Highlights
- HoYoverse needs to release more four-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail to enhance player team variety and satisfaction.
- Fans are frustrated with the lack of new four-star characters, feeling neglected compared to the focus on five-star characters.
- The community worries that HoYoverse will prioritize five-star characters over developing the flexibility of lower-level characters.
Honkai: Star Rail has many four-star characters in its current banner which can be unlocked for free, but the HoYoverse community believes the studio is slacking in releasing enough four-stars. Although the four-star characters aren’t quite as valuable as five-star ones, they’re still important additions to any lineup. Some Honkai: Star Rail players feel as though they’ve been done a disservice by the lack of four-star characters who, in certain situations, have the ability to match the stats of higher-rated, five-star characters.
While HoYoverse has fallen behind delivering on the community’s wishes, players have begun to notice lethargic team comps after numerous patches have come and gone with no new four-star characters. Update 2.2 did introduce the free character of Harmony Trailblazer and HoYoverse has promised a new version of March 7th in the near future, but it isn’t enough to satisfy the hunger of the fans, who demand more variety in the game’s roster.
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One disgruntled player took to the official Honkai: Star Rail Reddit page to share their frustrations. “With 2.4, we will have our third patch in a row with no new 4 star,” they wrote. “Every patch, we get two 5 stars and potentially one 4 star. This does not feel sustainable — I understand and am fine with the fact that I won’t get every 5-star, but 4-stars fill in that gap for when I cannot get a new character.” Many Redditors were fighting the same battle with a few communicating in the thread how “ridiculous” the situation had become and comparing it to the shortcomings of Genshin Impact.
Fans Worry HoYoverse Will Repeat Past Mistakes
Genshin Impact currently boasts 39 four-star characters, with over 40 five-stars available to pull from Wishes. Fans seem rightfully worried that Honaki: Star Rail will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and begin focusing more on enhancing the builds of powerful characters rather than developing the flexibility of lower-level ones. This effective tug of war has left players in limbo as they anticipate the next update.
The last four-star character to release in Honkai: Star Rail was Gallagher, released back in March with the 2.1 update. Since then, HoYoverse has switched focus from releasing four-star characters with every patch to five-stars only. Not only do four-star characters help flesh out player’s teams that lack variety, but it also helps players with too few Stellar Jades to clutch five-star characters at random.
“I’ve noticed it’s a pattern in almost all Hoyo games,” one comment said. “Genshin Impact had relatively fewer 4 stars in the last year and HI3 has slowed down the release schedule of A ranks vs S ranks. It seems their prioritizing spending on 5 stars cause it’s more profitable and most people won’t care.” Right now, there are 21 four-star characters in Honaki: Star Rail compared to more than 25 five-star characters, so it comes as no surprise that the community feels let down.
Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.4, is scheduled for release on July 30, 2024, so if HoYoverse has heard the outcries of its audience, there’s a possibility that a new four-star character could be on the way. HoYoverse has already teased the pair of five-stars joining the banner. Version 2.3 will commence on June 18, where players will see a rate-up increase for the four-stars Gallagher, Mika, and Xueyi. Then, July 10 to July 30 will see an extra rate-up for Serval, Natasha, and Asta.
![HONKAI STAR RAIL traveler](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/honkai-star-rail-traveler.jpg)
Honkai: Star Rail
The fourth entry in HoYoverse’s Honkai franchise, Honkai: Star Rail is a free-to-play sci-fi RPG. Utilizing a turn-based combat system, the game includes dungeons, multiple planets, and a gacha system for unlocking new characters. Debuting on April 26, 2023, on PC and mobile, Honkai: Star Rail has also been announced for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.