(TLDR; if you haven't unlocked Alcea yet, and like me you're still wondering, if this helps you decide, wait to see the changes made to her ego skill before making up your mind.) 

And for those who have already unlocked it, my assumptions might give you an idea of the changes to come. (Because apart from what I presume is happening here, I don't see any other "issue" with her ego skill)

Hi, 

I just read something worrying in the known issues regarding Alcea's Caustic Remarks:

"An issue where the [Caustic Remarks] effect of Alcea’s Ego Skill “If You Require Assistance” does not function as intended."
Don't tell me it's about the 20% damage increase stack per mark; that's literally the only reason she's truly worthwhile as a 5-star partner compared to Wilhelmina.

For those who don't know what this is :

currently at 5 Caustic Remarks, the damage taken buff isn't 20% but 100% (5 x "N" marks, so 5 x 20%).

Then the mark decreases by 1, going to 4, and therefore 4 x 20 = 80%, and so on.

Personally, I haven't unlocked Alcea yet because  Wilhelmina, with her 24% defense, suits me just fine, and you can test Alcea "for free" in Chaos difficulty anyway.

But if the issue with the Caustic Remarks is indeed due to this, and it's actually supposed to be "just" 20% each time and no longer stack... Alcea is not going to be happy (nor will all the players who have already unlocked it).

Because it's possible that some players intentionally unlocked Alcea solely for that ego boost, (because you know, 24% defense level 5  4 stars vs 8% level 1 5 stars, anyway I'm not going to rehash the topic here, I've already done one on this subject), if it were to get "nerfed" due to a coding issue... well, that's going to disappoint more than a few.

Anyway, I'm just throwing this out there in case those who are still wondering whether or not to unlock Alcea are wondering, wait and see what the next update brings.(and you never know, it might make them reconsider their decision to correct this issue, if that's the one I'm talking about here)

Edit 1 : As usual, here are two small screenshots to illustrate my point.

The first shows the damage of the Hew without Alcea's ego skill, and the second shows it with the ego skill applied to the enemy. As you can see, it's not 20% at 5 marks, but rather 5 x 20% = 100% increase (my base Hew is at 420% here)

Edit 2 : ( for those who like math and who think something is missing on the 2nd screenshot, take into account that the elite monster here received a +1 Strudiness buff, i.e. -10% damage taken, due to its "Feral Constitution" buff which activated following my ego skill)

Edit 3: I think I've found the formula; 

base damage Hew = 420% , my weakness damage bonus stat = 125%, 5 Caustic Remarks (20x5=100%) ,sturdiness on elite monster -10%

first screen :

with weakness bonus 420 x 1.25 = 525 %

second screen : 

base damage reduced due to sturdiness and boost by Caustic Remarks

(420 - 10) x 2 = 820% 

and with weakness bonus : 820 x 1.25 = 1025%

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So, if my fears are correct, and the ego skill is only supposed to boost damage by 20% each time, and no longer stack based on the number of Caustic Remarks stacks, expect a drastic drop in your damage because it would go from 1025% in this example to 615% :

(420 - 10) x 1.2 = 492%

and with the weakness bonus: 492 x 1.25 = 615%

So we're back to what I said earlier: if you unlocked Alcea for her ego skill, well...

This is all just speculation, of course; we don't yet know what they mean by "does not function as intended." (But my gut tells me that's what it is.)

Edit 4 : They communicated about it, and it seems that this is the case. 

However, there's no information on "upon meeting the conditions"; currently it refers to whether the target has a shield, but this wording is strange. Perhaps the condition for the 30% will change?

(note that the change will be made on February 25)

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