A big factor to why this event felt more grindy I feel is Elias. Not only does he not have 2 damage skills, he needs synergy otherwise his 2nd ability will rarely activate, on top of being a a defensive bow unit, resulting in having the lowest Strength in the game. A 4* elemental weapon also only gives HP up. As a result, you have many new players just not doing nearly as much damage as previous raids with Celery and Melsa if they decided to main the event character this time around. I legitimately think Luca is a better DPS.
On top of that, I realized towards the end that Euden is legitimately a better DPS on my no pulls FPS account, literally almost double Luca and Elias' Strength because 1) Pele gives 30% Strength MUB compared to Jupiter's 10% Strength and HP, 2) I have him 5* promoted, giving him extra stats, 3) Euden has more Strength mana circle nodes than both Lucas and Elias by being classified as an Attack unit compared to Support (Lucas) or Defense (Elias), which means facilities and Pele give even more additional Strength, and 4) his facilities are more leveled up in preparation for HMS. The fact that the event character is seemingly less effective than even 3* options (Irfan, Raemond, even Malora are all better for DPS) isn't ideal.
Not even mentioning the fact that it's odd to have an event character be the exact same weapon/element combo as a story character. I hope future event characters don't double up like this, since it limits how much some players can play if they're fairly unlucky with pulls.
On top of that, I realized towards the end that Euden is legitimately a better DPS on my no pulls FPS account, literally almost double Luca and Elias' Strength because 1) Pele gives 30% Strength MUB compared to Jupiter's 10% Strength and HP, 2) I have him 5* promoted, giving him extra stats, 3) Euden has more Strength mana circle nodes than both Lucas and Elias by being classified as an Attack unit compared to Support (Lucas) or Defense (Elias), which means facilities and Pele give even more additional Strength, and 4) his facilities are more leveled up in preparation for HMS. The fact that the event character is seemingly less effective than even 3* options (Irfan, Raemond, even Malora are all better for DPS) isn't ideal.
Not even mentioning the fact that it's odd to have an event character be the exact same weapon/element combo as a story character. I hope future event characters don't double up like this, since it limits how much some players can play if they're fairly unlucky with pulls.