca -adeh -ame 1 -nmc -noshoes -u254 -nfps -fs -fe -fvd -fr -fj -fbs -fedc -fc -ond -rr -etn

Remember, this flagstring will only work on the dev branch of WC (i.e. it won’t work on the current ff6worldscollide.com website just yet), so either use dev.ff6worldscollide.com, roll those flags with SeedBot (don’t forget the &dev argument) or, easier still, just use the !preset siegfried series command with SeedBot. And don’t forget to watch this space for announcements on Season 5’s start date, coming soon. Good luck!

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