A Welcome Change, A New Players Trap, Or Both?
Patch 3.2 – or the Second Anniversary Patch of Honkai Star Rail comes with a massive overhaul of the Pity System as well as a new currency that can be converted to a “free” 5 Stars Characters, which a player can pick between some Limited Character (Ruan Mei and Luocha during Patch 3.2 – 3.4 duration) or the other seven Standard Characters. So, what is the catch?
How It Works
Stellar Convergence Shop
Starting from Patch 3.2, a new Shop will appear where players can exchange a specific material – Golden Companion Spirit for the following items:
- A Limited 5 Star that is available for a specific period: Exchangeable with 1 Golden Companion Spirit.
- A Standard 5 Star character: Exchangeable with 1 Golden Companion Spirit.
- Variable Dice: 2 Dices can be purchased with 1 Golden Companion Spirits.
The Golden Companion Spirit can be obtained by the following means:
- Getting an Eidolon of a 5 Stars character (both Limited and Standard) that is already at max Eidolon level will reward the players with a Silver Companion Spirit. Every two Silver Companion Spirits can be exchanged for one Golden Companion Spirit. Silver Companion Spirit will be rewarded retroactively for any players that have maxed Eidolon characters and pulled extra dupes based on their pulling history.
- Patch 3.2 will have a spending event, where players will earn rewards after spending specific amounts of Oneiric Shard – the paid currency of Honkai Star Rail. These rewards include Golden Companion Spirit and Light Cone Memory Shards.
One Golden Companion Spirit will be given for free if a player logs in during patch 3.2 – patch 3.4 duration and reaches Equilibrium 4.
Stellar Convergence Shop will also allow players to exchange 4 Light Cone Memory Shards for a corresponding Signature Light Cone of the available characters for exchange and those available for the new Pity System.
Light Cone Memory Shards can be obtained by the following means:
- Unlocking Nameless Honor and reaching a specific level will give 1 Light Cone Memory Shard.
- 2 Light Cone Memory Shards are available from Nameless Medal – the more expensive version of Nameless Honor.
- The aforementioned spending event in 3.2 will give 4 Light Cone Memory Shards.
It is worth noting that Golden Companion Spirits and Light Cone Memory Shards do not have an expiry date, so you do not have to redeem them right away. Furthermore, future patches will add more characters and Light Cones options to the store, but we have no specific info as to who will be added or will the currently available characters will be removed after the period is over.
The New Pity System
The Pity System will also get an overhaul in patch 3.2 onward. Now, players can pick a pool of 7 units from a selection of Limited Units and all Standard Units to be the one they would get when they lose the 50/50. The rate to get a Rate-up character is not changed.
For example, from patch 3.2 to 3.4 duration, players can choose any 7 units amongst the Standard units & Seele, Fuxuan, and Blade to be their off-banner pulls.
Their Signature Light Cone will also be available for exchange in the Stellar Convergence Shop.
What’s Available in Patch 3.2
So, to recap, what will be available during Patch 3.2 (which will last until the end of Patch 3.4):
- Ruan Mei, Luocha will be redeemable from the Stellar Convergence Shop, alongside the 7 Standard Servants.
- Seele, Blade, and Fu Xuan can be selected as one of the off-banners units when pulling on rate-up banners.
- All 5 Signature Light Cones of Ruan Mei, Luocha, Seele, Blade, and Fu Xuan will be available in the Stellar Convergence Shop.
- Logging in during this period will give a free Golden Companion Spirit, which can be used to exchanged for Ruan Mei, Luocha, or one of the seven Standard Units.
- Spending a certain amount of Oneiric Shards will give the players one additional Golden Companion Spirit and four Light Cone Memory Shards.
- Activating Nameless Honor gives 1, and buying the Nameless Medals gives an additional two Light Cone Memory Shards.
The Best Course Of Action For Players?
What does this system mean in the grand scheme of things?
For a while, Honkai Star Rail has met severe criticism from its playerbase, which has accused the game of aggressive power-creep, artificial difficulty inflation in the endgame, lower efforts in storytelling, and a rapid character release schedule.
This system can be seen as a concerted effort from Mihoyo to alleviate the recent wave of negativity and also to bolster Honkai Star Rail’s reputation of being more generous with freebies compared to its sibling – Genshin Impact, especially considering both are facing more and more stiff competition.
The new pity system is a net improvement to the pulling experience. While very old units like Fu Xuan, Seele, or Blade are vastly outclassed these days by modern units, they are still much better than their Standard peers (except Bronya). Thus, having them as a pity-breaking option when losing 50/50 will alleviate that pain, even slightly a little, and provides better value than an extra Yanqing, Gepard, or Clara Eidolons.
In terms of the Stellar Convergence Shop, getting a free Limited 5 Stars can help new players a lot, especially if it is a Limited Harmony unit. Even if a player does not redeem it, there is no expiration date on Golden Companion Spirit, and one can simply wait for better options further down the line.
For heavy spenders, this shop is another way for them to get extra Variable Dice, albeit at a very expensive rate.
Players should not feel pressured to spend on the Spending Event to get extra Golden Companion Spirit or Light Cone Memory Shards. The value of these items at the moment does not warrant the spending cost.
What is the best course of action to best utilize the new system?
For the pity system: There is no reason not to have the three Limited units included in the pity lineup since they are strictly better units than the Standard Units. Afterward, players should:
- Include units that have high Eidolon levels, or preferably, maxed Eidolon levels already. This is to maximize the chance of getting extra Silver Companion Spirits, which can be exchanged for Golden Companion Spirits.
- Include the units that are closest to useful Eidolon levels (i.e Bronya E1 and E6).
Golden Companion Spirit exchange
- As Ruan Mei is a great universal buffer that can be splashed into various teams and is still one of the best units for Break teams, she is a great buy for:
- Newer accounts without Ruan Mei and lacking options for generic buffers.
- Players looking to get into Break team and bolster their Break DPS like Firefly, Rappa, or Boothill.
- Players with Break teams but only have E0 Ruan Mei. E1 Ruan Mei is still a great Eidolon for many teams.
For the players that do not belong to the group above, none of the remaining options should be an enticing pickup. Golden Companion Spirit is a very limited resource, and there is no expiry date, so there is no need to rush to a decision. Based on their wordings, Mihoyo plans on putting future outdated Limited units into this shop, and there are several good options down the line that players may want to wait for.
Light Cone Exchange
If players have enough Light Cone Memory Shards (from the spending event or future Nameless Honor), they can consider:
- Past Self In Mirror – Ruan Mei’s Signature Light Cone: This is a generically good Harmony Light Cone that can help several teams in terms of starting energy while also providing extra Skill Point for Break-centric Harmony like Harmony Trailblazer.
- She Already Shut Her Eyes – Fu Xuan’s Signature Light Cone: A decent Preservation Light Cone that can help a lot in high difficulty Divergent / Simulated Universe runs.
- In The Night – Seele’s Signature Light Cone: A generic good Hunt Light Cone that a few Hunt DPS can use, such as Hunt March 7th.
The remaining options are not worth the exchange, as more will be added further down the line.
