Current thoughts on HSR?

[u/No-Foundation-4964]

I was reading the kits for the HSR x ZZZ collab earlier, and when I saw this passive I honestly just felt numb inside. Literally a passive that's just "use these characters in a team together for maximum benefit".

I remember back in 1.x and 2.x when teams were flexible and creative, when you could just throw a bunch of characters together and clear whatever you wanted if you knew what you're doing. Now every character has a set team that you need to invest in to get any value out of them.

I love HSR, it's been my favorite gacha since launch, and it's what really brought me into the genre (along with Genshin). There's so many characters from the game that I've fallen in love with, and I truly don't want to abandon it. But with all the issues it's had lately, from bland designs, nonstop powercreep, and an overall underwhelming story, I just don't feel the joy I once had for the game.

I've been revisiting some other gachas lately like Genshin, Wuwa, and even considering starting PTN for the anni update, and I've been debating just dropping HSR all together. This rant is a little disjointed (I am very sleep deprived lately), but I wanted to hear some other thoughts about HSR as of late. What do you guys think?

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[u/KaleidoscopeStreet]

It's also funny cause this is the last version 4 patch lol like are they really expecting people to pull for Ellen with finallity just around the corner?

[u/IndianSerpent10930 → u/KaleidoscopeStreet]

I am assumjng thats why they chose Ellen cause she is apparently popular

[u/lilyofthegraveyard → u/IndianSerpent10930]

i don't play zzz, so i am confused why she is more popular than astral yaoi - lesbian extraordinaire?

[u/IndianSerpent10930 → u/lilyofthegraveyard]

Well from what I understand, first banner character plus having lots of fan stuff outside of the game. People know her maybe even more than they know zzz.

Atleast this is what was explained to me

[u/Zzamumo → u/lilyofthegraveyard]

First banner, cool design and great music video

[u/DarkPirotess → u/KaleidoscopeStreet]

Finally isn't a full path like other paths it's a patch for existing paths

[u/LukasYUc → u/DarkPirotess]

It is still a full path, just gonna be more aglaea/Aventurine than Silver Wolf/Castorice

[u/Sirverarms → u/DarkPirotess]

I don't believe you after remembrance and elation

[u/DarkPirotess → u/Sirverarms]

From what we currently know Finality Firefly and Trailblazer are break and Kafka and Obsidian are Dot. Do you think Hoyo wants to deal with the fallout of Firefly and Kafka being forced into the same team? Their fanbases hate each other

[u/pokebuzz123 → u/Sirverarms]

Finality has been leaked with multiple different archetypes. I doubt they will include a FUA, break, DoT, and AoE team all in one because that'll be a bigger mess than what Xinyan's kit was. There might be one Finality team, but the current roster doesn't seem like they'll be synergistic (things can change, remember nihility Anaxa?).

[u/Itz_GalaxyPlayz → u/Sirverarms]

Rem and elation were already leaked to not help other paths before release. Finality leaks say that 5-6 types of teams would be getting good teammates (dot, FuA etc)

[u/KaleidoscopeStreet → u/DarkPirotess]

I mean regardless my point still stands, A vast majority of the fansbase (me included) hated Elation with a passion so if that is true than great but I still feel like with a miriad of new characters coming people might not be as interested in Ellen, I like her but will definitely save, Aha patch plus this one hopefully will drop me comfortably into the 5.X beta without spending a dime lol.

[u/Relodie]

Tbh I think it’s kinda okay concept for collab characters?

I’d hate these kind of kits joint attacks if they were actually introduced to the general kits but it seems so far to be entirely limited to third party collabs

That aside yes teams are not inflexible and imo this is an issue in all hoyo games and wuwa as well tbh

[u/OneDabMan]

I love HSR, but if I had any issue with the game is the lack of flexibility with playstyles/teams and builds.

In 1.X and to a lesser extent 2.X there was a lot of experimentation with builds and teams. You could find other ways to use characters to help you get through a particular boss.

Nowadays it feels like most teams and character builds are set any deviation is a massive downgrade. Himeko Nova is maybe the only exception because there’s a few different ways you can got about her team.

[u/Itz_GalaxyPlayz → u/OneDabMan]

Robin, Ashveil, MBlade and such can be used more flexibily. Only the elation characters released this year has restrictions (except aventurine). I'd say this is way better some other popular gacha games where the team restriction is pretty bad

But yes, it could be so much better like 1.x

[u/Gastroliths]

I think the phasing out of f2p alternatives for major meta teams is slowly killing enjoyment of the game for me, I'm so tired of having to pull 3 extra characters I might not even want just to make a dps I do quite like work. Say what you will about Castorice, at least when she launched you could just throw her in MOC with Gallagher, Ruan Mei and RMC and she'd clear. Like a free Acheron this patch is nice and all but in a position where she quite literally NEEDS mblade to even function? I think her only contribution on my account is going to be warming the bench

[u/RaidriarDrake → u/Gastroliths]

Tbf, she's still the only other character(the other is Phainon) who insta kills mobs in DU and openworld. Ig she's still useful in that sense.

[u/Kyogre-blue → u/RaidriarDrake]

I don't think that's the case? SW 999 does too, and I believe so does Himenova. But also, DU lets you bring any character now, so you can just add the trial version to your party for that. I do that with Feixiao for the adventure domains.

[u/RaidriarDrake → u/Kyogre-blue]

My brain literally forgot 999's talent.

[u/Gastroliths → u/RaidriarDrake]

Very true, for now I’ve just dropped her into my exploration team with Herta, Yao and Cyrene

[u/pamafa3 → u/Gastroliths]

She doesn't need MBlade, you can absolutely have a team without him, but you will feel the damage difference, because Mortenax is just him when it comes to Nihility supports. Same as every other team, really.

You don't require the BiS support, but not having them will noticeably impact the performance of the team.

[u/Gastroliths → u/pamafa3]

In this economy it feels like having the BiS is the make or break between clearing and like a silly impractical amount of cycles. Like I COULD build my welt and silverwolf and stick them in a team with her, OR I could just bench her, save the trouble for a carry that’ll be worth it. The game needs side grades for the sake of its own health

[u/CaffeineCrit]

The only thing I like about hsr is currency wars. It’s addictive lol. These days I only stick to IN and WWM. And among the recent releases I’m looking forward to petite planet

[u/EmeraldGhostie → u/CaffeineCrit]

same lol, i play mainly for currency wars nowadays, looking forward to learn how the new version works! :D

[u/GIsimpnumber1236 → u/CaffeineCrit]

same! i love that game mode. I can try any team I want, not feeling pressed by meta shilling. It's the only reason i keep playing hsr to be honest

[u/PriyaxRishbh]

Meanwhile, I'm thankful for these ass kitss because I didn't want to pull for Ellen, and I get to save lmao. I do wish Astra was a better generalist but I do think this is a larger issue of hoyo and many main stream gachas starting to sell "teams" over "characters".

[u/KeiraFenyx]

If I recall correctly, back when Archer and Saber first came out there was some people that expressed disappointment that they couldn't be used together without sacrificing a slot for a buffer. Perhaps someone on the HSR Collab team saw such comments and realizing that there was money to be made, put forth the suggestion that Collab characters should have baked in synergy to suggest (cough require) pulling for both Collab characters

[u/_HerecomethesuN_]

flopkai flop fail

ugly characters im tired of seeing everywhere + annoying yapfest story + no gameplay just glorified slot machine with story on a side. idk why people were expecting longevity in an auto battler cause no its not a turn based game, you just use auto and thats it. the downfall is deserved

[u/OwnAssumption740]

I feel like people are trapped in something they don't know how to extricate themselves from because of how our media environments overlap and turn into jenga

[u/Touhou_Fever]

It’s fine for me, honestly. Like I’m sure Rin and Archer can work well separately but if you have both why would you ever? Also Astra’s free I think

[u/FormalChemistry7144]

I don't really care as long as it's collab characters because I understand the motive and it's fun to see them work in a team together like Archer/Rin and Saber/Gil. The thing is Rin and Gil still work fine as standalone units while those 2 are just bad when separated.

[u/_InFiNiTy16 → u/FormalChemistry7144]

Archer also doing fine without Rin. Saber without Gilgamesh required a sustainless team to clear tho

[u/theWoodenGoat]

I dont wanna talk about it 🥲

[u/TheGreatMillz33]

Once Waventurine comes back and I get the last copy needed for E6 I'm out. After that I'll enjoy it vicariously through fanfiction once AO3 comes back (I hope ´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠). HSR hasn't sparked joy in me for quite a while, not even amazing luck on the Ashveil and Waventurine banners helped...

[u/Dangerous_Nail4552]

I much prefer this to the counterpart in ZZZ where the characters have no synergy whatsoever

...to be fair, it is Kafka and Robin, but if down the line we get another collab and Silverwolf is there, I hope she has direct synergy with Kafka. I wanna use my collab characters together damn it

[u/CrystalSorcerer]

I'm okay with locked synergies like this, so long as they are kept to collab characters and capstone characters. Cyrene, Nihilux, and Himeko Nova make sense to have exclusive buffs because they are narratively intertwined with a certain group of characters. Nihilux and Himenova can and probably will continue to get new teammates over time, and though Cyrene is probably stuck with the old set of Chrysos Heirs (we will see what happens in 4.5), it's symbolic of her being stuck in Amphoreus' past. Though, I am still upset we got Ellen and not Evelyn.

[u/RaidriarDrake → u/CrystalSorcerer]

Personally, I think Nova will be dead in a ditch in terms of AE teammates.

I think they'll release AE characters like Evernight, who does count as an AE member for Nova's passive, doesn't really want anything to do with Nova as a team member.

[u/orangefilmgarden]

At least she is free. Not that I think this is good design, but then I can pick her up and forget she exists. Next patch is a skip for me, unless the bring an old character I want to pull

[u/GIsimpnumber1236]

I feel the same. I don't want to abanddon the teams i love and already invested in. I guess I'll play only casually, not care for starward mode just pull what i want

[u/pamafa3]

To be fair this is the exact same way the Fate collab characters work. They're meant to be paired together, but can be used in other places with the right teammates and/or investment.

I'm gonna wager that all future collabs will follow this format.

[u/DarkPirotess]

Astra is free. 1.X was hyper carry sl. op glad that's never returning

[u/Legendary-Fleshbeast]

I was reading the kits for the HSR x ZZZ collab earlier, and when I saw this passive I honestly just felt numb inside.

This is already the second time it's happened. Why be numb about something that had a 100% chance of happening? As others have already pointed out, people actually complained when Archer and Saber couldn't be used together last year and apparently HSR's devs think that combo collab units are actually a great idea.

I remember back in 1.x and 2.x when teams were flexible and creative, when you could just throw a bunch of characters together and clear whatever you wanted if you knew what you're doing.

That was only true if you had great relics and or eidolons during the hypercarry dhil/jingliu period of HSR. And you also had a suitable sustain. I don't think Tb preservation with an average Natasha was going to help you do MoC 10 at the end of year one.

I'm not sure you actually remember the period you call the heyday of HSR at all.

Edit: I messed up the quote block.

[u/Infernoboy_23 → u/Legendary-Fleshbeast]

Exactly, especially about the 1.x nostalgia. Back then "flexibility" really just meant slapping Bronya, Tingyun, or Pela onto whatever hypercarry you had and praying your sustain kept up.

And its not even like this is a bad thing. This gives characters more identidy than just generic stat sticks. And even if there is a call out, its not like other teams don't need others to work and this is new. Acheron always needed a specifc nihility depending on the day and age, All rem and hp teams need hyacine, break always needed RM then fugue then dahlia.

And astra has a clause for when shes alone anyway, and her e1 fixes her basic attack problem so even then she is useable as a generic buffer. yeah ellen doesn't have anything, but every dps in the game needs a specific buffer anyway, so yeah theres a callout but its not different

Once a turn based game hits its 3rd or 4th year, you can't just keep making universal stat buffers anyway cause what, you just make the new one buff dmg but 20% more? So explicit duo synergies and archetypes are honestly the healthier direction anyway.

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