Gacha Dilemma

I've been playing this game called genshin impact since its launch and recently they have version update 2.0

Together with this, I was also playing another tower defense puzzle game called Arknights.

Both games have a story on how I got to them, but what's rather interesting is that in late July 2021, 1-2 weeks ago from now there was actually some huge updates dropping for both games.

Genshin finally releases its 2.0 version, meaning that it unlocked a new part of the map. 

For those who are familiar with how games like Monster Hunter World or FFXIV in releasing new chapters like Iceborne or Shadowbringers, this is kinda like it

The difference is that Genshin is a gacha game. Meaning that a core part of the game revolves around mystery loot boxes where players can gamble on the rarity of items they will receive.

This sets it apart from Iceborne and Shadowbringers that have to be bought, per June 2021 there are reportedly X number of players in MHW and FFXIV, if all these players convert to the latest game version, it means that they're grossing for at least XY amount in total.

But Genshin, being a free to play game on phones is far more accessible than the other two. FFXIV is only playable via Windows, MHW through PC and PS. While Genshin has footprint on mobiles, PC and PS. All of them together.

In the whole year it has been released, it has earned over $1B in sales. This is astounding because it eclipses the other games by a factor of Z.

Arknights itself has ABC amount of sales so far, and if you were to ever check how this game compares to other, they're so far apart because they're fundamentally a different game. And yet through this alone they have been able to earn even more.

And one can argue that Square Enix or MHW developers come from studio with expensive staff that are working on multiple AAA projects at once. While Hypergryph is a relatively new studio.

All these come from the gacha or loot boxes element devised by studios and players' tendency to like playing it too.

I'm not an exception.

I have been playing for a long time. Since 2014 in fact and that my total purchase in gacha has probably went up for more than $100. It was not much, at all, compared to people who place tens of thousands of bucks here.

But it's still something, and the part of it that makes you really think about it is when you look back on the previous years you've played it and all that collection just feel going down the drain.

But this is another time.

New map, new heroes, new item, new gameplay.

It's hard to ignore this when the game itself has really good quality and incites you to play.

And given how accessible it is you can always opt to play on any devices that you currently have with you.

I started genshin on my phone, and eventually I got myself a secondhand iPad and used that instead sometime. Then finally I built (or rebuild) a PC and used that instead given the way better graphics and control.

But this time of the year, I'm conflicted on the characters and started getting into this min maxing optimizing mindset where I consider what sort of improvement or things I need to do for my characters and improve my playing.

They all come down to me having to use the stamina to level up few things, and gacha to get new characters