Honkai: Star Rail’s quickly become a household name in the gacha industry right next to Genshin Impact. But even in spite of Star Rail’s apparent superior execution in gameplay, quality of life and such, does the game put too much pressure on players to spend? Today we’ll be discussing if Honkai: Star Rail is too expensive/pay to win.
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I love the comments section in this video LMAO.
1/3 – I 100% agree
The other 1/3 – I disagree respectfully
The last 1/3 – Lul get good 4head
I'll be real I don't think I'd be where I am in the confort I have, if I didn't dolphin some characters
I agree and don't agree at the same time. Starting with the title: "Is it too expensive?" I feel about HSR the same as every other gacha game that exists. Is it expensive if you want to clear everything and be at the top? Well…yes….ofc yes. Is it too expensive for the average/casual player? No. For the F2P? Like every other gacha, they are designed for F2P to comfortably play their game as long as they are active.
At 5:45, I know you specifically stated for clearing the hardest endgame content, but I still feel new players and even non-HSR players hearing this cannot grasp what that endgame content is. Like, I skipped Fu Xuan and will probably skipped Aventurine and I don't feel like I'm going to be doomed. Do I zero cycle MoC12? No. Have I 3 star MoC 12, nop. Am I OK on losing those few jades? Yea, w/e. I don't think the whole: "I know it's only a few jades, but I'm losing the whole experience" is something that most players feel like. Most players just want to do cool shit with the characters they pull.
If question was: "is it too expensive for "whales"?" Yea, from what I saw in the video, it certainly feels like. That said, I don't know if it's a hot take, but I feel even whales make their life more difficult by trying to zero MoC everything as oppose to just whaling to the point of just 3 starring content. But, in the end, everyone is free to do what they like.
Is FOMO good for you? Nope. But in reality many people do feel it (even myself). Or some people just have gacha addiction so bad that the thrill of getting a new character is irresistible. Just because we are not supposed to feel FOMO, doesn't make the problem go away.
Lol this is why I say this:
HSR may be generous than Genshin but my characters be like on life support on many fights. Not all though.
Then Genshin may be sus when it comes to rewards and all. Which I prepared and saw it coming which makes the salt manageable lol. But at least in Genshin my characters are strong enough for overworld, just not Spiral Abyss lmao.
Then another one which is relevant to this video. I use Codeshop when topping up and I'm a low spender I only use Welkin and then recently the Express thingy for HSR. I noticed at least in my country which is the Philippines, Welkin is cheaper compared to the one in HSR so there we go XD
Compared to Genshin, I feel like I have a harder time keeping up in HSR since we need more variety of characters but the characters releasing and rerunning are so many.
And recently I also lost my 50/50 again for the 4th time in a row.. 😞 It makes it even harder.. Sigh..
Power creep is Real in This Game And I Hate That
Yeah its going in a bad direction. I buy the monthly pass for pulls, pull for waifu over meta and still full clear everything, but i think if i lost 50/50 more often i would be struggling. Also the awful relic grind makes the fast new character releases even worse. I cant even get half decent relics for a character before i have to build a new one for MoC or PF.
Sort of, I missed out on half of the character being out right now but I don't feel like its impossible to clear end game. Granted I am very exp in these type of game and have the ability to READ CHARS KITS.
I have seen and know way too many that cannot clear end game not due to lack of characters, but just cause……they not that good at putting a team together or using them.
Heck so many gave up on lvling traces to at least lvl 9 and just leave it at 6 or 7 not knowing that few extra lvl on traces on FOUR characters can make their run 1/2 cycle faster.
Like I agree the game is deceptively expensive, but honestly, I would prefer more characters, more pulls, more content rather than less characters, no skills, no pulls, and no content any day of the week, month, year, decade, century, millennium, eon, until the end of time. And its not like you can't efficiently clear with f2p characters and a couple of core 4 star supports (just like genshin btw), it just requires good game knowledge and optimization which I think makes for a much more engaging experience and not a negative in any way.
It's really funny because Gacha games's target audiences consist of two polar opposite types of people – those with a lot of money to spend, or those with no money to spend. It's both the least and the most cost-effective genre of game depending on who you are.
I both agree.
And disagree.
I will say this now, I do have a lot of 5 stars as I have been lucky in my rolls, however I have been playing heavily with more 4 star oriented units as I find them filling out the niches I enjoy more.
So I will first touch only on the free units that can handle most things.
Natasha/March are not great sustainers but for a majority of the game, Natasha can do fine, only suffering in harder content due to the aforementioned 1 shot issue or well, ridiculously high damage enemies are dishing out.
March suffers more, currently I believe she fills out the niche team for simulated universe of remembrance but she doesn't provide nearly as much as natasha.
Why don't I mention Fire trailblazer? Even though they fill out the roll of a sustainer, the amount of sustain is very small and so not really something notable I would say, not to mention they have a lot of stats needed to be filled out, atk, defense, hp, sp and as of the current moment a lot of content in the game have aoe damage which trailblazer is not the best at preventing. That said they and natasha combined usually provide all the sustain you would need for the entire game, while providing you +2 sp if you can maintain a normal attack consistency.
I won't mention physical trailblazer, mainly because I genuinely do believe fire trailblazer is better but also because I think their a decent unit but that's all. Not as bad as the tier list
Dang hung/Herta are the currently the free dps we got, with Dang hung suffering due to his need for a support/someone that can target him for his talent to trigger.
However as everyone knows Herta is a currently amazing dps as of current meta, having now value in Pure fiction and some nich teams for remembrance and elation teams.
Out of the 5 free unites, 1 of them is amazing, a combination of the 2 is good and decent on their own and 2 require help.
And with every patch seemingly allowing for 1 free 4 star unit, the game is doing really well with Tingyun, Pela, Asta and Hanaya.
Now lastly are free units that were given out ie: Yukong and Dr. Ratio.
Dr. Ratio is simply amazing, with some blast level consistency if he can kill targets with his follow up attacks and easy replacement for Dang Heng.
Yukong however currently suffers from needing to be max Eidolon to be comfortable to use even though she is decent. Her kit is clearly showing it's age as a early game unit or showing it's flaws as a give away unit.
In other words, the game has given everything you should need to clear most content, with the exception of difficult endgame/content.
Having a dps for both aoe and single target, having 2 units that can support the sp cost of the team, having free unit give away that can be used to support the dps, or get more current units better fit for the current game mode.
I do agree however that the endgame content is way harder though without ideal units but that's an age issue.
Need dot units? Serval, Sampo, Luka, Guinifen.
Need strong damage units? Quingue, Luka, Xuei.
Need follow up attacker? Herta, Xuei,
Need better sustain? Galager. Need more cleanse? Lynx.
There are plenty of units in the game that can cover the roles needed and it will continue to expand as the game does. And since the game is as you said, giving away more units as a necessity, the lack of units will eventually be fixed.
And so while we don't have the ideal unit, we will have comparable units filling out the role necessary.
I think for the most part I agree. I consider myself relatively lucky, and have been able to 36 and 12 star every MoC and PF except for the latest one, though I'll hopefully figure it out. I've only bought the battle passes, so goldfish.
The banner schedule is extremely aggressive, and offsets the amount of pulls we get. If we get 30-50% more pulls than Genshin, we're also getting 100% more units. We had already reached more 5 stars than 4 stars before 2.0 which is wild to me. The added pressure of the only content being combat adds to the need to get as many units in as many team types as possible. I have invested nothing in DoT and it has been biting me in the butt to do so, but…
The content is still clearable without all of that. Sim uni is so hard at high levels that it invalidates the raw stats of most eidolons and lightcones, making the main factor luck of blessings. There are a plethora of small channels that do 4-star only clears proving that the latest shiniest 5-star isn't necessary, only the investment in your units and your skill, understanding of mechanics, and teambuilding.
HSR is at its core, a teambuilding game, and 5-stars do a lot for that. But enemies and mechanics haven't scaled to the point that old units are unusable like Hi3. Hopefully things stay that way.
Too many chars, too little jades😢
Quick answer: depends on what you want less expensive than genshin that's for sure
Lmao imagine being a dolphin and still struggle can't even bother to think of a simple strategy its a turn based game 🙄
their generous but every time i step into pure fiction i get mentally shredded
This video is pointless from a perspective of players wanting to learn something useful. It's just Vars ranting and rambling about random stuff in their mind, and hoping ppl agree with them as usual.
HSR's "the better game" because they not only LISTEN to feedback, they also IMPLEMENT it. It is generous enough to keep the units from being completely inaccessible to F2Ps. Compare it to Genshin Impact where "Pay to Win" is the only solution in terms of Weapon Banners. The fact that the 5 star lightcones don't have an encounter point system and have a 75-25 instead of a 50-50 is what makes it worth it.
I've seen this discussion floating around a lot, basically Genshin.. is only for collectors as there is no real "true" end game or challenge, but Star Rail does.. and I felt the most recent GnG and this current run of Pure Fiction was very.. whale baity. Acheron is broken and you could argue you don't "need" her since she is OP for the current challenges.. but that could just mean they plan on releasing even MORE challenging content that will require her power level to beat.. which means rest of your roster is now "bad". I hope they kind of reign in this power creep, and slow their roll a bit on the constant release of "broken" characters. It's not… out of control yet.. but they seem to creep closer to that every character release. I've seen the same conversation for LCs in HSR ever since Jing Yuan. I never feel the pressure to get a signature weapon in Genshin, but in HSR?… yeah… not "needed" again, but boy do they help a TON, there is a NOTICABLE difference. I have a F2P account and a .. dolphin? account and my F2P really struggles with a lot of content.. they DO it (barely) but struggle much more.
I'm gonna be direct and say that the game is not expensive at all. Tedious? Yes. Expensive? No.
The amount of pulls that they give you per patch is enough to secure you at least one of the 2 characters they'll release during that time. What's more, you don't have to pull for signature lightcones and multiple copies (Eidolons) of the characters that you want to have them do their job properly, and you also don't have to worry about them being powercrept as MoCs and Pure Fiction effects periodically, giving more opportunities for your other units to shine.
Seriously though, if you just know which units to pull for such as when to pull for a DPS character, a support, or a tank, then you'd have no trouble clearing some of the endgame content of the game. That said, you're mainly going to be pulling for DPS characters, and supports are very situational as there are 4* supports in the game that works just as well if not better (in some cases) to help you get through certain stages. Tanks you need at least 1 limited character as the Trailblazer is a decent enough tank as it is, and if you're lucky to also have Gepard, then you're quite set.
Overall, the game is still relatively new, only being a year older, but is already besting it's predecessor, Genshin Impact. The game will continue to keep getting better as time goes on, and in that time, the issues mentioned above would be a thing of the past, and the only ones affecting them would be newer players who got unlucky in their first 100 or so pulls looking to find some dirt on the game to project their frustrations to.
I play HSR and Genshin. I like both games. I also play a lot of other gacha games. I would never recommend any of them ever to anyone. Why? 100% of gacha games are predatory and with very few exceptions (like Girls Frontline and Azur Lane), are absolutely not F2P friendly if you want to catch them all — and catching them all is the primary point of every gacha game to ever exist. So is HSR "too expensive?" Absolutely. Even if you are 100% fine with gacha business models, the vast majority of gacha games out there are more F2P friendly. People rebut all the time by saying that HSR is more F2P friendly than Genshin, but that is saying shit is better than moldy shit.
Makes sense.
I've only been playing for 3 months and I already cleared MoC12 Full 36 stars
I started when SW rerun was up.
I immediately searched a tier list and see her high up and immediately pulled.
Ruan Mei comes out, heard that's she's Insane then I pulled
I tried DHIL on friend support and have so much fun playing him so I pulled him regardless if he's Meta or not. +LC
Pulled for Sparkle because she looks like Hu Tao and I want someone like Bronya because I don't have Bronya. +LC
Now Acheron came out and her damage is just insane so I got her to E2 +LC
With that I got to clear MoC12. Props to my Lynx and Bailou for keeping me alive LMAO. Lynx is Lv75 and Bailou is Lv70 A5 only I can't believe I survived with them 💀
Initially, I started playing this game to control my gacha addiction on genshin but fml it became even worse.
And Fu Xuan might be just around the corner so I'm scared I also want Firefly so it would suck for my bank account if they are in the same patch the same phase 😭
Vars layout the best reasons I have when I quitted this game. Even the Simulated Universe is hard with some units like Luocha or other DPS or supports that can't sustain certain stages.
The rewards are great but gameplay as Vars said isn't flexible enough for survivability like Genshin's.
Not pulling for Argenti is really holding me back in Pure Fiction. There’s really no other Physcial DPS rn that can match him
Ok TL 63 player here, I've started playing since 1.6 due to Dr. Ratio. I've only just recently after pulling Acheron started doing MOC and from my experience it is very difficult. Granted i have very cope artifacts but the fact that i had to grind MOC alone for like 4 hours just to get to Floor 8 should show how many times i had to reset.
However, given all that I definitely don't think the game is too hard or too expensive. Because at the end of the day this is Endgame Content, it just requires investment that I, being a relatively newer player don't have. Of course, the current MOC or PF are definitely gonna be geared to the current character but that seems just pae for the course. It is not in any way unwinnable without these given characters, it will just require characters with a higher level of investment which i think is fair.
All characters have the capacity to clear MOC or PF with the correct amount of investment and supports, but reaching that level is the problem. There are so many layers of RNG that its possible that reaching that required level of investment would make the charcter you're building not suitable for the current content anymore. I think thats the main problem.
you can get 1 character every patch in hsr unlike genshin
just use imaginary and fire in your team, and u can beat almost everything (based on what ive seen so far)
I both like/dislike that Star Rail is more difficult than Genshin. In Genshin I just use Hu Tao and Furina and turn my brain off, and everything gets deleted. Star Rail I actually have to have at least 2 brain cells to rub together so it keeps me more engaged.
Since my account is a waifu only account I'm hoping they start releasing more male characters, at least for the rest of 2024. Right now I'm probably skipping Robin so I can get Firefly with her Light Cone at least.
Hoyoverse please have mercy on my wallet 😀
That being said, there is someone who didn't pull anything since launch till today and able to clear every content has to offer so I think it's an irrelevant statement about you must have certain character for newest content. But what I agree is that FOMO really what matters here and that is what selling.
Absolutely. I can't even clear most endgame content without retrying it a bunch of times. Also, with acheron out, most people I know got her, the lc and even eidolons like its a normal day. Its wild lol.
Ye the sparkle trailer worked on me, I spent like $200
Been playing the game f2p since launch and haven’t felt tempted by a signature lightcone or had a strong urge to spend. There’s enough pulls in HSR that if you plan ahead you can get nearly everyone you want. I was able to get Ruan Mei, Sparkle, Acheron back to back and I’m now set to get Robin. Saving during just one banner can get you a lot of value.
12:00 I feel like it's unnecessary for any players to seek 0-cycling any of the endgame content, it is absolutely a waste of time to do that. Also can't really agree with "winnable vs impossible" because there is no real content where you can't just use an alternative unit to clear it tbh, and if it was related to the "0-cycle" argument it's even more pointless to bring this up
The fact that there is a sudden jolt in the number of imaginary weakness enemies and bosses after the release of Dr. Ratio is a testament of how much they could have screwed us over if a huge portion of us didn't get him for free because otherwise we would rely on Welt or DHIL, both of which have lots of damage falloff in the long run unless you have very busted supports. A lot of these decisions are mostly pre-planned and its no longer just FOMO anymore, its straight up ransom because oftentimes skipping a character will potentially screw your entire account over. I feel bad for latecomers in this game, they will miss out on a lot of long term staples unless the devs decide to slow things down and lie low on new character to give way for decent rerun banners. And I agree with the lightcones. Ruan Mei's is pretty brutal in which it cranks up the user's break effect. Considering its for harmony characters only, its pretty much tailor made for her, unless there will be another break effect focused harmony unit soon (I have an idea on who could potentially be that character but its a 'dream' scenario…😉😉).
Yeah, it is definitely too expensive and grindy- the sheer amount of characters you need is just- absurd. I get so frustrated with people saying that Star rail is better because of its generosity when this is what they do when you skip- yes, I get more characters. Yes. Ratio is free but just how much content they expect us to complete, and what characters you need for it, is utterly ridiculous. I have a E2 Lunae Dan Heng, rather well built, with his signature lightcone and a tailor made team with best gear, and I am getting stonewalled to oblivion, like I have been locked entirely out of pure fiction due to lack of units. It's so frustrating that if not for the excellent stories it tell I would've quit so quick you wouldn't see me in the fandom
They pump 2 characters evry single patch, while genshin gets like 1 every other, and the content changes so fast you almost need to pull all the time, so i agree yea
100% HSR is doing it better than most by how they flesh out the characters. I was one of the one's that was tempted to BUY sparkle because of her trailers and role in the story, but I'm still very pragmatic and I knew I didn't need her as a unit on my teams, which is fine since I used all my free spins and lost the 50/50 but I didn't spend for her, even though it was very tempting.
Meanwhile, I'm not a Mei fanboy but Acheron is a unique and powerful unit that actually gives me a hyper carry I can focus on, so I used my guarantee to get a copy of her and she's spitting hot fire, helping me get those last stars (and gems) I've been missing out on previously.
That said, I'm going to be saving up for Sparkle re-run.
I can fix her.
Agree on everything honestly, sometimes, it's not even just the end-game that punishes you for not having a certain character, the main game itself will sometimes do that. Biggest example currently is this current boss with Aventurine. Just a simple google search will reveal how many players, even those who've spent money on the game, are unable to beat him. The boss requires you to have a unit who is able to deal AOE damage, whilst healing and or shielding, and coincidentally, both Acheron and Luocha fulfill these roles are and are currently running.
Just Pull better
Skills issue
I skipped Luocha which was my biggest regret so I'm trying to get him even though I have all the other healers
imagine having fomo couldnt be me
It certainly does not help that a lot of it is down to luck… I really think the main offender here is the awful relic farming in this game not the actual gacha. These relic domans are rng hell… you can spent months in just a single one without getting a single decent set of speed boots (which nearly every single character wants…thanks hoyo for making this particular stat the lowest drop rate…) to say nothing of the dumb planar set farming which is even more annoying because of the repeated SU runs. The rng can be so frustratingly bad at times that it makes it hard to even motivate yourself to keep farming relics which I think leads to a lot of people stopping at getting average pieces instead of actual good ones – which naturally leads to their characters performing worse in hard endgame content. It's easy to say "just use the characters you already have, 4 stars are good enough for most content" – when the truth is that these 4 stars are far more dependent on getting good relics than the 5 stars are because their powerlevel is naturally inferior and nothing can help you get better rng luck for your relics.
i just got Acheron and her lightcone from playing the game and the anniversary pulls, $0 spend on my account, i tried to get ruan mei but lost 50/50 and instead got black swan fro me is GG EZ, i have silver wolf, kafka, black swan, blade, argenti and his lightcone, fu xuan, Jing yuan and almost all standard banner 5 star and i have all 4 star characters at least e1 and some e4 to e6, so for me this game is beyond inexpensive but could be because im lucky as shit too
I'd say the only thing that varies is the LC both between DPS and supports. My best example of this would be to compare Jing Yuan's LC to Kafka's and how much of an actual boost they are for the DPS. Jing Yuan's is a massive boost for him being a 1.0 character as well erudition getting the short end of stick with LCs, where as Kafka's LC is hardly a bonus over her common gatcha option GNSW with the only real noticeable difference I've heard is with how it interacts with Black Swan. Now, let's do the same for our sustain characters. Luocha's LC while nice hardly needed, like Kafka his can be replaced with a gacha cone that gives Effect Res and healing bonus. Where, as say, Huo Huo's who offers a big boost to her healing and personal energy regen to then give the team more energy more often. All in all not EVERY character will feel different with their LC and it does help you save but there obvious are those that really WANT their LC as it either makes building easier or offers larger benefits to their kits.
I think overall HSR is more generous, and justified in doing so. However, I also don't think that players HAVE to pull on every character and Banner to clear content. Some are better than others for sure, don't get me wrong. But if you skipped Fu Xuan and have Luocha, you should still be able to keep your team alive.
Sometimes, I do lament not having Jing Liu when they have ice weak bosses, but frankly I'm just not all that interested in her. Regardless, I have Silverwolf, so if need be, brute force is always on the table. (Even if it takes a few resets)
Me a pure casual: I just like the big numbers and thats that
Also my dhil is more than enough
Yeah, ive always said tha genshin was more f2p friendly since the ceiling is so low. Star rail keeps raising the ceiling which forces to pull for some of the latest units. PS5 players right now dont have Fu Xuan, so the must pull on Adventurine or wait on Fu Xuan to get a sustain capable of clearing high end content.
All gacha games are too expensive.
Both Star Rail and Genshin have far, far too little content for literally anything close to the costs we have to be justifiable. If you pull for a character in Genshin, tell me, what are you going to do with them? Mine rocks? Pick flowers? The abyss is once every two weeks, and it isn't fun.
If you pull for a Star Rail character, what are you going to do with them? They're directly less useful on their own than Genshin characters, because no content is solo-able without insanely cracked builds, which are not even remotely free-to-play accessible and absolutely require you to refresh TBP. You can't mine rocks or pick flowers. You can break some barrels. Simulated universe is a good step, but it gets incredibly samey, very quickly. The Swarm Disaster and Gold and Gears aren't any funner than the normal one, just harder.
Most events in both games are all just shitty minigames that wouldn't even pass the bar to be put in Mario Party. If you drop $100-200 on getting E0 of a character, PLEASE tell me what you're doing with them to justify that cost. You have SU (which got old a long time ago), Pure Fiction, and Memory of Chaos, and the latter two only have things for you to do every two weeks. If you're free-to-play, how much fun are you actually having trying to keep up with things? You can't viably just pick characters you like most of the time. You can usually pick one and then build the rest of your team around them and hope it's good enough.
There's no increase in content when you pull a character. Characters are not content. If either game wants to become actual healthy live services, we need content we can do that is both engaging and guarantees progress on our characters. We have no way whatsoever to guarantee an increase in power outside of buying characters or light cones/weapons. People need to stop kidding themselves that it's free. Even free-to-play characters are spending constant time trying to keep up, and as much as I hate capitalism, time is money.
problem is that in one patch you got lmost enough pulls for one 5-star and if you miss thats it 😀 you lost your character better luck next time 😀