Is Honkai: Star Rail TOO Obsessed With Leaks? 

I like leaks about kits, relics, lc, etc, but about Lore is a BIG NO 😠

I remember back in the early Genshin days, when all the leaks were confined to the leaks sub reddit. But now they are everywhere, both for Genshin and HSR. I open RU-vid. Leaks. I look thru comments. Leaks. Even unfunny meme pages use leaked content in their memes. I can understand people wanting to look at leaks to make decisions on who to pull. But please tag all of that properly and not make it that the newest leaks are common knowledge. Especially for story content.

Honestly if Acheron wasn't leaked i wouldn't have spent as much money. Being hyped for 2 months straight really made it feel like a big event.

Let's just have a gentleman's agreement that story leaks aren't on the table when leaking content and most people would be happy

HSR: hey guys check out the version 8.0 we just rolled ou- Leakers: and the entire astral express FUCKING *_DIES_*

I personally don't care about leaks, I just wish 12 leak articles weren't thrown in my face every time I decide look up anything hoyo related. It just makes the things I'm actually looking for hard to find.

Hearing a low reliability leak about Samfly was ok, but when everyone on the main and meme forums were talking about it being true really ruined the moment for me.

Character animation and numbers leaks or reruns? Fine, especially as casual spender or FtP. I can plan out my wishing list thanks to them. Story leaks? Never. I don't want to be spoiled , especially since the story is so good. Also to those twats that posted spoilers 2 fricking months before story actually started under a guise of memes, I hope your pillow is warm on both sides.

For me, I enjoy character leaks, as a F2P. But when the main story is leaked, that’s where I draw the line.

the BIGGEST issue with leaks in general is that no one can stfu about them knowing something they shouldnt. for example, most people dont know that penaconys main plot got leaked MONTHS ago and so far as i know it that leaker has been right so far, but do you need to flex and say "ohoho this is whats gonna happen next guys!!!!" ??? NO. just shut up and keep it to yourself. Samfly was leaked 6 months ago but is it so hard to NOT spread that info out when its a key plot point in the current story?

On the day the "Trailblaze Mission" for 2.0 was released, I opened YT and was immediately spoiled about what happenes at the end. I was so angry, because WHY would anybody think it's okay to spoil a story, which had just been released on that very day. What is wrong with people? I really, REALLY wish that leaks could be better controlled. (Ending of the "Aranara Quest" in GI was spoiled for me like this too. Was just as angry!) EDIT: And YES, I know that's not really a leak, but it still made me rage and I had to share! 😂

Meh, imo the story leaks can be a big issue but I don't see the problem with character kit leaks. Like you said leveling units is a veeery long process, and Star Rail being harder just "pulling for who you like" is less of a strategy. Being able to plan months in advance is just a net positive. Also I don't get that feeling of "we don't appreciate current units cause we look at the next ones". People are hyped by some units, not all of them. For example I was looking at every acheron leaks I could find because I'm a Raiden Mei simp (let's be honest here), and when she came out she had my full focus, I wasn't suddenly not interested in her and looking at the next characters. I'm sure Robin/Boothill fans will give them their full attention when they come out and not just look for the next leaks as well, because they're interested in them and not just any and every unit.

Props to the hsr leaks Reddit that polices unmarked spoilers in comments and even the title text

leaks are a blessing for F2P players, especially considering HSR is more demanding to your teams if you want to clear PF, MOC and etc. also leaks are major factor to interest in the game. you can say that the discussion around leaks is a small fandom within fandom.

What I hate is STORY leaks, and I feel 2.4-2.5 March leaks and bosses will be more frustrating. Tests for immediately upcoming characters is fine after they’ve been announced, but it’s gotten hard to be in comments in any part of hsr community

I got leaked by a RU-vid thumbnail about the next weekly boss... I've tried my hardest to evade spoilers but i couldn't dodge this time i guess

When leaks have to do with the story/lore those should be a big no-no. As for the other kind of leaks, for me it depends of their nature.

Character's kit leak = YEAH!!! Story Leak = No I think this is what everyone is thinking ;)

The main issue with leaks is that there's now a lot of leakers that just... wont shut the fck up. Like damn bro, you're not in grade school teasing your classmates about knowing something you're not supposed to know. Heck, it's not even just leakers that refuse shut up, content creators now are making videos about the latest trailblaze missions ON THE DAY THE UPDATE WAS RELEASED. Like holy shit, not all of us grind the fcking game on the day it updates. 7 HSR animators/ccs spoiled the reveal of Firefly as SAM on the first day of the update, and it absolutely pissed me off. They just wouldn't shut up about it.

The thing is that I eat up an unreleased character whenever they're leaked so when they're actually released, my hype to them is long gone

It really boils down to 1 sentence. Major story spoilers can piss off, kit leaks, enemy leaks, all fine.

The hsr leaks subreddit has pretty good moderation and you’re actually less likely to get spoiled there since everything must be tagged/labeled/censored correctly (especially after their recent post addressing the issue regarding spoilers). It makes it easier for people to CHOOSE what leaks they actually want to see. The problem lies outside of it where people just can’t seem to shut up. Even the main sub is worse at moderating spoilers than the actual leaks sub

The only leaks i really have a problem with are story leaks. Being a Dan Heng fan during 1.0-1.2 was spoiler hell since some asshole leaked the whole 1.2 story before it released and whenever people tried to make theories about his lore, some guy would come in like "well um actually according to leaks". More recently the whole thing with Firefly has just felt like a repeat of that (character's secret identity/lore getting spoiled through leaks and ruining the actual reveal in the story). I really hope that this doesn't become a pattern but sadly it looks like it might.

Seeing how much Hoyo stuff leaks was wild for me. My other main game, Final Fantasy 14, only ever had one serious leak right before the Shadowbringer expansion, and Square Enix cracked down hard on that. Every other FF14 leak has been pretty minor stuff like "here's the outfit they're giving out for a seasonal event later this patch" or something like that. Meanwhile, Hoyo's leaking like a sieve

Theres also the fact that people are expecting characters like FF/Sam or Sunday and Screwllum, etc to be playable and then riot when they either aren't dripmarketed soon enough or when they can't find any info and create fake info (I've seen quite a bit of this on both sunday and ff mains)

This is a really interesting topic to tackle. For context I've been following HSR leaks (character and kit leaks, never looked at the story side of things) since around 1.5 specifically because of Sam and whether they would be playable or not, so the whole story reveal was spoiled for me months ago due to leaks. It didn't bother me, but I think it's fair to say that a lot of people were spoiled very early on (even before Penacony came out). The whole "drama" around Acheron's (and Aventurine, to a lesser extent) power level was wild, and I don't know how many channels covered the subjects, and how many didn't add anything worthwhile to the conversation (no hate, but there was too much imo). Never looked too close at Genshin leaks but I've heard stories around the Ganyu leakers being way, way wrong about her and recently about the whole "Uncle situation" (if you know you know) and all the drama / doomposting that has been happening on reddit/twitter for Arlecchino is wild. I've seen people threaten others over story implications (Furina and Arlecchino) and man, it's becoming sad. I like how you tackled the subject, and hope you'll do things like this in the future (subjects that are less common, etc)

I remember refreshing the leaks subreddit every 5 seconds at 5am and seeing posts getting posted and deleted constantly when we first got 2.1 leaks 😭

I like seeing character leaks since it makes me manage my jades as an f2p story spoilers are just bad though

Im more or less fine with leaks as long as people tag them properly. Recently, theres been leaks about something that i will avoid being specific on and everywhere i went on tiktok, i would see full on videos of it with either no spoiler warning, or a spoiler warning that is on screen for half a second

I think you nailed why leaks are so tricky to balance, because as a consumer I like to know what to expect and what to save my jades for. But overall I think it's not good for the game in the long run, especially when digging so deep and forming those preconceived notions that are still subject to change. It would be a lot easier if Hoyo eased up on the FOMO somehow, and I really hope they do in the future considering how insane the power creep in this game is, but if they do keep trying to one up themselves *and* keep the game's difficulty matching that powercreep, it's going to be inevitable players will try to grasp any advantage they can.

I've been feeling the same about this topic. I started playing the game rather recently, so I was looking for various tutorials on how to build characters, team comps, and so on. Even under these kinds of videos I would find unrelated comments regarding unreleased characters or even story (e.g. certain mecha that uses fire and can fly). I had contact with leakers in Genshin before, but I think the leaking thing is on another new level in the HSR community... and I don't think it's a good thing.

Echoing everyone, but as an F2P, seeing leaks of future characters really does help me plan out my pulls (like whether to get the light cone or not). Seeing the animations also contributes to the hype in my case. I'm soo excited to get Robin now because of her ult - before seeing that, I didn't even want her. Story leaks do suck tho. The samfly spoiler was everywhere and it was so hard to avoid. People on all platforms were just stating it like a fact without even trying to hide the spoiler. I'm surprised the last cutscene of 2.1 wasn't spoiled for me tbh.

The Mihoyo fanbase is the only community i can think of that wants to spoil literally EVERYTHING!!! I remember when like 10 Sumeru characters models were leaked in version 2.3 or something like that. Story plotpoints get leaked and spread like wild fire multiple months in advance for literally no reason. Legit what is the point of leaking story content. And whats worse is that these leaks arent locked away to specifical leak sub reddits, twitter account, or youtubers, instead they spread throughout the entire community. I personally DO NOT want to be spoiled in the story. In order to achieve that goal i basically cannot interact with any aspect of the fanbase. Because no matter where i go I WILL be spoiled. It literally happened recently with Firefly. I got spoiled on her death AND the fact that shes actually Sam. And before anybody says "oh but her survival was foreshadowed!" Dosent mattern! I still want to expirience the story in the moment, not months in advance. I HATE how caual and accepted the leaking culture has become. Edit: Spelling

I just finished the Penacony story line and I realized it was hilarious how I had a rough idea about everything thing that was about to happen. The deaths had incredibly reduced impact because I already know who it was and when it'd happen, and Sam's identity wasn't a shocker to me either, because, guess what, I'd seen it on some random ass thread on Twitter long before I played the quest.

i am a pretty big fan of leaks

Gameplay like characters relics lc, etc, are fine, but I really despise story leaks. I’ve been able to avoid them for the most part, but with the way Samfly got memefied a bunch made a lot of the surprise just evaporate for me. Honestly, you should just go to Shaoji’s answer during the QnA about leaks during the 2.1 livestream. Also the only time my man’s heartbeat spiked

I won't go out of my way to look for leaks, but they are welcome to help me plan as F2P.

I don't get why people say star rail has no exploration.. there's chests in each area, hidden achievements for interacting with things in the overworld, Easter eggs, etc. just cause the exploration isn't on as grand of a scale as genshin doesn't mean it's not exploration nonetheless

Gameplay leaks are fine and even healthy for planning like stated. STORY leaks on the other hand...

I've mostly thought of leaks as a way to make Genshin and Star Rail more F2P friendly. In the most pragmatic sense, leaks are a f2p's friend to help them make an informed decision (directly or indirectly) a long time into the future. Especially those who keep up with the meta--potentially giving those who prepare for the upcoming abyss or MoC the full clear rewards for having an edge over their non-leak-consuming F2P contemporaries.

Leaks help me plan for summons months in advanced so they are always welcome for me! Lore leaks however I don’t particularly like.

I still remember seeing a lot of Nilou leaks, 4 update before her actually release. Hoyo is handing leaks at this point for creating hype

I remember when I accidentally saw a DHIL leak before he (or the update he came in) was even announced, it was an entire kit = animation showcase... I try very hard to avoid leaks now

I kinda dont mind leaks im f2p btw

no way bro leaked Harmony MC at the end of video 💀(13:34)

I'm fine with leaks for characters we already know about, since it lets me know one patch before if I should save for them and what their mats are so I can pre-farm. I really hate leaks that either discuss the game's story or character leaks for characters that haven't even been drip marketed yet. At least let Hoyo reveal their splash art first before revealing the company's entire 2024 line-up.

Hoyo seem to be doing some stuff to nullify the impact of leaks by announcing stuff early the best examples i can think of is A Winters Night Lasso and the reveal of Captiano being in Natlan 2 years before we'd ever see him. But with the star rail stuff that happened recently it's hard to believe hoyo bother countering leaks of any kind, seeing one of the writers getting upset on the livestream was awful

i also mostly look at what i need to farm for a character before they release. i usually mostly go for characters that i like from the story, which results in unoptimal teams, so i usually dont fully clear MoC 11 and 12, but thats okay for me. i was obsessed with gallagher ever since we saw him, so i knew i would save my f2p pulls for when he becomes available, and i pre-farmed the few things for him that were possible at the time. i did look up like dozens of different places online where people talked about relic recommendations, as i did wanna start on that early too, since my characters usually always have 6/6 awful relics. but it was a bit difficult to find that information and everyone said something different, also the hype about him (maybe being a 4-star) was very low. it does feel nice that when a character releases, you can already put your pre-farmed resources into them right after pulling them, so i will probably continue to look forward to characters that i like, not the ones that the meta likes, and i will do research on how they specifically play well, what materials they need, etc. - it just takes time to raise these characters, as you said. and i have the problem that i cant leave a characters traces unfinished, so i do focus on one of them for like 2-3 weeks. i currently have 18 characters level 80, weapon level 80, max traces. and i think only like 2 of them or so have a set of "okay" relics equipped, cause usually i dont spend time on these since they are a random variable (even though i know they are the most important part of a character... i just cant really invest the time into these as they often disappoint). regarding the other big topic, i feel i am in an easy spot regarding other tpes of leaks, since i dont really use any social media platforms at all. i use youtube and discord (4 servers, mostly private communities, nothing public) - and thats it. i dont usually get exposed to leaks. ive never been spoiled on story or lore in genshin or star rail so far. i dont even know what robins ultimate looks like since the character doesnt interest me. i did look up things like ultimate animations about characters Black Swan that i already knew i wanted to pull for even before their release, like as soon as i heard her voice actor is Arryn Zech, it was a 100% "i need to have this character" reason for me, having grown up with the RWBY series, alongside the fact that i love DoT in this game. it does surprise me how big the leak content on hoyoverse games has gotten, but as f2p i do feel all the reasons listed in the video. i do wonder how across several months, or even years, they were able to consistently make their way onto the internet. you would think a company with lots of resources would find its way to investigate on where exactly the place is where it happens - or that they would just increase safety. but then again im not that deep into how companies have to go about such things. maybe it is that difficult to keep such things under control. they just always seem so planned out and all that about their products.

The only negative I can really think of when it come to leaks, is when a character gets nerfed in beta and leaves fans disappointed, wishing for what could've been.

Back before 2.1 I just scrolling through YT and randomly saw the aventurine boss leak. Just there, so blatant and so obvious you can’t miss it nor forget it. To be clear, I don’t mind character/gear leaks. But story/boss leaks are a big Nono for me. Pissed me off enough to actively report every 2.1 story leaks that appeared in my feed, and you damn sure I’m gonna do the same with 2.2. (Yes, YT leaks has already ruined 2.2’s story for me)

As a f2p player I personally am fine with character leaks because I don’t have a lot of leniency with the stellar jades I have and frankly it helps a lot if I want to pre farm for a character or just want to know if its even worth getting. However story leaks are absolutely a no go I have so far really enjoyed the Penacony quest and all the twists and such it was great and most of that was cause of the shock and surprise about everything, if I were spoiled then it would ruin the mystery of the murder mystery.

Firefly thumbnail update jumpscare

I had no problem with character leaks up until Penacony. I have no interest in story leaks and for the most part that wasn't a problem, but now it kinda feels like character leaks and story leaks are more intertwined. Take the Robin drip marketing, or all the leaks surrounding Sam. Penacony has made me wish I could have gone in completely blind cuz leaks have removed some of the impact for me, but at the same time Penacony characters seem to be majorly power creeping what we've already had so as a f2p leaks feel almost necessary.

Leaks about characters are useful for me bc I pull for who I want and what I need. So the leaks at the start of Acheron and Aventurine gave me the idea of what they actually do. Aventurine is a wonderful tank but if I didn't know about his kit and wasted my wishes on Acheron while I already have good dps then I would be legitimately struggling for even longer for no reason

i dont mind leaks about character kits and their lcs but when i got spoiled about 2.1 main quests i was so mad

It's really hard not to look to the future at all times, because Mihoyoverse games are so demanding in time and resources. Even easy games like Genshin. I hate the Relic/Artifact systems they have. Not to mention all the insane amount of materials for characters and weapons. You need to plan ahead just to barely keep up. Especially f2p. You just never have enough materials, especially if you only use your natural resources.

I just had a thought for how to maybe counteract the leaks. If when the new characters banner comes out and there's a trial, why don't we just get to choose what team to pick with them on their like the story quests? That way we can use whoever we want and well, trial more than once.

Never I'll forget the sheer ridiculousness that was seeing recommended on my youtube home page Robin gameplay's leaks... the day Acheron banner came out...🤣

Leaks about characters kits are great because I can see how they work weeks before they launch. And that I can start prefarming earlier. It's also good to know that if I want them or not. It sucks that I got the character I want but I didn't prefarm them long enough. I want to use them as soon as they come out.

I do like knowing little more about the future banners to plan my pulling. But I absolutely despise any story leaks or anything that can spoil the story. (Also it’s ridiculous when some people go watch early leaks and then later get angry when their expectations weren’t right.)

leaks literally make it possible for me to plan my pulls as a f2p months ahead. like instead of pulling for luocha I see that in like 2 months a op preservation character is getting released. he same way genshin leaks are basically mandatory

I think the interest in leaks is driven by the amount of and reliability of leaks. If leaks that turned out to be true were infrequent, there wouldn’t be as much of a market. I don’t really understand the leak mentality though. I don’t see how you ever feel immersed in something if you constantly read its cliff notes a month before.

Leaks about relics and kits allows people to plan ahead, like who to pull or what to farm, it also builds hype, which is good, but lore leaks are just, a big no no. That can genuinely ruin someone’s experience, as it has for me before.

I watch leaks as a f2pftw to know who I wanna pull and who I don't, and that's purely it. unfortunately, it is inevitable that unfavorable leaks such as upcoming bosses or story content show up in my search.

what are the music u use in the background and the outro?

as someone who takes monthly breaks from star rail to capitalize on the "welcome back" thing we get, I have to agree, I wasn't even active in any topics of star rail, and yet it was so prevalent that even in genshin side I could literally keep up with what was happening character release wise, I could tell anyone about a character's kit and how they worked without having played the game for a month, it's completelly wild

I just wish that hoyo would add the ascension mats to the champion's picture when they drip market. I like to pre-farm and tend to stumble upon spoilers i didnt want while looking for the mats

Bro updated the thumbnail after Firefly drip market lol

They are both useful and hurtful at the same time. Knowing what is coming in advance is extremely helpful from planning perspective, yet I remember I was considering giving no more than 1 pity for Aventurine, just to be able to have Jiangqui guaranteed for my Acheron, and all of this because everyone is talking he will be her BiS support.

There was a dev blog post a patch or 2 before it's release on hoyolab going through the introduction of PF, how it would work and how it would alternate with MoC. I don't believe it was leaked to the scale of story events and characters if at all

Now that you brought back the relic thing that reminds me that my Seele has a ER% rope 💀💀💀

I ended up messing up my account somewhat because I don't have enough 5* sustains and harmony units to effectively beat moc even though I look at leaks, in this game its really hard to tell what units are meta and are 100% must pulls, and which ones I need to save for in the future instead due to power creep. For example I skipped fu xuan first because I got jingliu (which was worth it) and I already had luocha, but then I got blade e1 and his lightcone to try to make him actually deal dmg instead of pulling for ruan mei which honestly might have been a mistake, and then I lost 50/50 on black swan banner so now I'm stuck with a half completed kafka dot team and a blade who doesn't even really do that much dmg because I don't have a ruan mei for a dual carry team. I don't have sparkle either because I skipped her to save up jades to get fu xuan on rerun so that I can actually beat sam and to make my jing yuan usable, but I don't have sparkle or ruan mei for a jing yuan team. At this point I'm not even sure if pulling aventurine would even fix my account since my next 5* is guaranteed, or if I should just keep saving jades until ruan mei and fu xuan come back.

I don't mind at all leaks on future content, char, modes, relics, etc. anything BUT lore. plus I think its a good thing that this lets us strategize our pulls and builds for future characters.

With how much of slog farming is and how expensive it can be to get a unit, I like the foresight provided by leaks to plan who to pull and what relics/resources to farm since it is such a grind that having months of advance knowledge helps. I personally enjoy the story a lot so i avoid everything even remotely related to the story

I remember when leaks said Acheron will be a Hunt unit with a Seele-like kit that lets her have multiple turns at once.

one of my friends already told me the path and element of Jade, I have no idea where she got this info from, Jade doesn't have a 3D in game model yet!

I loved the new 2.2 update (won’t include anything here juuust in case) but I was SO frustrated the whole final fight was spoiled to me entirely😭I love discussing the game but leaks have become so common it’s unbearable, you can’t even feel surprised anymore

Yes, Relics are damn hard to come by. I'm still farming for a decent Crit-Rate piece for my Acheron and I got her on the day she was released.

I think leaks are fine to have as long as they are not your only source of information. I think it is in any player's best interest to do their due diligence. Leaks can give you a headstart and a rough idea of a character's concept, but anything beyond that should still be pulled from official sources. As a spending player (battle pass and monthly pass enjoyer, top up only if I am really desperate) if I consider doing a top up for a unit, then I would like to do so where it matters the most. With acheron it definetly mattered the most. The first time I ever engaged with leaks was with Acheron. A mix of hype, curiousity and necessity pulled me towards them and through them I found out that she was practically made for my account, as I enjoy the nihility roster quite a lot. I had all the relevant supports ready to go so for me she was at least in concept already a character that I could use straight out of the box, no strings attached. The only thing I had to think about was whether I wanted to go for her signature lightcone or not and up until that point this has never even been a consideration for me, since your guarantee only comes in after 2 losses which was really intimidating to me. Also having lost every single 5050 until that point (about 5 or 6 I think) was not really encouraging. So I waited for her to come out properly, looked at the lightcone and weighed my alternatives. Then I thought to myself:"I want this character to stay relevant for as long as possible" so I went in and luckily I won the 7525. But that decision was tied to official post release info, where leaks tent to be more ambiguous or subject to change. Where leaks really helped out though were trace and ascension materials, which may seem like a small thing, but saves a lot of time, especially since I don't do refreshes. Also getting a character and immediately being able to use them is just such a wonderful feeling (especially when they are extremly impactful). Beyond that anything within leaks is subject to change and the danger of misinformation, misconceptions or misunderstandings together with its consequences are a not to be ignored. What is a big NO NO for me however is anything that is related to lore and/or story. As a lore and story enjoyer (where my hype for acheron initially came from) having story spoiled would drive me to absolute madness. So TLDR: Leaks are fine for concepts and upgrade mats For everything else, look for guides after the character officially released and most importantly: read the character's kit describtion. It does wonders for you i promise!

seing firefly die and knowing robin died before the update was even out was insane and sucked so much

Leaks are the best thing and the reason to remember to open the game daily. is one of the best things to keep an eye on until the next update arrives. Even characters that I'm not interested in, I like to follow everything about the new update apart from anything related to the story

I have only looked at leaks once and it was the black swan leaks after she got drip marketed and that was simply cuz in was too excited for her release, havent looked at leaks since

honestly ive always hoped we could have an official banner schedule for like, the next 5 patches or smth. because as a welkin-only in genshin and f2p in hsr, it's so helpful to be able to plan out who to go for, and i appreciate the leaks about those (although theyre usually unreliable) animations and kits are a bit iffy. sure knowing the power level of a unit before pulling for them helps, but it does lessen the hype a bit to see their animations early. i remember that was how it was for me with itto, where i saw his voicelines and ult animation and got super hyped, but it didn't last long. by the time he actually released, i was mostly meh about him. i know its different for other people but i do avoid these leaks as much as possible. story leaks? why would anyone want that

I just think of them as unofficial previews for character kits, they usually change twice per betas. Plan for them to change and have fun playing around what their kit and synergies. Plus they usually do the character drip market a patch ahead so people know big lore reasons early like both Robin and Firefly. If they REALLY wanted to stop the leaks they would do the same thing fgo does and not have closed betas and only have an internal team do with it. People will speculate about the summer versions but at best ive seen one get most the character right but still miss most of the classes (last summer was themed so many that predicted that had their 6/7 units but missed most classes). They have enough money for it and if they wanted to pursue legal actions it would also be the cheaper option.

As a f2p casual player, I view kit leaks, banner leaks, and character leaks as ok since that gives me time to plan out which characters I wanna pull for, and which characters I wanna skip in favor for one of my character's signature lightcones.

as a person who doesn't really play the story that often since i like having some stuff to do it does suck when people on youtube just put a massive spoiler in their thumbnail/title and yes you can try to avoid them but its hard to do especially when they just show up out of nowhere in your home feed it does kill the hype a bit.

I personally kinda like leaks as long as it's about unit kits and things like that. In fact i sometimes search for them to, like you said, make a plan for myself to know what i can get and what i can't. As for other leaks like story, major bosses or even character backstory i don't really like them cause it ruins the surprise the writter wanted to make. Lastly a big thing to note about star rail leaks is that very early on (iirc it was during version 1.2) everything until 3.0 concerning 5* characters (kit, models, etc...) and a decent bit of penacony's story was leaked and documented in a google drive that got later on taken down, so that can also be an explaination as to why we get leaks for characters that are very far away from now. I'm expecting things to calm down by when we reach said 3.0 as far as leaks goes even if it might be delusional.

So long till new stuff and when story is done and moc done we have nothing to do for weeks so what else can we do since we wanna play more star rail. We look for leaks to at least imagine what it will be when we get those. Story leaks on the other hand I do not wanna see tho

When I look at leaks I only check the ones about upcoming character images/kits and potential release dates. I avoid anything about story spoilers, but unfortunately with 2 characters, who are actually 1, (not going to mention in case anyone did not finish yet but since people wouldn't shut up about it, I think everyone knows.) I knew months in advanced even though I wish I didn't know. Though this was kind of a rare case where the leaks about a character involve a story spoiler/reveal that made the story feel less impactful, but I never expect to get spoiled from a character's kit reveal leak. Even those who guessed from the trailer (which I think some people already knew before anyway), not everyone is going to deep dive into a trailer for secrets, yet they act like everyone should know and talks about it which does spoil for those who didn't know. Again, this was a rare case. I will continue to look at leaks because in my years of looking at leaks this was the only time, I felt that the experience was ruined.

People looking at leaks, meanwhile I still have to build some 3 or 4 characters that I already have and am not even able to look forward to patch 2.2 characters.

honkai star rail leaks is like a close knit cozy groups telling spooky stories, some have more stories to share then others and some don't have stories to share but there's always atleast SOME people. hiding in the bushes, or the trees, or behind rocks, trying to copy and write down thoose scary stories even though the storytellers say no. then they spread the scary stories EVERYWHERE even when somme people just dont wanna hear those scary stories

when i was watching is vid i was wondering why ur voice sounds so familiar, u actually have another channel abt lol content

I think it's exactly as you said, leaks only matter because of the time it takes to build characters. If you could completely finish a character in a week or two, relics and all, no one would need to look at leaks especially when drip marketing is 1-2 months ahead anyway, you could just wait to see if they were cool, then decide to pull or not. But as is, the time it takes to build a unit is longer than the time a given meta stays in place

I only use leaks for star rail cuz as f2p I need to start looking ahead for units then I can decide when they come if I want them or not sadly my biggest mistake was not getting invest star rail sooner I started on ps5 day 1 but didn’t really start playing until recently

wait i didnt know there were leaks of story... maybe I just couldn't find it so yeah. but leaks of characters are always useful and no one can deny

Remember when they released a relic set specifically for Topaz the patch AFTER she released? How was anyone supposed to plan for that?

It's fine, especially because they release so many units, so having an upper hand is always good (unless you can cash as much as you want in this game)

I highly agree with your sentiment about how reducing the building difficulty of characters would help to at least not make leaks so mandatory. But personally? If they were to at least give a vague idea about a drip-marketed character (like say when Ruan Mei was marketed, say that she buffs your Breaks but not tell how exactly) to at least give players an idea if they want the character. I don't see myself pulling for Boothill but I know that next patch content is likely to be have-him-or-get-f*cked situations. Still, easing the build requirements is an effective way to keep players from turning to leaks to future-proof themselves. And they should also make new content _still_ viable for other units. Making new content screw you over for not immediately having new characters is just predatory; a well-crafted game will naturally draw in players who want to support your game and doesn't have to resort to legal extortion for income. But who am I to say I have difficulty building my characters when I'm too lazy to spend my 110+ Fuel stock... I should burn through that stock first before talking like this. Too bored to do that, though.

The only leaks i want are upcoming characters and their kits so I can prepare and prefarm better. I don't want anything more than a bit of knowledge beforehand to plan better but no damn spoilers of the story or animations

Well, there's this little-known secret technique that helps with not being so focussed on leaks. It's called not fucking looking at the leaks. lmao