Honkai: Star Rail - General Discussion

[digisoulwings]

*shakes my screen* I just want the game to be on PS4 so I can play more. It kills my phone and I don't have enough space to update it, so I haven't played forever. Also I don't have a PS5, or a decent PC because I'm poor.

Edited October 23, 2023 by digisoulwings

[Milktastrophe]

 

This is the 80th pull, I was crushed when Bronya popped up since I won't be able to make it to pity again (but I do want Bronya). But to my surprise I got the fabled back-to-back 5 stars! Never had this luck in Genshin.

[smudgedhorizon]

8 hours ago, Milktastrophe said:

 

This is the 80th pull, I was crushed when Bronya popped up since I won't be able to make it to pity again (but I do want Bronya). But to my surprise I got the fabled back-to-back 5 stars! Never had this luck in Genshin.

Omg congrats!!!!!! What an amazing pull! I’m disgustingly jealous 😂

[HelixNebula_x]

On 10/19/2023 at 3:58 AM, Milktastrophe said:

Oh I didn't realize Return to Darkness was on the battle pass. I thought I had it but must've confused it for something else.

 

Several weeks vs gear you'll surely have in the first few days of playing sure is a hard sell though.

 

Edit: possibly another argument for getting the rail passes instead of that you'll probably get a 3 star light cones which gives you embers that you can save up for special rail passes which you can use to try to pull the featured character.

 

I've only been playing since PS5 release, but I have to weigh in on this as I think you're looking at this from completely the wrong perspective.

 

It's a guaranteed 5 star light cone for the cost of 4 wishes. You don't hit soft pity on the LC banner until 65ish wishes. Also, the passes from Herta's shop are Standard banner only so they're not even all that valuable. You're guaranteed more standard wishes than that from the free battle pass.

 

Please just do yourself a solid, and buy at least Aeon and Stellar Sea. Or just one of them and work to S5 overtime. They're guaranteed, useful on a few characters and free. I'm failing to see the argument for the other side here.

Edited October 26, 2023 by HelixNebula_x

[Milktastrophe]

8 hours ago, HelixNebula_x said:

 

I've only been playing since PS5 release, but I have to weigh in on this as I think you're looking at this from completely the wrong perspective.

 

It's a guaranteed 5 star light cone for the cost of 4 wishes. You don't hit soft pity on the LC banner until 65ish wishes. Also, the passes from Herta's shop are Standard banner only so they're not even all that valuable. You're guaranteed more standard wishes than that from the free battle pass.

 

Please just do yourself a solid, and buy at least Aeon and Stellar Sea. Or just one of them and work to S5 overtime. They're guaranteed, useful on a few characters and free. I'm failing to see the argument for the other side here.

They're 5 star sure, but the bonus abilities aren't that good compared to common 4 stars that you'll probably get within the first few days of playing from all the free passes new players get (so not strictly necessary). Also you seem to misunderstand the benefit from more standard rail passes. You'll either pull something good or you'll get embers which can be exchanged for special rail passes which you can use to try for the featured character. The featured characters will always be better than these light cones.

[OutcastGuy50]

Does any have alot of game freezing on the PS5 or does the online games causes more game freezing then single player game? 

[Darghel]

I've been playing the game since launch, with breaks here between this and more GoT Legends - which made me try Genshin Impact once more - and as much as I wish to say "this game is better", the truth is that they're drastically different: once is a smaller scaled, turn-based rpg, while the other is an open world action rpg. 

 

Still, I really enjoyed my time so far with HSR: not just the gameplay which, I wanna be honest, I missed some fun turn-based jrpgs that isn't an indie or small game. But there are also other features that really made me enjoy this game a lot more than I thought: for instance, the UI is much more simplistic and, to me, felt easier to navigate, with everything at your disposal right away - no need to wait X day to get your items - and you can teleport freely anywhere to the place, which Genshin does but not exactly the same. 

 

And it might be me, but I really like how the game is...somewhat generous with their "Primogems", or maybe I'm just very stingy, but I'm sitting at 4000+ jades and the game rewards them in somewhat big quantities - at least for now, I'm sure it'll get lower with time. It also helps that I have 240 "resins" and that, if I take a break, it saves up for future expenses, which is something that I didn't expect and doesn't punish me for not playing. I like that, because I tend to take breaks to play other games. Meanwhile, in Genshin I felt like I wasted a lot of potential time and resources if I didn't do it...

 

And I really enjoy the combat, which is something that I constantly avoid in Genshin: sure it's turn-based but it's so snappy, and quick - even without fast forward - and the elements are only required in order to break barriers, which is a pretty good system that allows you to test with different characters.

 

And it might be me again but, I think the game also lets you test characters much quicker, and most combos can be valid. In Genshin I've got about 14-15 characters - all free rolls FYI - and I cannot use them as it requires a LOT of resources and money, which doesn't assure me that it will function either way. Like, I have Qiqi as my ice character, and she's my main support, I don't have another healer besides Barbara, so I don't have any chance to replace her unless I want to be less effective. Same for my Razor DPS: I don't have any good DPS character, and unless I'd roll a 5-star dps like Diluc, I'm not sure it's worth spending resources. 

 

In HSR, I have about 10 characters (two 5 stars as well, which I don't even have in Genshin, except for Aloy?) and I can easily get them up in a few minutes without much hassle, and even if it does consume resources, with the right gear and everything they're still doable. Heck, I managed to defeat enemies 5+ levels higher than my team - not without struggle, but it's plenty doable. Can't do that in Genshin unless I spend millions of mora...

 

TL;DR, I think HSR is more immediate, it allows you to play with everything and everyone much quicker, and it does reward you enough to keep trying. Didn't feel the same with GI. But that's just me.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Darghel
Some corrections

[Salt_AU]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:44 PM, Milktastrophe said:

 

This is the 80th pull, I was crushed when Bronya popped up since I won't be able to make it to pity again (but I do want Bronya). But to my surprise I got the fabled back-to-back 5 stars! Never had this luck in Genshin.

 

Two green unicorn thingies! Congrats!

 

Seriously though, well done. I remember getting two 5 star Hu Tao's in Genshin, it's a nice feeling.

7 hours ago, OutcastGuy50 said:

Does any have alot of game freezing on the PS5 or does the online games causes more game freezing then single player game? 

 

100 hours in Star Rail on the PS5 I have not had one issue at all. No freezes, crashes, nothing.

[HelixNebula_x]

14 hours ago, Milktastrophe said:

They're 5 star sure, but the bonus abilities aren't that good compared to common 4 stars that you'll probably get within the first few days of playing from all the free passes new players get (so not strictly necessary). Also you seem to misunderstand the benefit from more standard rail passes. You'll either pull something good or you'll get embers which can be exchanged for special rail passes which you can use to try for the featured character. The featured characters will always be better than these light cones.

 

It's 4 wishes... The amount of embers you'd get from that is negligible, especially considering that after the initial SU rewards, you're looking at 1 wish every 2 weeks from the guaranteed Herta Tokens (at least to my knowledge, I haven't unlocked Swarm Disaster or any of that yet). Even if you don't think the effects are as good as some of the 4 star LC's, they're still bigger stat sticks regardless. A 5 star LC is always going to provide more value in terms of it's raw stats than a 4 star, especially is they're both only at Superimposition 1 where the additional effects are less noticeable.

 

Also taking into account that a Herta LC can be raised to S5 for free over time, for the grand total cost of an additional 2 wishes.

 

Of course, if you'd rather have the Star Rail passes, then for sure go for them. I'm just weighing in the opposite side, as I really do think that getting the LC's from Herta's shop is worth more in the long run as even if you get all 4 of them to S5, you're still only looking at a potential 24 wishes you could have had instead. But yeah, characters are always going to be more valuable in the long run at the end of the day.

[RevengeancePrime]

14 hours ago, OutcastGuy50 said:

Does any have alot of game freezing on the PS5 or does the online games causes more game freezing then single player game? 

I only experienced one crash during Swarm Disaster V while on the nihility path. You end up putting so many numbers on the screen and the PS5 can't handle it. Aside from that, I have over 100 hours and no other notable issues.

 

13 hours ago, Darghel said:

TL;DR, I think HSR is more immediate, it allows you to play with everything and everyone much quicker, and it does reward you enough to keep trying. Didn't feel the same with GI. But that's just me.

You're still in the early game from the sound of it. I'm still resource starved and that's despite buying two battle passes since I started my new account right before the PS5 launch. HSR wants you to have a more fleshed out roster because of how important a full team is. Genshin doesn't need you to have an effective team until further in.

 

I think you should spend some more time with Genshin. There are plenty of rolls and resources you can get from all of the exploration you have yet to complete (I'm assuming you haven't made it very far considering you're only mentioning characters from the launch roster and the standard banner at that). The combat can be a lot of fun when you're playing it as intended and taking advantage of all the elemental reactions. It's what's kept me playing daily since launch because I can't say the same for the story, which is just too tedious and long winded half the time. Furina (hydro archon) is releasing soon and she'll make for a great unit if you do come back and put some time in to build up the rolls needed to guarantee her.

 

I do agree with you though that I'm finding the HSR experience a lot more enjoyable than Genshin overall. Story doesn't drag needlessly as often, gameplay is more challenging with a far more fun endgame and there are a lot of QoL improvements that Genshin is missing even after being out for years now.

 

47 minutes ago, HelixNebula_x said:

 

It's 4 wishes... The amount of embers you'd get from that is negligible, especially considering that after the initial SU rewards, you're looking at 1 wish every 2 weeks from the guaranteed Herta Tokens (at least to my knowledge, I haven't unlocked Swarm Disaster or any of that yet). Even if you don't think the effects are as good as some of the 4 star LC's, they're still bigger stat sticks regardless. A 5 star LC is always going to provide more value in terms of it's raw stats than a 4 star, especially is they're both only at Superimposition 1 where the additional effects are less noticeable.

 

Also taking into account that a Herta LC can be raised to S5 for free over time, for the grand total cost of an additional 2 wishes.

 

Of course, if you'd rather have the Star Rail passes, then for sure go for them. I'm just weighing in the opposite side, as I really do think that getting the LC's from Herta's shop is worth more in the long run as even if you get all 4 of them to S5, you're still only looking at a potential 24 wishes you could have had instead. But yeah, characters are always going to be more valuable in the long run at the end of the day.

 

Agreed. You're just hindering yourself neglecting these LCs for some extra rolls. For example, Fall of an Aeon S5 is Jingliu's best f2p option. Then again those LCs won't give you the dopamine hit that you'll get from potentially pulling a 5 star with one of those extra rolls lol

[Darghel]

14 minutes ago, RevengeancePrime said:

You're still in the early game from the sound of it. I'm still resource starved and that's despite buying two battle passes since I started my new account right before the PS5 launch. HSR wants you to have a more fleshed out roster because of how important a full team is. Genshin doesn't need you to have an effective team until further in.

 

I think you should spend some more time with Genshin. There are plenty of rolls and resources you can get from all of the exploration you have yet to complete (I'm assuming you haven't made it very far considering you're only mentioning characters from the launch roster and the standard banner at that). The combat can be a lot of fun when you're playing it as intended and taking advantage of all the elemental reactions. It's what's kept me playing daily since launch because I can't say the same for the story, which is just too tedious and long winded half the time. Furina (hydro archon) is releasing soon and she'll make for a great unit if you do come back and put some time in to build up the rolls needed to guarantee her.

 

I do agree with you though that I'm finding the HSR experience a lot more enjoyable than Genshin overall. Story doesn't drag needlessly as often, gameplay is more challenging with a far more fun endgame and there are a lot of QoL improvements that Genshin is missing even after being out for years now.

 I don't know now: I'm at equilibrium 2 and so far I didn't struggle much, already got 2 of my characters to 50 (which is the max until Equilibrium 3) and I'm thinking what to max next so that I'm ready. Even then, I can still use any 40 or even 35 characters just fine, since their tools are often what matters the most. Bear in mind that I'm only 40 hours in (according to ps5 timer), and I reached the...uh the megaship after Jarilo-VI, but I spend a lot of time doing side content so I don't mind, since I love the combat a lot.

 

As for Genshin, I have played a lot more for sure, I think im at around 100+ hours (Times are split between ps4 and ps5) and I think I'm at World Level 3 (almost 4, literally missing one level) but the rolls aren't the problem: I have about 14-15 characters from the rolls so I'm clearly not having an issue with that. The problem is that I cannot use them: gearing them up, levelling them up, giving them a weapon that doesn't suck, giving them relics that also don't suck, and then upgrading them, can take so much that I'm just not bothered, especially when I'm not sure said character will be a good replacement I already struggled to bring one character to 60, my ONLY good dps character, and I can't replace him as I don't really have another good dps option. And then another who's my support - my only 5 star character in the game, excluding Aloy - and 2 others who are there mostly for healing or more support. 

 

My issue with GI though is that, combat is too simplistic and can be boring at times and, besides the obvious elemental reaction, characters fight the same way: all claymores will fight the same, all bow users fight the same, and so on. Only difference is their tool kit, which can be fun I guess, but with how difficult it is to level up - and to find a weapon, as I only got few and even crafted ones aren't that great - I'm practically forced to not change my group. I've been using the same 4 characters since 2020 - Razor (probably the only good dps I've got so far), Amber (cause legendary bow, otherwise I'd change her), Qiqi (my only 5 star character, and also legendary sword) and Barbara (support thanks to her 48% dps boost while switching) - and I legitimately don't know what I can change, without risking spending too much. It's just not worth the risk until I have enough resources. I just can't afford to risk it.

 

This never happened to me so far in HSR, maybe it will eventually, but I feel like I can actively use my characters better, maybe because it's 4 characters used all at once vs 1 character only. This is why I avoid fighting in Genshin whenever I can: it's just not fun to do the same combos so that I can be effective enough. In HSR I can switch around and test if they work without risking too much - for now - and that's what made me enjoy it far more than I thought. 

 

At least I love the exploration in Genshin Impact, so even if I avoid combat I can still run around and exploring at my leisure. Can't ask for everything I guess.

[OutcastGuy50]

Not sure what the causes of so many games freezes on the PS5 do I have so many games install on the console.50 game freezing so far they are all ps5 games including this game.In this game I play for 40 hours.I already reset my PS5 using option 7 in safe mode.

[RevengeancePrime]

1 hour ago, Darghel said:

 I don't know now: I'm at equilibrium 2 and so far I didn't struggle much, already got 2 of my characters to 50 (which is the max until Equilibrium 3) and I'm thinking what to max next so that I'm ready. Even then, I can still use any 40 or even 35 characters just fine, since their tools are often what matters the most. Bear in mind that I'm only 40 hours in (according to ps5 timer), and I reached the...uh the megaship after Jarilo-VI, but I spend a lot of time doing side content so I don't mind, since I love the combat a lot.

 

As for Genshin, I have played a lot more for sure, I think im at around 100+ hours (Times are split between ps4 and ps5) and I think I'm at World Level 3 (almost 4, literally missing one level) but the rolls aren't the problem: I have about 14-15 characters from the rolls so I'm clearly not having an issue with that. The problem is that I cannot use them: gearing them up, levelling them up, giving them a weapon that doesn't suck, giving them relics that also don't suck, and then upgrading them, can take so much that I'm just not bothered, especially when I'm not sure said character will be a good replacement I already struggled to bring one character to 60, my ONLY good dps character, and I can't replace him as I don't really have another good dps option. And then another who's my support - my only 5 star character in the game, excluding Aloy - and 2 others who are there mostly for healing or more support. 

 

My issue with GI though is that, combat is too simplistic and can be boring at times and, besides the obvious elemental reaction, characters fight the same way: all claymores will fight the same, all bow users fight the same, and so on. Only difference is their tool kit, which can be fun I guess, but with how difficult it is to level up - and to find a weapon, as I only got few and even crafted ones aren't that great - I'm practically forced to not change my group. I've been using the same 4 characters since 2020 - Razor (probably the only good dps I've got so far), Amber (cause legendary bow, otherwise I'd change her), Qiqi (my only 5 star character, and also legendary sword) and Barbara (support thanks to her 48% dps boost while switching) - and I legitimately don't know what I can change, without risking spending too much. It's just not worth the risk until I have enough resources. I just can't afford to risk it.

 

This never happened to me so far in HSR, maybe it will eventually, but I feel like I can actively use my characters better, maybe because it's 4 characters used all at once vs 1 character only. This is why I avoid fighting in Genshin whenever I can: it's just not fun to do the same combos so that I can be effective enough. In HSR I can switch around and test if they work without risking too much - for now - and that's what made me enjoy it far more than I thought. 

 

At least I love the exploration in Genshin Impact, so even if I avoid combat I can still run around and exploring at my leisure. Can't ask for everything I guess.

Yeah you're still in the early game for both games. With HSR it'll become more challenging when you get to content like MoC, Swarm Disaster and the later stages of SU. Right now you're at a point where you can just throw anything together and progress. Late game gearing is actually more frustrating in HSR because you need to farm for 6 relics that's split between 4 and 2 pieces generally whereas with Genshin you only need 5 pieces with one being an off piece.

 

As for Genshin it sounds like you're taking it very slow since you've been playing from launch and are still at world level 3 with base characters. The best thing you can do to help you improve is to look up some guides, there are plenty that will go in depth about which characters to use, give you effective builds to work towards and help you determine the best team synergies. Characters generally seem to play the same to you because you're playing the base characters that almost nobody has used past the first year the game came out. They're simple in design and weak in comparison to almost every unit that released after. Another way to get an idea of how to have more fun with the combat is to watch some videos of high level spiral abyss play.

 

Also make sure you're rolling the limited banners for characters in both Genshin and HSR, not the standard banner aside from the rolls you get to use for free on that. I'm just assuming from how you mentioned only characters like QiQi and Diluc, so just wanted to make sure you weren't wasting you premium currency.

 

 

[Darghel]

55 minutes ago, RevengeancePrime said:

Yeah you're still in the early game for both games. With HSR it'll become more challenging when you get to content like MoC, Swarm Disaster and the later stages of SU. Right now you're at a point where you can just throw anything together and progress. Late game gearing is actually more frustrating in HSR because you need to farm for 6 relics that's split between 4 and 2 pieces generally whereas with Genshin you only need 5 pieces with one being an off piece.

 

As for Genshin it sounds like you're taking it very slow since you've been playing from launch and are still at world level 3 with base characters. The best thing you can do to help you improve is to look up some guides, there are plenty that will go in depth about which characters to use, give you effective builds to work towards and help you determine the best team synergies. Characters generally seem to play the same to you because you're playing the base characters that almost nobody has used past the first year the game came out. They're simple in design and weak in comparison to almost every unit that released after. Another way to get an idea of how to have more fun with the combat is to watch some videos of high level spiral abyss play.

 

Also make sure you're rolling the limited banners for characters in both Genshin and HSR, not the standard banner aside from the rolls you get to use for free on that. I'm just assuming from how you mentioned only characters like QiQi and Diluc, so just wanted to make sure you weren't wasting you premium currency.

 

 

I mean, yeah, late game is considered and generally much harder and frustrating to do, I've played mmorpgs before where I had to grind probably 10 times that amount (FFXIV Pre-nerf Atma relic comes to mind. Also Eureka comes to mind but I wasn't insane enough to do it). But I'm not at endgame: I'm not supposed to struggle at early game, which is what I'm experiencing with Genshin right now, because all of my characters aren't that powerful, and because of how expensive and time consuming it is, I'm not allowed to to experiment, so much so that I'm wishing I had some good dps character so I could replace my main dps, or something like that, because fighting a bunch of enemies in Genshin takes forever to me, or just 1 minute too long for my own tastes.

This didn't happen in HSR, and sure I'm aware it'll get harder, and if it gets hard at late game, so be it, but that's gonna take a quite a few hours before and hey, at least I can say "I had fun". 

In Genshin I have the most fun when I don't fight, which is the one activity I avoid the most. But eventually I should get back and deal with it. Not looking forward, but if I want the platinum, it's a sacrifice I must do. I'm just glad the exploration is fun to keep me interested...

 

As for banners and whatnot, I had 2x10 rolls with the amount of saved primogems I had. Only weapons. Only one legendary. Rest is just blues. I forgot to say that I'm extremely unlucky when it comes to rng. I'm surprised I even got a good weapon out of it.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Darghel

[the1andonly654]

Quick question, how important is it to get high tier characters/cones, optimize my team etc., if I want to get all the trophies? 

I've started playing recently, using the earliest characters I got, at lvls 30-40 at the moment and it feels like I need to commit to either those characters or to building a better team from scratch. 

 

Basically what I'm asking is whether 100% is attainable by just playing with the characters I like and levelling them/cones/gear, or will I hit a wall at some point playing like that and I'll be forced to optimize anyway. 

 

[RavenScythe]

14 minutes ago, the1andonly654 said:

Quick question, how important is it to get high tier characters/cones, optimize my team etc., if I want to get all the trophies? 

I've started playing recently, using the earliest characters I got, at lvls 30-40 at the moment and it feels like I need to commit to either those characters or to building a better team from scratch. 

 

Basically what I'm asking is whether 100% is attainable by just playing with the characters I like and levelling them/cones/gear, or will I hit a wall at some point playing like that and I'll be forced to optimize anyway. 

 

You can get the platinum without committing much to obtaining high-end Relics and Cones and just staying F2P. I've obtained most trophies and I just started 2 weeks ago, I only need to reach Trailblazer level 65 now which is still quite far off (I'm currently at 50). I've been using Jingliu, Bronya, Natasha and Gepard (yeah I got lucky with my pulls) and they pretty much carried me to obtain most trophies.

 

Not really needed for the platinum but the hardest part of getting 100% completion on this game is with the expansion/DLC. The Swarm Disaster is very challenging and that is where you will need to optimize your characters.

Edited October 27, 2023 by RavenScythe

[RevengeancePrime]

22 minutes ago, Darghel said:

I mean, yeah, late game is considered and generally much harder and frustrating to do, I've played mmorpgs before where I had to grind probably 12 times that amount (FFXIV Pre-nerf Atma relic comes to mind). But I'm not at endgame: I'm not supposed to struggle at early game, which is what I'm experiencing with Genshin right now, because all of my characters aren't that powerful, and because of how expensive and time consuming it is, I'm not allowed to to experiment, so much so that I'm wishing I had some good dps character so I could replace my main dps, or something like that, because fighting a bunch of enemies in Genshin takes forever to me, or just 1 minute too long for my own tastes.

This didn't happen in HSR, and sure I'm aware it'll get harder, and if it gets hard at late game, so be it, but that's gonna take a quite a few hours before and hey, at least I can say "I had fun". 

In Genshin I have the most fun when I don't fight, which is the one activity I avoid the most. But eventually I should get back and deal with it. Not looking forward, but if I want the platinum, it's a sacrifice I must do. I'm just glad the exploration is fun to keep me interested...

 

As for banners and whatnot, I had 2x10 rolls with the amount of saved primogems I had. Only weapons. Only one legendary. Rest is just blues. I forgot to say that I'm extremely unlucky when it comes to rng. I'm surprised I even got a good weapon out of it.

You get a guaranteed 4 star every 10 pulls. Make sure you pull the limited banner where you see it's only available for a number of days, not the weapon or standard banner. Those characters are far better and more fun and you should be able to guarantee yourself a few of them just by progressing through the game and exploring. You get to even try them out with the trials. I recommended to watch some guides because you'll have a better understanding of how the combat works. Reactions will speed up the time it takes you to finish fights tremendously. For example, I can clear random mobs within a couple of seconds off of a single reaction on the highest world level. These are just my suggestions to hopefully help you enjoy the game more since you're intent on continuing it.

 

18 minutes ago, the1andonly654 said:

Quick question, how important is it to get high tier characters/cones, optimize my team etc., if I want to get all the trophies? 

I've started playing recently, using the earliest characters I got, at lvls 30-40 at the moment and it feels like I need to commit to either those characters or to building a better team from scratch. 

 

Basically what I'm asking is whether 100% is attainable by just playing with the characters I like and levelling them/cones/gear, or will I hit a wall at some point playing like that and I'll be forced to optimize anyway. 

 

It'll be important for the one trophy dealing with Swarm Disaster since those higher tiers can be challenging if your team is not geared properly. You can probably get away with levelling the characters you're currently using and farming better gear for them later. I assume you're investing in characters like the MC and March 7th, which are still effective in this mode. It's not a mode you should focus until late game anyways. You can even switch to other characters if you want because 30-40 is still pretty low investment, so you won't be wasting very many resources jumping over to another character.

 

Now of course we could get future trophies that could make things more challenging eventually, so it's probably best to spend some time optimizing now to save yourself the trouble later.

Edited October 27, 2023 by RevengeancePrime

[OutcastGuy50]

Does anyone having issues with trophies or should avoid this feature and ignore trophies in this game myself.

[the1andonly654]

11 hours ago, RevengeancePrime said:

It'll be important for the one trophy dealing with Swarm Disaster since those higher tiers can be challenging if your team is not geared properly. You can probably get away with levelling the characters you're currently using and farming better gear for them later. I assume you're investing in characters like the MC and March 7th, which are still effective in this mode. It's not a mode you should focus until late game anyways. You can even switch to other characters if you want because 30-40 is still pretty low investment, so you won't be wasting very many resources jumping over to another character.

 

Now of course we could get future trophies that could make things more challenging eventually, so it's probably best to spend some time optimizing now to save yourself the trouble later.

Yeah, I was using the trailblazer, March, Den Heng and Serval. Then got my ass handed to me by Cocolia, turns out shielding isn't a replacement for healing haha. Switched out Den Heng for Bailu and it went smooth. What I was worried about was sinking all my xp resources into the wrong characters and being stuck farming them for days. I'm just gonna level up whatever character type I need but didn't already level up whenever I need them and hope for the best I guess. Gives me options to tackle different battle conditions at least. 

11 hours ago, RavenScythe said:

You can get the platinum without committing much to obtaining high-end Relics and Cones and just staying F2P. I've obtained most trophies and I just started 2 weeks ago, I only need to reach Trailblazer level 65 now which is still quite far off (I'm currently at 50). I've been using Jingliu, Bronya, Natasha and Gepard (yeah I got lucky with my pulls) and they pretty much carried me to obtain most trophies.

 

Not really needed for the platinum but the hardest part of getting 100% completion on this game is with the expansion/DLC. The Swarm Disaster is very challenging and that is where you will need to optimize your characters.

Up until the last minutes I tried to get Jingliu, left me broke and Jingliu-less, so I'm not so lucky. I don't really care all that much about 100%, mostly the plat and whatever I can do or feel like doing in the current or future expansions. 

 

 

[OutcastGuy50]

Very nice advice on using March 7 but her shield protect one party at a time and using the main character.Not sure I'm leveling up to much.Best light cone for everyone.

[cybershark91]

Got lucky in the beginning and got Gepard. He helps a lot with is ulti shield for the whole team. Him together with Nathasha increased my survival rate a lot.  So far I realy like Honkai Star Rail. I prefer this classical turn based combat system over genshin. 

Edited October 29, 2023 by cybershark91

[viech54]

I'm considering trying out this game. How good/bad is artifact RNG compared to Genshin? Does it even exist? Is there anything similar? Or, more like, how does gearing characters work in Honkai in the first place?

That's coming from someone who does all sorts of content, such as Spiral Abyss in Genshin, so I'd need at least decent artifacts/gear in Honkai if there's challenging content.

 

Also, this game will get frequent updates. Right? So I'm not just playing it once, then move on. I'd need to keep playing for future content/trophies. Not sure I have the time for another game like that.

Edited November 2, 2023 by viech54

[smudgedhorizon]

5 hours ago, viech54 said:

I'm considering trying out this game. How good/bad is artifact RNG compared to Genshin? Does it even exist? Is there anything similar? Or, more like, how does gearing characters work in Honkai in the first place?

That's coming from someone who does all sorts of content, such as Spiral Abyss in Genshin, so I'd need at least decent artifacts/gear in Honkai if there's challenging content.

 

Also, this game will get frequent updates. Right? So I'm not just playing it once, then move on. I'd need to keep playing for future content/trophies. Not sure I have the time for another game like that.

Ok first, apologies for the essay! 

They’re called relics in this game, it works pretty much the same way as Genshin. 4 piece sets for relics (body, head, feet, gloves) then 2 piece ornament sets. You can wear any combination you like but sets have a 2 pc & 4pc bonus skill. Certain quests give you relics as rewards but mostly you have caverns you spend 40 stamina on per run that drop 2 types of relics as rewards, it’s RNG what you get. You level the good ones up & every 3 levels it puts points into a random substat. You can salvage bad ones and then craft new specific relics you want with them (eg. Fire boots), with completely random stats. You also get an item called Self Modelling Resin as rewards for events etc which you can use to choose exactly which relic piece AND which main stat you want to craft (I save mine up for making speed boots or energy regen ropes.) Every patch the game has also been running mini events where the caverns give double drops. You can salvage rubbish ones to get crafting pieces to make new relics or feed them into other relics as XP material.

 

Hard end game content is Simulated Universe, Swarm Disaster (awesome rogue like game modes) & Memories or Chaos (spiral abyss equivalent) you don’t need perfect relics for any of it but you do need good team combinations. (Imo it’s a lot more strategic than Genshin due to the turn based combat)

 

The game has a new patch approximately every 40 days, where it adds (as well the expected 2 new 5* characters & a new 4* character banners) but also new areas, new story, new side quests, new events, new relic sets etc. obviously it’s very new into the game on version 1.4. It’s building up to a big new update and whole new planet, the last couple of patches have been smaller.
 

On the whole it’s not huge or time consuming like Genshin though, because it’s not open world. For example new areas have like 10-15 chests to find, they have multiple fast travel points & logging in doing all the daily quests takes <5 minutes a day. Using up all your day’s stamina is also v quick & you can run battles at 2x speed & there is also an auto battle function where the game auto battles using your team which is even faster if you want to use that. 

Edited November 2, 2023 by smudgedhorizon

[RevengeancePrime]

6 hours ago, viech54 said:

I'm considering trying out this game. How good/bad is artifact RNG compared to Genshin? Does it even exist? Is there anything similar? Or, more like, how does gearing characters work in Honkai in the first place?

That's coming from someone who does all sorts of content, such as Spiral Abyss in Genshin, so I'd need at least decent artifacts/gear in Honkai if there's challenging content.

 

Also, this game will get frequent updates. Right? So I'm not just playing it once, then move on. I'd need to keep playing for future content/trophies. Not sure I have the time for another game like that.

Genshin is better when it comes to the RNG because you have less stats to worry about. With HSR you have to worry about things like hitting certain speed breakpoints or effect hit rate on top of ensuring you have good damage stats depending on the character. You also don't have any off pieces (4/2 or 2/2/2), but this is very slightly remedied with self-modeling resin that lets you choose your main stat on one piece. Keep in mind, this is generally more important for optimization rather than clearing content for now.

 

On the other hand, HSR makes it much easier to farm materials for characters since you can immediately respawn bosses and you don't need to run all over the world to farm materials. There also aren't any daily material rotations to worry about so you can farm whatever you want. I was able to clear MoC 10 and Swarm Disaster V after about 2 months of playing daily (started right at the end of the Kafka banner) with okay builds, so it's not that challenging at the moment.

 

Yes the game will get frequent updates just like Genshin, so it's not ending anytime soon. 

[viech54]

18 hours ago, smudgedhorizon said:

Ok first, apologies for the essay! 

They’re called relics in this game, it works pretty much the same way as Genshin. 4 piece sets for relics (body, head, feet, gloves) then 2 piece ornament sets. You can wear any combination you like but sets have a 2 pc & 4pc bonus skill. Certain quests give you relics as rewards but mostly you have caverns you spend 40 stamina on per run that drop 2 types of relics as rewards, it’s RNG what you get. You level the good ones up & every 3 levels it puts points into a random substat. You can salvage bad ones and then craft new specific relics you want with them (eg. Fire boots), with completely random stats. You also get an item called Self Modelling Resin as rewards for events etc which you can use to choose exactly which relic piece AND which main stat you want to craft (I save mine up for making speed boots or energy regen ropes.) Every patch the game has also been running mini events where the caverns give double drops. You can salvage rubbish ones to get crafting pieces to make new relics or feed them into other relics as XP material.

 

Hard end game content is Simulated Universe, Swarm Disaster (awesome rogue like game modes) & Memories or Chaos (spiral abyss equivalent) you don’t need perfect relics for any of it but you do need good team combinations. (Imo it’s a lot more strategic than Genshin due to the turn based combat)

 

The game has a new patch approximately every 40 days, where it adds (as well the expected 2 new 5* characters & a new 4* character banners) but also new areas, new story, new side quests, new events, new relic sets etc. obviously it’s very new into the game on version 1.4. It’s building up to a big new update and whole new planet, the last couple of patches have been smaller.
 

On the whole it’s not huge or time consuming like Genshin though, because it’s not open world. For example new areas have like 10-15 chests to find, they have multiple fast travel points & logging in doing all the daily quests takes <5 minutes a day. Using up all your day’s stamina is also v quick & you can run battles at 2x speed & there is also an auto battle function where the game auto battles using your team which is even faster if you want to use that. 

 

17 hours ago, RevengeancePrime said:

Genshin is better when it comes to the RNG because you have less stats to worry about. With HSR you have to worry about things like hitting certain speed breakpoints or effect hit rate on top of ensuring you have good damage stats depending on the character. You also don't have any off pieces (4/2 or 2/2/2), but this is very slightly remedied with self-modeling resin that lets you choose your main stat on one piece. Keep in mind, this is generally more important for optimization rather than clearing content for now.

 

On the other hand, HSR makes it much easier to farm materials for characters since you can immediately respawn bosses and you don't need to run all over the world to farm materials. There also aren't any daily material rotations to worry about so you can farm whatever you want. I was able to clear MoC 10 and Swarm Disaster V after about 2 months of playing daily (started right at the end of the Kafka banner) with okay builds, so it's not that challenging at the moment.

 

Yes the game will get frequent updates just like Genshin, so it's not ending anytime soon. 

 

Thanks, both of you. The gameplay sounds interesting, it's a nice change compared to what I'm playing normally these days, but the gearing. Well, I already had months of not getting any usable artifact (not even great, just usable) in GI, so not sure about Honkai. This is what I dislike most about Genshin and it could be worse in Honkai if I understood this correctly.