Family Name: Brassica

Region (NA/EU): NA
Suggestions/Comments: This is a proposed implementation for Blackstar Sol that I believe would address as many issues with Sol as currently possible without asking for things that PA has stated opposition to(ie not giving Shai the +Species/Monster AP of Blackstar Awak Slot. For now, at least)

A picture to start:

This an important premise of the thread. This is a Tuvala Sol that has been gear copied through the tag system.
It is important as it establishes 2 things:
1: Sol is as taggable as any other awakening weapon
2: Tagged weapons do not need to have identical stats(Sol has music and no combat stats, other weapons have combat stats but no music bonus)
Older Shai players will also likely remember that though Artina Sol was never taggable, when you went to the copy page with it equipped, the Marni's Fuel cost increased as much as it would with a Dandelion equipped. This has since been fixed but if further illustrates that as far as the game is concerned, Sol is just another Awakening Slot item that has been given a different text label.

With that established- what I suggest is to add Blackstar Sol to the game, but with its stats oriented such that TET Blackstar Sol would be identical to PEN Artina Sol.

This would allow Shai players to have a Sol that is
>Taggable
>Buy/Sellable
>Weapon Coupon Exchangeable
>Taggable Awakening Weapon allows Shai to not need a second Garmoth Heart for tag

I assume that PA does not want to buff Shai perfomance at this time, nor spend the time to rebalance Shai around PEN Blackstar Sol bonuses. So I propose that for the time being, PEN Blackstar Sol and all Godr-Ayed Sol ranks would also have identical stats to TET Blackstar Sol. They would only even exist for tagging purposes.

This would come with the intention that later, if/when PA decides that Shai could use some performance buffs that they would first consider adding them in the form of improving PEN Blackstar Sol and/or adding the standard species/Monster AP bonuses of Blackstar and then balancing the Godr-Ayed Sols between them if it makes sense at that time.

This allows PA to implement good changes now for a small investment of dev time, as well as opening simple path for complete implementation later if and when deemed appropriate.

If PA did decide to implement something like this, I would like to suggest that perhaps max song buff bonus should stay at TET BS. Let PEN BS (if/when) focus on personal stats. This is because new Shai feel a lot of pressure to get their max buff rank Sol for group content, and PEN Blackstar is a monumental task for them. This would also be less invasive to the games balance than adding stronger Shai buffs.

I would also suggest allowing players to convert existing (pre patch)PEN Artina Sol to TET Blackstar Sol.

I think it is simply good policy to allow players to shift into the more functional Sol. Stat wise PEN Dandelion(the awakening weapon that Sol claims to have similar enhancement values to) and TET Blackstar are very similar.

While it is true that TET Blackstar Awak is double the price of PEN Dande now, that wasnt the case back when most of us tapped ours. The current prices are the result of players having dumped their Dandelions in favor of Blackstar due to the Godr-Ayed system and thanks to our finest nerds figuring out how combat stats work, zone AP caps, and the true value of that extra Blackstar monster/species damage.(Also bc PA just dropped more J hammers. Gotta get that tap xD)

Also, many of us Shai have dumped absurd sums of silver into our Sols because there was no alternative even though there absolutely should have been. Im not strong enough to elaborate on that without breaking ToS, but I think the gesture of letting us transfer into the functional Sol would go a lot further towards easing contempt than telling Shai to start over if they want to tag.

This isnt to benefit myself either, I already have Pen BS Awak weapon:

It just makes sense. I suppose you could add extra steps like also turning in some Blackstar Materials with it to convert. Still better than asking Shai to start over, but I think its unnecessary.

other stuff-

Appearance:
This truely doesnt matter. We do know that the skins of our instruments can be changed due to having different instrument appearances on different Sols already (like Cannon vs Artina Sol) and that some premium outfit Sol skins were in the works before PA decided to scrap our awakening item outfit slot completely. but Sol's whole thing is that it can take different forms so I dont think that it is necessary to make a new set of Blackstar style instruments. If you did, someone would probably complain that they want their old instruments back.. I dont think the team in charge at PA is going to approve reintroducing awakening slot skins to Shai, so maybe just leave the appearances as they are on Artina... or if you have the appearances that were in the Whimsical Alchemist Premium box, maybe use those instead :O Since Whimsical Alchemist seems to be our cannon outfit, that could be cool. Personally I would love to see a sweet marni's guitar as the string instrument on Blackstar Sol, but again not everyone would want that change and with out awakening outfit slot disabled it doesnt seem viable :<

Skipping Artina Sol: Ive always assumed the reason that we cannot tag Artina Sol is because it's design is not compatible with the caphras system. This is why Im advocating for Blackstar Sol instead. If Tuvala Sol can be Tagged, then there is no good reason why a Blackstar Sol could not. Tuvala Sol can also be exchanged with Tuvala Awakening Weapon Exchange coupons, so there is no reason that a Blackstar Sol could not be exchanged with a regular Awakening Weapon Exchange Coupon.

Sol is "special":
On a final note, this was mentioned in the last major thread as a reason for not pursuing change. I'd like to reiterate what I hope I communicated in that thread: While I was very disappointed with PA's decision I am grateful that our team took the time to place the thread on the board for consideration. But since the goal of this thread is to seek to an implementation of Blackstar Sol in a way that doesnt conflict with reasons that PA has previously stated for not updating Sols, I felt this line also should also be addressed(even though it was probably just filler)

Quote: – "and instead, placed greater focus on more unique aspects such as her musical instruments and starting life skills. This led to Shai being the only class with a Talent and the sole wielder of the talent weapon, Sol."

>Other "not special" classes have lifeskill bonuses and our starting lifeskill bonuses have nothing to do with Sol anyways, as we do not get it until level 56.

>As announced at the Calpheon Ball- soon all classes in BDO will be able to play music. So Sol's special once cannon role of manifesting as musical instruments is now dead. Apparently our fellow citizens discovered that they dont need a magical shapeshing item when they can instead just put a piano in their butt.

With this coming change, Sol will no longer be special but instead just another magical focus item similar to a Maegu's feather, Woosa's fan, Sage's Kyve ect.

thisisfine.jpg
I can embrace this change as it hopefully means that the player music system will soon have higher engagement and be more worthy of dev time to further improve. Its a good system and a lot of creators like Mia Black are sitting on a lot of unfinished material waiting for improvements so they can be finished.

But as we lose that "special" status, it only seems right that we should in return gain back some of the basic functionality that is standard in this game.
No, no, not their magical instrument storing buttholes, Im willing to continue believing that Sol still does that for us.
Not with its butthole, with magic. I dont even think it has a butthole.
Stop changing the subject.

I mean being able to effectively tag alts which we kind of need to do more than all other classes since we are not designed to participate in 1v1.
(also hopefully allowing new players to buy/sell/weapon exchange coupon Blackstar Sol so they can skip the potential RNG hell of forced Artina Sol)

Cannot agree more
It is extremly unfair how we struggle to tag more anyone else
This needs to be fixed

Agreed

It was pointed out to me that Im practically advocating for not giving Shai any of the benefits of Blackstar Awakening Weapon. I would love to get those bonuses. I would directly benefit from such a change.

The reason that I handwaved that as an option in the OP is because that would be a buff to Shai. If PA agrees that Shai could use a buff, then yes, please, do it.

But as of the last Sol thread, our GM communicated that PA did not see it as appropriate at that time to give Shai these additional stats T-T

The only way then to add the stats to Shai would involve a baseline class nerf, with the hopes that Shai ends up at roughly the same place that she is now with PEN Blackstar Sol. Every Shai who does not have access to(owning, buying, enhancing) PEN Blackstar Sol would feel a small nerf. 

Rebalancing a class is a lot of work, and what motivation is there for PA to do it if the end goal almost is no change, except now everyone hates them?

That is why I proposed what I did. It is a solution that requires low investment and delivers much needed Sol fixes now, while also leaving open a path for full implementation if and when PA agrees that it makes sense.

The tagging situation on Shai is bad and should be a priority to fix.

The lack of alternate Sol acquisition methods on Shai is a source of memes and tragedy. Personally I have over 60b, 2 J hammers(worth 5b in crons each on a PEN BS tap) in my Sol and burned a 347 fs that only didnt go higher because I was entirely out of lower fs to continue building it.. so I just showered PEN attempts with crons until it went. Nowadays I could really use a 347 fs for pen debos or fallen god armors, and I still dont regret burning it on Sol.

..And Im only like the 3rd or 4th most unlucky Sol that I know of. PA said we would get some kind of alternative to address this at a later time when they introduced Jetina's Guaranteed PENs(which I waited several months to happen) and then promptly forgot that they ever said that. Video linked in the justice for artina sol thread. 

Add Blackstar Sol. Let people weapon exchange coupon it, and maybe even buy it on the market if possible. Its overdue.