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Delia's defense mechanisms are similar to Arisha's. Despite being more aggressive, I would not label her as being fast simply because of her long windups and requiring hesitation for enhanced smashes.
Fiona is your safest, most forgiving bet and at around +12 speed isn't really a problem. Leveling up a new character isn't going to take you long at all.
Finally ignore everything I said and go with Kai so you can pewpew a mile away from combat with one hand in your pants and one on your beer. Now you might be wondering, "But Comet, if both my hands are occupied then who's playing the game?" To which I say, who cares?! You're looking fashionable again today!
Unless I missed it, I think the biggest problem not addressed is why they took away the freedom of choice.
If they wanted to streamline it for infants, that's fine. But why remove hard mode for people who might want more challenging combat? Most everyone defaulted to hard mode just because of an extra core that nine times out of ten gave nothing of value anyway and no one complained about difficulty in relation to reward. So this does nothing for older players and removes incentive from newer ones to challenge themselves, get better and try for more/better loot. The new drop table is extreme in the opposite direction. If they wanted 80 sets to drop like candy, then why not save the pre-enhanced drops for hard mode? This at the very least gives incentive but is ultimately unneeded not only because of how easy it is to do yourself but because you don't even need enhanced gear to do well anymore. Basically effort for convenience. There's no reason to hand you everything on a silver platter.
Even before this Rise update, I as well as many others hated the streamlined story content. Around the time Lynn came out I believe? It destroyed the npcs we all came to love, changed their personalities and left holes in the story. Now it looks like it's been gutted even more. Is there even a story anymore? I wonder how much lore was stripped from the game when they removed mats and along with them, item descriptions. It's referred to as flavor text because an item with no story is bland and uninteresting and just another piece of trash to scrap for coins. Now we have whatever this thing is... powder? Apparently somewhere along the line Devcat forgot one of the major pulls for this game was its Monster Hunter-esque nature that made making equipment out of the hides of our enemies so enjoyable.
For 8 man raids, they were a large part of the community for the game and great for socializing. I know the community is near gone these days, but that just leads back to the lack of choice. If there's not enough people, create tiers for the raid. The raids did get tougher with each new player added, so if you chose a 4-man you not only got an equal level of difficulty, but you didn't have to wait for more players either.
The game isn't what I'd call easy right now. More like there is no game. If I remember right, someone referred to cellphone games, or in this case turn-based scrollers as having an "illusion" of gameplay. You press the button, the game does the rest for you. It's interactive artwork at best. If you can run in, slap your hands on the keyboard and finish a battle doing nothing, you didn't actually play the game, you just got a participation award for looking good.
Lastly, to state that the salt from older players is the reason the game isn't growing is an outright lie for any game. Forums are always a vocal minority and most people don't know they exist or bother looking at them as is again true with any game. "Haters" are dismissed by people who enjoy the game regardless of the negativity. If the game isn't growing, it means there's no new players coming in, none sticking around, nobody coming back. It's like today's politics: thinking silencing people will magically make things better and wondering why nothing has changed after you do is deceiving yourself the problem doesn't lie elsewhere.
