Preface: While a good amount of this is from given info from Gumi, there is a bunch gathered from observation, which I am fairly confident in after running it a couple of times. Do note that this is still in "beta", so may change in future variants. Without further ado...

Clash of Wills: The Morale Mechanic

The Basic

This is a new tug-o-war mechanic that is shared by both the player and enemy. The total range is 200%, ranging between 200%/0% and 0%/200% enemy/player morale, respectively ( /- 10,000 for non-percentage values). At the end of each of your turn, the bar will update to what the morale is (more on that later). Having high morale will raise your units stats, while having low morale will raise the enemy's stats instead. The fight can start at the dead center (100%/100% morale, or 0 ingame bar-lingual), but can be elsewhere by a various of factors, like Echelon tier and EX 3 units. There might be more in the future, like an optional difficulty (or crutch) to adjust it later, but that's a future problem.

Morale Gauge

See image for example, which I will be using quite a bit to illustrate things The gauge is composed of the following components:

1. The Color Bar & Arrow: Shows the current morale standing. The arrows on the bar show the current morale standing. The yellow bar stemming away from the arrow shows the current prediction of how much morale will be gained/lost at the end of your turn. In the example image, the morale is in favor of the enemy, with a prediction of further morale dip if nothing is done about it.

2. The Morale Thresholds: Underneath the bar, there are shapes with numbers within them. These signify when certain morale mechanics kick in, going from right to left until it hits the current morale standing. The number in the symbols refer to the cooldown on the morale abilities (explained later), which will only countdown when the morale is at that part. If the morale leave the threshold, then the countdown is frozen until it gets back there. The color signify which side benefits from the morale ability. Currently, only the player have morale abilities, but there are assets in place for the possibility of enemy morale abilities. In the example image, the morale is at the point to start counting down the player's cube ability (Resurging Will), which will be ready in 6 turns. Edit: Morale abilities are currently bugged. When they become available, you must use it, or else you will never be able to use it again.

3. Morale Indepth Info: Can be accessed by clicking the bar itself. Shows information the current morale affect, the morale abilities (also where you activate them when they are ready), and the info regarding what affects morale and by how much.

Morale Influence

This refers to what changes the morale, and by how much. For the current one, which may change in future CoW's, these are the influencers:

Player-Only Influence (Morale Gain)

• Attacking with enemy weakness: Self-explanatory. Imperils can be used to make something a weakness, and likewise, resistance buffs can make something no longer a weakness.
  0.35% gain/weakness cast (haven't tested barrage, but probably super-effective)

Enemy-Only Influence (Morale Loss)

• KO player units: Self-explanatory
  5%/KO

Shared Influence

• Healing: Restoring HP/MP will shift morale.
  0.1%/cast (haven't tested if you get double benefits from an ability that does both)
• Inflicting enemy with status ailment: Only new ailments afflicts count for each turn; multiple re-afflicts of the same ailment do not give multiple changes.
  0.3%/new ailment for that turn (ex: disease and poison afflict in a turn will result in 0.6% shift)
• Stat Debuffs on Enemy: Similar to above, only unique stat debuffs for a given turn will be counted.
  0.25%/unique stat debuff/turn (ex: spamming a full-break on one enemy will shift the morale by 1%/turn, regardless of whether the debuff duration)
• Boost Stats/Mitigation on Player Units: Same as above.
  0.2%/unique stat buff/turn (ex: spamming a DEF/SPR buff on a full party of 6 will result in a 2.4% shift/turn)
• Elemental Resistance Buff: Same as stat buff.
  0.1%/unique element/turn (ex: spamming a full-element buff on two units will result in a 1.6% shift)
• Morale Shifting abilities: Some usable abilities can directly shift

Things That Doesn't Influence

• Dispelling buffs/debuffs: Once buffs/debuffs have been placed, the morale prediction is changed. Dispelling them will not remove their influence on the bar, even if it is the same turn it was cast on.
• End of Turn effects: Things like regen buffs do note shift the bar, even if its affect would otherwise do so if it wasn't a EoT effect.

Untested

• Counters
• Damage over Time

Stupid Observations

Due to the nature of the morale influencers, some abilities are incredibly powerful. Take for example Lotus Mage Fina (who I have been using quite a bit) and her Divine Veil 2 ability:

• Increase ATK/MAG/DEF/SPR (120%) for 5 turns to all allies
• Increase resistance to all elements (50%) for 5 turns to all allies
• Multicastable

For a full-party of 6, this gives the following effect on the morale bar:

Stat Buff
   0.2% * [# of units] * [# of stats]
   = 0.2% * 6 * 4
   = 4.8%
Element Buff
   0.1% * [# of units] * [# of elements]
   = 0.1% * 6 * 8
   = 4.8%

Total:  9.6% morale

Routinely, I have found that this is enough to negate most/all of Morgana's morale gain, and in many occasions, straight up give a decent morale ontop of it. As this ability is multicastable, I frequently spam this ability and still capable of using Fina's healer/buffer routine. Would I be doing this under normal trials: no. Would I be doing this for morale: definitely as it's so powerful.

Personal Asks

While CoW's morale is pretty interesting as a mechanic, there are some flaws in here:

• Promotes spamming of jack-of-all-trade abilities, regardless of effectiveness of the ability or rotation. This punishes CD-only affects that a player would use in a normal rotation.
• Does not promote removal of abilities/effects, only prevention.

In my opinion, both of these can be solved with one simple change: instead of checking for new changes only, have morale check current qualifying abilities.

Also, unrelated to the morale specifically, I would also like to see "anti-difficulty" options, which would reduce the players score in exchange for making the boss easier. Would make it easier for vets to get to lvl 99 faster, while allowing casuals/new players to clear the higher levels, while leaving the competitive part unchanged.

Conclusion

Why are you still here reading this?