Honkai: Star Rail is a very rewarding bunch. Genshin should take note.

Honkai: Star Rail is the latest gacha game from Mihoyo, the developer behind the massive Genshin Impact, and follows turn-based combat. Inspired by the popular Trails series. Genshin took the world by storm when it was first released. It quickly gained a huge fan following with its excellent open world and exploration, engaging character design, and fast-paced combat that included quirky reactions to spicy things.

The game was a huge success for the developers, and within a short time, it became one of the most profitable gacha of all time. And the developers have responded well to their passionate fans as the game that started as a Breath of the Wild inspired title has come up with enough original content and remarkable scenes to keep it apart and elevated. And a new project from the developers was indeed an attractive proposition.

A brief introduction to gacha mechanics

Honkai: Before we talk about Star Rail, let’s look at the gacha mechanic. This concept has been around for a long time. It all starts with Gachapan machines in Japan, where you spend a set amount to try your luck and win a prize. The value of the reward increased as its rarity increased, and you had a very small chance of getting a very valuable reward, commonly known as SSR.

The same idea was applied to games, where you spend a certain amount of gacha currency to try your luck. This gacha currency can be obtained by in-game grinding until a limited amount is available, or you can purchase it by spending money, depending on your desire to obtain a specific game product. The games mostly start out as free-to-play and sustain themselves with more transactions like live service games.

To maintain interest, developers need to constantly design fresh content, and bring unique characters to gacha. The new character should have good synergy with the ongoing content and have unique kits and characters, to make their presence effective. In addition, they need to appeal in terms of design or story, making them desirable and actionable.

To continue the gacha, almost all games have a standard banner, which includes permanent characters you can get at any time, and then a limited banner, which includes time-limited characters or items. Which you can’t get outside of their specific runtime. The genre was usually on mobile platforms and quite popular among its niche audience, and now games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail bring it into the limelight.

Genshin Effect has been pretty strict with rewards.

Genshin Impact played a significant role in bringing the genre to wider recognition. And expanding it to multiple platforms as well as a AAA game. Among Genshin’s huge player base, many gamers were previously unfamiliar with the gacha mechanic. Mayhew also featured a Petty mechanic, found in a few other games as well as Mayhew’s own Honkai Impact 3. Sorrow allowed you to get a rare item after a certain number of rolls.

This made Genshin’s gacha much more forgiving than some other games such as Fate/Grand Order and Another Eden. They lacked a mercy mechanic and thus you were completely at luck. Fate/Grand Order recently added a pity system, but it requires a total of 300 rolls, unlike Genshin’s 90-roll pity. A plus point to consider is that these games provide a lot of currency for F2P players in campaigns and special occasions.

New Year 2022 – New Petty System
by the u/crazywarriorxx I Grand setting

A major complaint of Genshin players has always been the severe lack of gacha currency rewards. Mihoyo’s other big gacha Honkai Impact 3 was quite generous with prizes on special occasions such as Chinese New Year or game anniversary celebrations. In comparison, Genshin not only lacked endgame content for long-term players, but also provided meager rewards, with Honkai: Star Rail seeming to improve.

Looking back to when Genshin Impact’s first anniversary was right around the corner, players were extremely excited for the free goodies, as it’s practically a tradition for gacha games to release rewards on their birthdays. Players were speculating about what kind of rewards they were expecting, but their hopes were soon dashed when only 10 rolls were announced, along with some development items.

This enraged the entire fanbase.Because the disappointing amount of gifts was not enough to satisfy the fans’ dedication, and They reviewed the game to express their dissatisfaction.. Players spent a whole year grinding in the game to get their favorite and most powerful characters, we really deserved better rewards. And generous gifts will only serve to improve the reputation of the game and the developers.

So how are we feeling about birthdays?
by the u/DyingCatYT I Genshin_Impact

After the backlash, Mihoyo had to release additional merchandise as an apology And it served to calm the storm. Still, the game’s gacha currency rewards are much smaller than in-game tasks and special events. Subsequent birthdays were no better with rewards.. Even Mihoyo’s previous game Honkai Impact 3rd is better in the benefits department and that’s something we keep asking for.

Honkai: Star Rail brings better prizes to heat up the competition.

A possible assumption could be made that due to the nature of the mercy system in Genshin, a significant amount of rewards would make it much easier to obtain SSRs in the game, thus undermining the value of the gacha system. This may have been somewhat acceptable at first, but now Honkai: StarRail has arrived to throw that argument out with its improved rewards and many more. Improvement in QOL.

Star Reel has the exact same gacha system as Ganshin, the same pitfalls and currency requirements for the same roll. However, since the beginning, the game has been excellent with its rewards. It has provided 20 standard and 10 limited banner rolls as a starter gift. That’s more than Genshin’s initial rewards alone, but the game also announced 10 additional limited rolls that came as a welcome surprise.

Hello, trailblazers!
Honkai: To express our gratitude for your support and encouragement for Star Rail, we have prepared a gift for you — Star Rail Special Pass ×10.

After 2023/04/30 20:00 (UTC+8), Express Crew will send a gift appreciation via in-game mail to those… pic.twitter.com/dmr8hdfLPt

— Honkai: Star Rail (@honkaistarrail) 30 April 2023

Not only this, the overall currency gain from various tasks in the game is quite generous. Even the smallest chests are awarded 5 Stellar Jade (Honkai: Star Rail’s primary currency), compared to Genshin’s previously none, but now 2. Additionally, all side quests reward substantial currency, with longer quests yielding more rewards. Story quests also have a better reward ratio.

Honkai: Star Reel has a lot more means to acquire Stellar Jade than its predecessor. While completing quests and opening chests in an area, you also get area-specific currency to buy growth materials from the shop, and you can only buy Stellar Jade with that currency, how cool. Is? And the three regions have separate reward lists so triple the benefit.

Speaking of exploration, keep an eye out for a special enemy called the Warp Trotter. This little guy can be found in certain places in the battle sections of an area, and is quick to run. If escaped, you must reset the map by teleporting and then returning. Just defeat them in battle and you can get 60 Stellar Jade simple and straightforward.

This doesn’t rule out Honkai: Star Rail’s awards, as the game has a very generous persistent campaign which I believe is a great addition. For every 10 trailblaze levels (basically the adventure rank of this game) after level 5, you get 10 standard banner rolls, and levels 25 and 35 each get an extra 800 Stellar Jade. The game ensures that your time and investment is well rewarded.

Moreover, the game promises free permanent SSR of your choice, once you reach the limit of 300 rolls spent on a standard banner. Genshin players have been clamoring for a permanent SSR of their choice since the first anniversary, and their wishes have yet to be granted, but Honkai: Star Rail is here to deliver. The game also has two endgame modes with plenty of rewards that refresh more often.

With all these and more to offer, Honkai: Star Rail has quickly picked up pace and established itself as a great game. It’s no wonder the game has seen so much success, as turn-based mechanics, an interesting implementation of interesting interactions and dialogues, and an abundance of rewards add to the appeal. Although from the same developers, Star Rails brings many strong points and Genshin needs to up its game to stand strong.