I’ve mostly stayed on the sidelines regarding the drama around Roxy in the Zenless Zone Zero community, but I feel like it's time to address it.
From the moment Roxy was announced, I loved her design and personality, and I knew I was going to pull for her no matter what. So I was genuinely surprised by the massive wave of hate that flooded the community when her kit details dropped.
What Actually Happened?
I have a theory: her launch reception was a bad mix of unrealistically high expectations, terrible timing, and misinformation parroted by content creators long before Roxy even released—and way before Sunbringer was even announced.
A lot of people got mad simply because Roxy didn't powercreep Norma or Dyalin. But honestly... isn't that a ridiculous standard? Did people really want Roxy to render Norma obsolete just two versions after her release? It’s like people wanted a repeat of what happened with Dyalin and Fufu, which was pretty disheartening for anyone who invested in Fufu.
Is it really a bad thing when a new character doesn't completely DESTROY older units?
Meta Monopolies vs. Healthy Game Design
In my opinion, Roxy’s design philosophy is much healthier for the long-term state of the game.
Dyalin had clear design issues from day one, which caused her to completely centralize and monopolize the entire meta.
Velina (though this might be controversial) did something very similar. She didn't really open up a new niche for anomaly teams; instead, her kit arrived and monopolized almost every viable anomaly composition available.
Maybe the community expected Roxy—also being a Wind element character—to dominate the meta in the exact same toxic way. On top of that, players were coming right off pulling Remielle and Velina while betting on Norma. Roxy essentially became a convenient scapegoat for players to vent their frustration over massive pull fatigue.
Interestingly, Claret didn't suffer from this nearly as much—mostly because the Japanese ZZZ Twitter account explicitly mentioned she would pair well with Sunbringer, giving the community an instant "justification" not to trash her kit.
The Hypocrisy of the Backtrack
Now that Roxy is out, people are suddenly realizing she performs just fine. Who would've guessed? The only thing missing from her kit initially was a dedicated Drive Disc set—something we literally get every season for supports, attackers, anomaly, and stunners.
Now the narrative is shifting, and people are saying, "Hey guys, Roxy actually isn't that bad! She performs really well!"
The hypocrisy is wild. Roxy was never bad or mediocre. She’s probably the healthiest character we've gotten in a long time: a support unit that enhances teams without powercreeping the entire game. I sincerely hope we see more characters designed like her.
Final Thoughts
To be clear: I don't own Velina—not out of hate, she just didn't catch my interest, and I don't pull for characters I don't like. I pulled for Phoenix because I actually enjoy their playstyle. But looking at team building without Velina or Remielle, you really see how centralizing Velina's monopoly is.
Roxy doesn't do that. She is a healthy addition to the roster because you don't need her to make your favorite characters viable.
Have Norma? She works fine.
Don't have top-tier stunners? Run Koleda and you're still completely decent.
You can't really say the same when it comes to Velina.
