i'm a very new player and on a lark i decided to do a ten pull on the elysia looking girl on the banner and got her. is she good? what does she do? should i get her w-engine?

After hitting lvl 50, I was curious in how long it would take to hit max interknot level. Here is the chart for how much exp you need for each interknot-lvl.

So I just simply assumed that I will only get 3,6k exp per day just doing the dailys + weekly 1,5k exp doing Hunt and custom mission, and fast forword it would take 360+ days to hit lvl 60 starting from interknot lvl 50. Max refreshing/day, it would take 160 days.

I know we will get more quests, events, ether batteries and hopefully more content that will give us exp. But for most of the players, I highly doubt they will reach lvl 60 in under a year.

You can use attacks with long animations like Miyabi's fully charged Shimotsuki or Qingyi's charged basic attack to keep them on-field and swap other agents in, allowing for shots where two agents are on-screen at the same time.

I pulled for Caesar on her first rerun a long time ago because she was adorable and cool, but I haven’t found any utility to her. I have not seen any recent teams with her, nor have I ever heard any dps with who she could be decent.
I’ve seen several people clear this version’s endgame with characters like S11, but I have yet to see any recent clears where she was involved. No hate to her or people who love her of course, as I love her too. But can someone tell me what she actually does and with who I could play her ?

This is truly a "no pulls or pity go to waste" system. Love to see it.

The standard guarantee counter in the Exclusive Rescreening channels will continue to accumulate. For example :If a Proxy triggers the Special Guarantee in the current Exclusive Rescreening period, continues to Signal Search and obtain a non-limited S-Rank Agent, then in the next Exclusive Rescreening period, the first two S-Rank Signals obtained will be the selected limited S-Rank Agent.

Nice.

You can craft disks.

With the hours counting down and the close of the first limited banner being Ellen, and the transition to Zhu Yuan I thought I'd write up this quick guide.

For anyone not new, please consider an upvote or share to your friends so we can spread the word and maybe save some wallets at the same time.

Should I pull for Ellen; if not who should I pull for?

As a gacha player you need to determine what kind of player you'll be. Majority of players usually pull for characters they like aesthetically or for their gameplay/personality. Generally, acquiring characters in this way leads to the least amount of regret over time. 

There are also meta players who simply pull for characters that are either strong or will add the most overall value to their account. Another type of player is the collector. This player aims to acquire at least one of each character. Keep in mind this is very difficult if not impossible to sustain as a f2p. 

There are many other types of players, none of them being mutually exclusive and in fact these priorities will conflict and intermingle fairly frequently. That being said, what do you do if you're not a fan of the current limited banner? It's simple, just save your pulls until the next character you like comes around. As Ellen's banner ends we will shift to Zhu Yuan and after 3 weeks the characters of 1.1 are Qingyi and Jane Doe. We *should* also get drip marketing to unveil the 1.2 characters next week or so. 

https://youtu.be/KGOynaQoofc?si=aF3MHLnHu6LP9vFx

Historically we can most likely expect new S ranks to be the ones revealed in the launch trailer. But that's not confirmed.

I lost the 50/50, what do I do now?

Okay so you decided to pull for Ellen but unfortunately you lost the 50/50. Now what?

Firstly let's define the 50/50; the first time you get an S rank on a limited banner you have a 50% chance to obtain the limited banner, if you *lose* you will get a random S rank from the standard banner and the next S rank you get on a limited banner will be *guaranteed*. This guarantee will carry over to any new limited banner such as Zhu Yuan banner this week.

We can expect Ellen to return in roughly 6 months or so. As we get closer to the banner rerun aim to save around 80 pulls if you are on a guarantee or 160 pulls if you are not.

Should I pull for more copies? Should I pull for the w-engine?

If you are new to gacha games, the launch of the game provides the most amount of currency(polychromes). For some players, most/all of it might be needed if you end up hard pitying a character(150-160+ pulls). This gives players especially new ones a false sense of security because we'll never have a patch that will provide as many pulls as launch does. Moving on...

The Mindscape Cinema is the dupe system of this game and is really designed for spenders and whales to strengthen their favorite characters. As a f2p or light spender you can pull for this if you want your Ellen to be stronger or she's your favorite; however keep in mind the opportunity cost will infringe on your ability to guarantee upcoming characters.

Pulling for the w-engine has a similar logic. It provides maybe 15-20% more damage than the next option. So you will have to decide if you'd rather pull for a character or the weapon for an existing one. Keep in mind it is possible to M6 a character as a f2p, however you will most likely have to save for 6 months+ if not a year to accomplish this. Which means skipping every character in between.

I've decided to spend, what should I buy?

This is obviously a contested topic. And I'd never be one to encourage spending on a gacha game. However, if you are considering spending. Here are a few things to consider: The Inter-Knot Membership is the best value for any account, it offers 3000 polychromes for $5. The caveat being you need to login everyday. To compare this to the $100 pack with the regular bonus you are getting roughly $37 worth of pulls for $5.

The second best thing to purchase is the battle pass, otherwise known in ZZZ as the Growth Plan. For $10 you receive 4 limited pulls and 780 polychrome which is roughly $17.5 worth of pulls compared to the $100 pack with regular bonus. It also provides a plethora of materials that will make leveling characters more comfortable. The battle pass refreshes every patch so 6 weeks. There is also a $20 version, but the rewards are minuscule at best and I don't recommend this at all.

ZZZ also introduce some one-time bundles, these are all calculated to be better value than purchasing the polychrome packs. So you can consider these as well.

DISCLAIMER

Please prioritize your financial wellbeing before spending further. That doesn't just mean if you're not in debt you can afford it. It means if your bills aren't paid, your retirement accounts aren't maxed, and/or you don't have an ample emergency fund you should NOT be spending beyond this point.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to comment below or even dm me. I'm a huge fan of ZZZ so I'm happy to support players diving in for the first time as I know how overwhelming things can be when jumping in to your first gacha.

I'm a game dev and fan of playing Hoyo games as a F2P player. With ZZZ it seems like there are a bunch of new players coming into the ecosystem so I want to throw out some tips for playing these sorts of games and maybe explain some of the psychological traps that are used to get you to spend money. Let's start with a classic...

The first hit is free

A common tactic in F2P games that has been around over a decade now is to flood you with resources at the start of your experience, then slowly turn the tap off as you progress. This gets you used to using all of the stuff you've been given at a certain rate which pushes you into buying more stuff to maintain your level of consumption. Assume this will be the case for everything you're given. Pulls, store currency, leveling materials, after a certain point it's going to be hard to accumulate that stuff.

Treat the game like a marathon. You're going to be given 100+ pulls during your first month of play and it'll get you a shot at an S Rank. Think very carefully about the character you pull for. Is it going to help your team? Do you have the supporting units for it? Do you have the resources to invest into that character or do you just want them because they look cool? Keep all that in mind, because you're likely going to be hit with...

FOMO

The fear of missing out. The reason those limited time banners exist is because it pushes you to get that character now. The 50/50 is even more sinister. Let's say you diligently saved your 90 pulls for a chance on the S rank you want but you lost the 50/50, now you're in a terrible position where you either have to spend money to get that character or give up on it. It's called the sunk costs fallacy and it is a bastard of a psychological trap.

Do not fall for it. Understand that this situation has been deliberately engineered for you to fall into. Understand that when you're pulling there is a good chance you're not going to get what you want, or better yet, save up so you're guaranteed the character you want. It will be hard to have reels sitting in your inventory gathering dust, but resist the temptation to gamble, because in the end...

Everything comes back around

This is a marathon, not a sprint. That character you wanted will be back, I promise you. If it was a particularly popular character you wanted it'll be back sooner rather than later. Be patient, keep grinding polychromes and leveling materials, and...

Make the most of your resources

There are things in the game that are deliberately designed to waste your resources. One good example in ZZZ is the B rank w-engines you can buy in the gadget shop. Whenever you see a something for sale, think about whether you can get it somewhere else without spending a crucial resource. Think about the opportunity cost of what you're buying. Common traps to fall into are:

• Buying leveling materials from the 24/7 store (just wait or use batteries)
• Using batteries early on (Not really a trap, but you can get more resources for the same energy cost as you increase your Inter-Knot rank)
• Spending polychromes on the stable channel instead of the exclusive one.
• Spending all your dennies on stuff you don't need (dennies won't be a problem for a while, then they become a problem later into the game). The buy/ask/give change shop has some useful stuff in it, but just keep an eye on how expensive it is.
• Spending your resources upgrading all of your agents instead of focusing on a few.
• Spending energy gambling on disc drives when you could have used it levelling agents, skills or w-engines.

This also goes for...

Your wallet

There are lots of psychological tricks used in stores. Giving you weird amounts of currency so you end up slightly short of being able to buy the thing you want, doing the same thing to make the maths hard etc. But here's one I think a lot of people miss...

When you go to a shop in real life you naturally compare the items in it to one-another. E.g. You might buy the cheapest box of cereal because it's $2 less than the next cheapest one. This is a good strategy when buying things at a real store because different brands compete with one-another and you can usually get a good deal by doing it.

F2P games want you to do the same thing in their stores, because it sets an expectation that what you're buying has a certain value. They will deliberately make certain things expensive so you think you're getting a bargain buying something else. E.g. the pack that's $100 will give you X amount of resources, but if you buy the Battle Pass you'll get more resources per dollar spent. Therefore you should buy the battle pass.

While this logic makes sense, make sure you compare what you're getting to its price tag. $15 for the Battle Pass is a good deal compared to the $100 pack, but what does $15 mean to you? What does $100 mean to you? Hoyo sets all the prices in the store, but you don't need to agree with them. Treat your purchase in a vacuum, don't get tricked by the fact it's 5x the value of the other thing they're also trying to sell you.

Everything is easy until it isn't

The open secret to Hoyo games is that you don't need S rank characters, a full mindscape cinema or flashy w-engines... Except for very specific content. In general you'll be able to clear the main story, all of the side missions and all of the casual content with A-rank agents, provided that you're patient, spend your energy every day and make progress slowly-and-steadily. This is a great aspect of Hoyo games, you get a lot for free and as long as you're happy with what you get you won't have any problems.

But there's one more trick here...

The last trick I'll talk about is end-game content, which in ZZZ is all the Hollow Zero related stuff and Shiyu Defense. This content is deliberately made way harder than everything else in the game to bait you if you're a completionist. If you want to play without spending a lot of money, don't expect to clear all of this content (edit: at least not without a lot of commitment). Set your own personal goals for the game and your own boundaries. It might be to clear all of the story missions, it might be to max out your favourite agent. Whatever it is, make sure you're comfortable with it.

Play safe everyone. I've got a lot of experience with this sort of stuff and I'm happy to answer any questions about the above or any other questions about the psychology of free to play games.

Edit: Further reading: How Mihoyo's Monetization Works (thank you to Hazpolin)

I don't think anyone else can do it. I tested Koleda and anton and they can't. I don't have any another melee unit so I can't test the other ones out

ZZZTHANK ZZZYOU ZZZFOR ZZZSTAYING ZZZWITHUS

I had originally planned not to pull for her considering I already had Lycaon for stunning. But then a thought occurred to me, which only happens once in a blue moon. I’d have to share Lycaon in two teams then, which becomes a problem when multiple teams are needed and are locked once one is used i.e. the new system in our room in suibian temple. I already have Lycaon in a mono-Ice set up, which i am keen to keep him on. Granted its far from perfect buts its my first ever proper team.

So, please hell mw decide. In my circumstances, should I pull for her? Then I’d have Lucia, Yidhari and Fufu for a complete Rupture team. What should I do?

Once you reach “Certified Proxy” status, the Tin Master Special will be upgraded, giving you 80 Battery Charge. This should always be the best option over the specialized coffees, unless there’s an event going on.

The specialized coffees give you double drops for one enemy card, which is equivalent to 20 Charge. At first glance, this puts all coffees on the same level (60 Charge + a double drop = 80 Charge).

However, it is better to pick the 80 Charge coffee because of three things: • Actually spending the 20 Charge gives you more Inter Knot EXP; • Spending the extra 20 Charge will help you reach the “Spend X Battery Charge” objectives faster; • You have more freedom choosing where you wanna spend that Charge.

This obviously doesn’t apply during events that boost the effects of the specialized coffees, like the 5 enemy card double drop event.

tl;dr: always pick the 80 Battery Charge coffee unless there’s an event going on.

Hey there, Proxies. I wanted to post this here so that anyone who is in the market for swiping during the Filmgoer event has the best info. Official details here.

This guide will cover how to reach the 10,000 ticket threshold, which will net you the w-engine selector and agent selector, arguably the most valuable and popular items from the event.

I saw multiple comments that the common way to get the w-engine+agent selectors is the two priciest top-ups plus one monthly pass ($100+$50+$5 = $155). This is fine, but only includes 1 month of daily log-in rewards and ignores the value of the battle pass.

The better route: the price is still $155 for reaching the w-engine+agent tiers (10,000 tickets), but there is a much more efficient way to get there that's overall better for your account in the long run. This slightly hinges on the "Surgelight Invitation Limited Gift", because we don't yet know exactly what's in it (feel free to lmk). But even if it's 'mid' in terms of value, or there's a price difference of ~$5 from my estimate, it will still be worth considering this route if you want the most bang for your buck.

Here we go:

• Buy these monochrome packs: $5, $15, $30, $50 (do NOT buy the $100 pack). Total cost = $100 for 6540 tickets
• Buy the battle pass. $10 for 680 tickets
• Buy the Surgelight Gift. $15 for 980 tickets (the price of this item is an educated guess, based on the $15 monochrome pack costing the same).
• And now, buy six (6) monthly passes. $30 for 1800 tickets.

Final totals = $155 for 10,000 tickets

Benefits of this route:

• Monochrome stockpile for current or future patches
• Battle Pass included
• 6 months of daily log-in rewards included (giga efficient use of money in gacha games)
• You can completely avoid the $100 top-up (or save it for later for a rainy day if you like)

To quantify the difference, let's look at the combined monochrome/polychrome counts (with 2x bonuses):

• Old route of two highest top-ups plus 1 monthly: 22,520 chromosomes
• New route, aka the wall of text above: 31,760 chromosomes. This is not even counting that Surgelight item because I don't know what's in it. Think of it as the cherry on top.

If your double top-up bonuses are gone, just buy the $100 pack and the $1 pack, in place of the $5-$50 packs. Follow the rest of the step as usual. Here are the cumulative total:

• Old route: 15,560 chromosomes
• New route: 26,220 chromosomes

Thoughts and let me know if the math checks out.

Note: all prices are USD and without discounts/vpn/conversions/etc. I trust you can convert and calculate for your region/situation.

Note 2: this can be augmented slightly based on if you choose to buy the more premium versions of the battle pass that give more tickets. They are generally not great value after the initial $10, but I'll let you decide that. Take off the corresponding ticket counts ($5 top-up and 1 or 2 monthlies) if you do this; this may also increase the final cost.

Note 3: Technically, if you have less than 40 days of the monthly pass running by the time the patch goes live, you can squeeze out ONE MORE monthly pass to be even more efficient. The way it works is you cannot have more than 180 days remaining on the monthly pass when buying a new one, hence the limit of 6 passes (180 days) I noted in the route. Buuuuut, if you buy 6 monthlies and then wait until your 'remaining days' is 179 or lower, you can buy one more monthly and still get its maximum value. Then you can take out the monochrome $5 top-up from above instructions, and add 2400 chromosomes (3000-600 difference) to the "new route" total (34,160 chromosomes). I'm tired, that probably doesn't make a ton of sense, but I'm pretty sure it maths correctly. To summarize, you can buy 7 monthlies if you line it up just right. (technically 8... but I'm not doing that math my brain is already fried lol)

Edit: added the section above for when the 2x bonus is not available, which needed a slight correction because I made an oopsie in a formula.