The more I watch Lumina, the more cursed it looks lolWoo, Melty Blood (mostly) works now! French Bread dropped a small patch today, and it appears to have fixed the NA servers. I've still encountered a few stray problems, but not enough to hamper the experience.
I'm still dunno who to play, but I'm currently leaning towards Arcueid or Kohaku (with Ciel and Miyako as distant possibilities). I haven't played Kohaku outside of maids team yet, but she seems interesting. As for Arc, I played ~30 matches with her and had a pretty good time despite how simple she is. I need to learn how to convert hits in the corner with her, since she has multiple ways to wallbounce someone into the corner, but it's always too high for me to naturally pick up.
Honestly, now that I'm getting a better feel for its quirks, the game is becoming lots of fun. It's got some odd quirks that I'm not used to yet, like how there are barely any dedicated anti-airs, or how odd the movement can feel (air-dashing doesn't correct your facing direction, and that's hurting my brain). But I'm getting the hang of the wacky shield wars nonsense and managing all the crazy meters and special moves. Also, if you play it, for the love of all things sacred, never hit a button when the opponent is in Blood Heat. I have stolen so many rounds already off shielding in Blood Heat, which auto-activates your Last Arc Drive.
Oh, and color customization isn't as detailed as I'd like, but still fun. Here's my dripless Arc:
I am very much not a fan of the shield gimmick.