The Star Rail Situation (July, 2025)
- Nero Atlas
- Jul 24
- 8 min read
When account-buffing characters: characters that can make a team stronger while not being on the team - were announced, a big controversy started around Star Rail, that made the users review-bomb it. I thought of it nothing special, as the gacha game meta does get worse and worse with time, with the aim of trying and sell new characters making them "useful" for numbers in some new way.
I recently pull for Phainon, purely for aesthetic reasons, and this is what I found.
Powercreep Beyond the Stars
With the animation kit being an incredible improvement from the usual itself goes the numbers as well: multiple copies of the characters, together with the signature weapon, make Phainon base damage - already incredibly high - shoot as hard as his meteor. But... is it even worth it?
Power in gacha game has been a controversial take since forever: it's the reason why player versus player gacha have always been looked at with skepticism: money gives me an edge to win games, so the game ends up being unfair.
With the diffusion of character-based gacha games, during the covid era, Hoyoverse (at the time: MiHoYo) tried to aim for a different objective: making the character collection, together with their animation kit, their overall "feeling", be the appealing factor.
Genshin was a pioneer in being an action RPG with an open world, and players loved to use characters beyond the boundaries of turn-based play. That was enough to sell characters and weapons both for numbers and looks.
The reason why players tried to make the characters strong was the "Spiral Abyss", and endgame mode that rewarded them with some gems at completion. Having two strong teams (8 characters is a lot!) made them have
a little edge in resources - so we all tried completing it as soon as possible.
With time, the Spyral Abyss, alongside many other endgame modes, became harder, so that you'd need stronger characters - or specific elements, or gameplay mechanics - to complete them. This need was then replicated in any of their title, with Honkai: Star Rail having the most endgame modes of all - not only a repeatable varying combat-based dungeon, but many that require different characters, and strategies.
There's still a big question that hasn't been addressed yet, though.
What is the meaning of power?
Creating effective teams is part of the fun in a gacha games: combining skills to achieve the best results is the nerdy part we all know and love. And yet, optimization does pass through the conundrum of choosing between new characters, and multiple copies of the same one.
But, wait: is it really something we want to do in the first place? Let's take a step back.
The reason why we all started to try and win the endgame was having a little more premium resource to have more characters. Getting another copy of the same is the same thing as giving up a new one. In other words, it's about giving up on around 15,000 gems all of a sudden, for... 250 more gems per month, or something? What's the rationale behind this?
I think the first step in this direction is when you start having two optimized teams: in order to keep improving it, having weapons and multiple copies of the same character is indeed the best strategy. The natural tendencies of powercreep cycles old characters out - but it usually takes some time, so it still keeps being the best strategy for a while. Furthermore, it doesn't require extra build time: it's power in a can, ready to be given to our team for it to immediately use.
It all started with some characters having an edge at some specific number of copies - usually 3. Fei Xiao is a very good example of this. Three copies of the same characters means giving up on two others - which is crazy, when I think about it. Investing in a character we know and love, though, does feel good, as it goes along emotional investment. Futhermore, we feel like missing out on so much potential, for getting new characters that we may care less about. All of a sudden, having a stronger character starts feeling reasonable... but is it really?
I think the best way to look at it objectively is to take a step back, and wonder why we were playing the game in the first place. Hoyoverse games are known for their aesthetics, and good storytelling, most of the times. The main story is a showcase for characters and their backgrounds, and playing it makes us want to play the characters as well, as we create an emotional bond with them.
Some of them just have really cool animations, that end up being better than the ones released before them. Acheron and Fei Xiao had very peculiar ultimate abilities, that felt different, "premium", compared to other characters. They both also had high damage values to back up the feeling. Now we have Castorice and Phainon, that both have incredible ultimate phases, which feel like a mechanics by itself, alongside incredible extra animation kits just for that.
And damage, as you could see above, is incomparable.
Gacha youtubers started calling getting many characters a "horizontal" strategy, while getting many copies of the same a "vertical" one. The community ended up doing the same, and this sunk into my head, and became the canon... up until I decided to pull for my "first perfect character": The Herta.
As you can see even from just the video thumbnail, the cost of a character at full copies is insane: with that money, one can play games for an entire console life cycle without any feeling of "missing out" - even the so-crititicized Nintendo Switch 2, and its 80 bucks games.
And again, from Prydwen, these were the only benefits of having 6 copies of this cute magical girl, together with her weapon:
Y...yeah. No joke, Phainon's weapon is enough to get to almost the same amount of The Herta E6S1 (7 copies and one weapon).
Now that it's evident my money was wasted - if it helps to you, dear reader, I'm already happy, though! - the other question is:
Is the Game Being Ruined by Powercreep?
So, let's think about it: what happens when powercreeps take place, in simple terms?
New characters are stronger (much stronger, indeed), even at single copy
Old characters are weaker in comparison (no side effect)
The endgame mode may be changed into something more hard to complete
So, the first point is probably not going to bother anyone - in fact, the only thing that may make my eyebrow lift, is if they make Eidolons stronger, so that you feel the difference more and more. Regardless, though, it would give "wasting" resources more meaning, which wouldn't be negative on its own.
The second point may feel bad, but the old characters won't change, and will clear the story in the same way as before. So it shouldn't be a problem by itself. On top of that, they are actually buffing some old characters, which makes them more relevant.
The third point is the real issue: if the power level rises, developers may come up with new modes or challenges to complete with the new game's power level, so that you don't feel like it's wasted. But... is it happening?
Well, sadly, it is: ~14.7% HP increase per patch in Memory of Chaos, based on some researches.
There's a side effect of this, though: if you had missed out on old characters, you won't need them anymore, making having a fresh team the key to solve the game... the problem being: creating a new team every time will keep you on the game, potentially spending money, but, most of all, time and commitment.
But, as Lt. Columbo would say...
Is the Game Being Ruined by Powercreep?
It really depends on how we look at a game like this. If you see Star Rail as a...
Resource planner with puzzle solving elements and a story flavor that you want to play consistently, then yes, the game is going to be costantly costly, and the investments will most of the time be wasted, which means less strategy and resource management fun
Story-driven RPG with side challenges, then the game isn't going to change much. If anything, it's becoming easier and easier in the old story challenges, which may make them trivial, at some point, ruining the feeling of early combats - unless you choose and use early-released units that haven't been buffed.
Character collecting game, then the game is still accessible: you may have harder access to endgame rewards, but those rewards aren't that much worth your effort: you get most of the resources from dailies, story, and events anyways.
It really depends on what kind of player you are. I'd like to address the resource planner player type of need somehow: what's the best solution so far, for players that want to have fun with that part of the game?
Final take as a resource planner player
My stance on the matter, for now, with character-based gacha games, is: I don't feel compelled to play the endgame up to the last level, just playing part of it, with my own builds, old or new, will be enough to make me feel satisfied. I also decided to establish some constraints as if they were game rules, from now on, which are:
Never pull for Eidolons, even if they are more effective than other Eidolons, or even more than a new character for teams
Never pull for character weapons, even if they are cheaper than an Eidolon, and look cool
With these two rules on, I can't for sure optimize for the best outcome when it comes to resource use and damage on my teams, but my account keeps being varied and full of new combinations I have fun creating. I can build more characters, and see what's most fun trying to make work, while keeping it fresh, because it allows me to have many more new characters, even if they are underpowered compared to their weapon- and Eidolon-unlocked counterparts.
I know it's not a perfect strategy, but there probably isn't any, besides spending (much!) money into the game, which is not something that really has to do with optimization and challenges in the first place. On that topic, I decided to only limit myself to the subscription, which gives me a few more pulls for new characters, only if I decide it's my "main game of the month", considering it requires daily access. I consider buying the battle pass only if and when I complete it beforehands, and only if it's the main game of the month as well, for sure.
What best describes you?
Resource planner: I like optimizing teams and strategies
Story-Driven: I like the story, characters, and lore
Collector: I focus on characters and animations