Wuthering Waves

[h1]GREAT GAME. AWFUL MONETIZATION. F2P PLAYERS DESERVE BETTER.[/h1] Wuthering Waves is a genuinely good game buried under a monetization system I simply cannot support. And instead of just saying [i]“gacha bad”[/i], let's look at the actual numbers. [h1]THE F2P REALITY[/h1] A normal F2P player receives only [b]60 Astrite per day[/b] from Daily Activity. One pull costs [b]160 Astrite[/b]. That means an entire day of dailies gives you only: [b]0.375 pulls.[/b] [list] [*][b]1 pull[/b] = about [b]2.7 DAYS[/b] of dailies [*][b]10 pulls[/b] = about [b]27 DAYS[/b] of dailies [*][b]80 pulls[/b] = about [b]213 DAYS[/b] of dailies [/list] And here's the important part: [b]80 pulls does NOT even guarantee the limited character you actually want.[/b] The Featured Resonator banner has an [b]80-pull hard pity[/b], but your first 5-star has only a [b]50% chance[/b] of being the featured character. Lose the 50/50? You may need another 80 pulls. [h1]160 PULLS = 25,600 ASTRITE[/h1] At 60 Astrite per day, that represents roughly: [h1]426 DAYS OF DAILY ASTRITE[/h1] [i]For ONE guaranteed limited character.[/i] [h1]WANT THEIR SIGNATURE WEAPON TOO?[/h1] The limited weapon banner can require another: [b]80 pulls = 12,800 Astrite[/b] So in the worst case: [b]Character:[/b] 160 pulls [b]Weapon:[/b] 80 pulls [h1]240 PULLS = 38,400 ASTRITE[/h1] That's the equivalent of: [b]640 DAYS OF DAILY ASTRITE.[/b] Yes. [b]640 days.[/b] [h1]"BUT THE GAME GIVES YOU MORE ASTRITE!"[/h1] Yes, it does. You also receive Astrite from: [list] [*]Events [*]Story [*]Exploration [*]Chests [*]Achievements [*]Endgame activities [*]Patch rewards [/list] But there is one massive difference: [b]Most exploration, story, chest and achievement rewards are ONE-TIME rewards.[/b] Once you have completed them, they are gone. You cannot endlessly farm Astrite just because you are willing to play more. Your normal repeatable daily income still remains extremely limited. For Version 3.6, F2P calculations put the total rewards at roughly: [b]11,800 Astrite + 12 limited character pulls[/b] if you complete essentially everything available during the patch. That's roughly: [h1]85 LIMITED CHARACTER PULLS[/h1] during an entire six-week patch. Now remember: [b]Worst-case guarantee for ONE featured character = 160 pulls.[/b] So even completing practically an entire patch worth of F2P content does not necessarily guarantee the limited character being advertised to you. [h1]AND IT GETS WORSE FOR NEW PLAYERS[/h1] Some of those Astrite rewards come from difficult endgame activities. Version 3.6 has roughly [b]2,800 Astrite tied to endgame content.[/b] Meaning a newer F2P player may not even be capable of earning the full theoretical F2P amount. So when people say: [i]"You get around X amount of pulls every patch!"[/i] remember that those calculations often assume you: [list] [*]Log in consistently [*]Complete the events [*]Complete the new content [*]Explore [*]Do the endgame [*]Claim all temporary rewards [/list] Miss content? [b]Those pulls are gone.[/b] [h1]NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT DUPLICATES[/h1] Characters don't simply end after obtaining them once. Each character has [b]six additional Sequence Nodes[/b]. To fully max out a limited character, you generally need to obtain that character: [h1]SEVEN TIMES.[/h1] One original copy + six additional copies. And then, of course, there is still their separate signature weapon. So the monetization doesn't stop at: [i]"Congratulations! You got the character."[/i] There are additional character copies and weapons waiting behind even more banners. [h1]THIS IS THE PART I REFUSE TO SUPPORT[/h1] I have absolutely nothing against developers making money. Wuthering Waves is free. Servers cost money. Developers deserve salaries. Artists, programmers, animators, composers and voice actors deserve to be paid. [b]That is not the problem.[/b] Sell me: [list] [*]Skins [*]Cosmetics [*]Mounts [*]Battle passes [*]Expansions [*]A subscription [*]A complete character for a reasonable fixed price [/list] I will happily pay for a game I enjoy. What I do NOT want to support is a system built around: [list] [*]Premium currency [*]Limited-time banners [*]50/50 mechanics [*]Pity systems [*]Character duplicates [*]Signature weapons [*]Fear of missing out [*]Constantly rotating characters [/list] All conveniently designed around making spending money extremely easy. [quote] [b]A game being free does not automatically make every monetization system reasonable.[/b] [/quote] [h1]60 ASTRITE VS. 160 ASTRITE[/h1] This single comparison tells you a lot. [b]Daily reward: 60 Astrite[/b] [b]One pull: 160 Astrite[/b] You don't even receive enough premium currency from an entire day's standard daily activity to make: [b]ONE pull.[/b] Not ten pulls. Not a guaranteed character. [b]One pull.[/b] And one pull doesn't guarantee anything meaningful. [h1]"BUT WUWA IS MORE GENEROUS THAN OTHER GACHAS!"[/h1] Maybe. But this argument completely misses the point. [quote] [b]“Better than another gacha” does NOT automatically mean consumer-friendly.[/b] [/quote] If one game charges you $1,000 for something and another charges you $700, the second system does not magically become good simply because something worse exists. The comparison should not be: [i]"Is this gacha nicer than another gacha?"[/i] The comparison should be: [b]"Does this game respect my time and my money?"[/b] [h1]THE SAD PART? THE GAME ITSELF IS REALLY GOOD.[/h1] The combat is excellent. The animations are beautiful. The world looks fantastic. The characters clearly have a lot of work put into them. There are obviously incredibly talented developers behind this game. [b]And that's exactly why the monetization disappoints me so much.[/b] A genuinely great game should not need psychological monetization systems designed around limited availability, random outcomes and repeated copies of characters. [h1]I DON'T HATE WUTHERING WAVES.[/h1] I actually WANT games like this to succeed. But I don't want this monetization model to become something we simply accept as normal. There is a massive difference between: [b]"I want to support a game I love."[/b] and [b]"I feel pressured to spend because the character I want disappears soon and I might lose a 50/50."[/b] [h1]PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND.[/h1] If you enjoy Wuthering Waves completely F2P: [b]Good. Enjoy it.[/b] If you buy a small monthly pass because you enjoy the game: [b]That's your choice.[/b] If you spend money on characters because you understand the system and can comfortably afford it: [b]That's also your choice.[/b] But please understand what these systems are built around before spending hundreds or even thousands. Don't let FOMO decide how much your entertainment is worth. [quote] [h1]GOOD GAMES DESERVE SUPPORT. PREDATORY MONETIZATION DOES NOT.[/h1] [/quote] [b]Your money is your vote.[/b] [b]And this is one monetization model I personally refuse to vote for.[/b]

The game has fallen to the same repeating cycle every gacha game does. I've played this a longer outside of steam and as usual the game starts off fun and engaging then, like most gachas, after 2 years they start their villain arc. Horrendous enemy scaling, end game content that's only tailored to the newly released characters. New weapons and gear (echo sets) with stronger stats specifically made to not work with old characters and only activate with the new character's kit. I slowly but very obviously saw myself dropping in completable end game content. New characters start needing you to pull for their weapon and 2 other support characters...(with their support's weapon also) to reach their full potential. They also started adding banners that don't carry over the pity counter so you're grinding from scratch every patch. You end up not having enough time to actually enjoy the game's exploration and story because you need to complete every event to get pulls. Same old gacha trash, just never play gacha games. None are better that the other.

300+ hours played. Negative review. A lot of my playtime was sunk cost. WuWa has just enough good stuff that I kept thinking the rest would catch up. Combat is pretty good, quickswapping is fun, Hiyuki’s iai attacks scratch the monkey-brain SHING itch, exploration can be enjoyable, and the elementary-school-level puzzles can be relaxing. 1.X WAS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AWFUL The opening throws Frequencies, Resonators, Tacet Discords, the Lament and pseudo-science at you before giving you much reason to care. WuWa too often mistakes information density for depth. Then 1.0 tries an “Avengers Assemble” moment around the Ovathrax/Threnodian of War climax. The cast rolls up like I’m supposed to scream “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, EVERYONE’S HERE!” when many barely had enough development to matter. It wanted an ensemble payoff it hadn’t earned. WUWA HAS LORE. THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT HAS GOOD WORLDBUILDING. A major concept should roughly go: 1. Introduce it. 2. Develop it until the audience understands how it affects the world. 3. Use, break, exploit, or subvert it. WuWa constantly goes: STEP 1 → ♥♥♥♥ STEP 2 → STEP 3. Tethys. Mount Firmament. Fabrictorium of the Deep. Fortune-telling. Chaos. Journeying Paradise. These are huge ideas, yet Kuro often introduces them in the same arc where Rover is already exploiting their rules. The lore exists, but rarely gets enough time to become part of the world. Compare that to Morrowind’s Morag Tong. They are not just “cool legal assassins.” The Great Houses are powerful and full of grievances, so sanctioned assassination acts as a pressure valve for disputes that might otherwise become open war. One faction touches law, religion, House politics, culture and the balance of power. That is worldbuilding. WuWa too often gives me the PowerPoint instead. If a phenomenon is supposedly world-changing, show me what it does to normal life: industries, laws, superstitions, religion, politics. WuWa often rushes past that connective tissue to reach the next revelation. IUNO IS THE BEST EXAMPLE Put a gun to my head and ask me to explain exactly how we saved Iuno in plain English. We went into the sea, collected memories, grew a tree, did metaphysical ♥♥♥♥, cut it down, and now she’s back. I guess??? Yes, there is lore explaining it. That is not the point. The story introduces the metaphysical rules, explains the exception, and uses that exception to solve the climax almost simultaneously. I have barely internalized what “Chaos” means or what the causal rules are before Rover is already navigating around them. Fantasy can be completely insane and still feel coherent. The audience just needs time to understand the rules before those rules become the solution. WuWa often introduces the knife five minutes before Rover needs to stab God with it. That is why supposedly enormous revelations can land as “apparently that’s a thing now” instead of “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, that changes everything.” ROVER IS THE CENTER OF THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ UNIVERSE Fractsidus? Rover. Sentinels? Rover. Ancient systems? Rover. Historical figures? Probably knew Rover. Regional crisis? Rover is uniquely qualified to fix it. At this point I don’t wonder about a new region’s history. I wonder what Past Rover did there. Everyone also glazes Rover. Jiyan is THE GENERAL, yet the story bends over backwards to involve the newly awakened amnesiac in military strategy. Important people trust, admire, or attach themselves to Rover absurdly quickly. I’d kill for someone to ask: “Who the ♥♥♥♥ are you and why should I care?” ROVER IS ALSO BORING AS HELL The most important person in history has the personality of drywall. Calm. Nice. Helpful. Mildly amused. Mildly concerned. The voice and attitude are so neutral that gigantic revelations land like being told the grocery store closes early. WuWa is extremely linear, so this is not a blank-slate RPG excuse. I’m not meaningfully defining Rover’s morality or major decisions. The game already decided who Rover is, so why not give them a stronger personality? I hope Rover gets their memories back someday because maybe their personality is stored in there too. THE AMNESIA IS A BOTTOMLESS MYSTERY BOX Planescape: Torment handles amnesia vastly better. The Nameless One’s past creates enemies, victims, relationships and consequences Current Him must deal with. His missing past is the problem, not just a source of cool reveals. Rover’s amnesia too often feels like an infinite writing coupon. New ancient connection? Past Rover knew them. New organization? Past Rover was involved. Another revelation? Past Rover researched it. Why doesn’t Rover remember? Amnesia. Past Rover also discarded the context behind countless failures and decisions. Memory is not just trivia; it is reasoning. Erase your mistakes and you erase what you learned from making them. Brilliant. We kept the notebook and deleted the scientist. CHARACTERS FEEL LIKE BANNER ADVERTISEMENTS Too many characters feel written around their banner cycle instead of integrated into an ongoing cast. A new character gets major relevance, cinematics, trauma and lore while being sold, then often fades away once the marketing cycle moves on. Chisa is the perfect example. She effectively loses around twenty years of everyone else’s lives. Her family thought she was dead. Her friends aged without her. She returns to a world that moved on. That should produce grief, alienation and the horror of lost time. Instead, the reunion and aftermath get nowhere near the weight the setup deserves. Temporary story content makes it worse. Xiangli Yao’s original introduction was heavily tied to an old event, while Somnoire has recurring lore and characters but event-limited context. New players can hit material that assumes Rover knows people or concepts they never got to meet. Canon story should not evaporate. THE MAIN QUEST SOMETIMES BARELY WANTS YOU TO PLAY IT Some story fights are so protected that failure barely feels possible, and missed QTEs can continue for you. If the cinematic finishes the action anyway, why ask me to press the button? If a fight refuses to let me lose, the boss threatening me becomes theater. SIDE QUESTS ARE OFTEN BORING AS ♥♥♥♥ Side quests should be where the worldbuilding breathes: local culture, beliefs, politics, jobs, families and how ordinary people live around all this insane technology and metaphysics. Instead, too many amount to: talk to NPC, walk 200m, press F, kill three enemies, return. Some companion quests are alright. Most side content is forgettable. THE GACHA STILL SUCKS “But it’s better than Genshin!” I know. I don’t care. If one guy shoots me in the head and another shoots me in the foot, the second guy treated me better. I HAVE STILL BEEN ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SHOT. Older limited characters can disappear for stupid lengths of time while the roster keeps expanding. In a character collection game, that is ridiculous. Pulling a character and finding their materials, bosses, Echoes or region story-gated is also annoying. Congratulations on your new character; please finish your homework before using them properly. THE GOOD STUFF IS WHY THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING Combat is good. Quickswapping is fun. Hiyuki goes SHING and brain goes :D. Exploration can be pretty good. The puzzles are easy as hell, but sometimes square peg → square hole → chest is enough. That is why I kept playing. Kuro needs patience. Let concepts breathe. Let characters remain part of the world after their banners. Let people distrust Rover. Let someone else be the expert. Give Rover an actual personality. Stop using amnesia as an infinite generator of retroactive importance. You have a world. USE THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ WORLD. After 300+ hours, I’m negative not because WuWa has nothing good in it, but because it constantly reminds me how much better it could be. If Steam ever starts refunding human lifespan, Kuro owes me about twelve and a half days.

Okay, I wasn't going to do this but Kuro Games is literally forcing my hand. First of all, I'm so tired of how this game started as a Genshin competitor with a diverse cast of characters, but now it's another waifu collecting game with a low quality fanservice. During Lahai-Roi I started to hope that we're past this and the story doesn't need to rely on waifus to sell, but it's been 9 releases between 2 male characters. We have 41 limited characters SIX OF WHICH ARE MEN. This is insane. WuWa is trying to be a serious game with a serious plot, but you enter a room and there's 10 women and 0 men which just ruins the immersion. It's ridiculous. People pull for male characters. People pay a lot of money to pull their husbandos! But we reached the point where we keep getting the same types of girls in skimpy outfits (hello, Qingxiao aka Hiyuki 2.0 but dull). Next, the story got a lot worse after the Lahai-Roi saga. We're back to being a cheerleader for the boring cast of characters that makes no sense. The only charismatic and interesting character since Mengzhou started was Jingran--and YET he received barely scraps in the story that was practically tailored for him, in his home region and with the villain whom he had a personal grudge against. Yangyang (no one's favorite character with awful voice acting) got SP, but all the old characters who deserved to be in the story much more got nothing at all: no sign of Yao who would has been perfect for the region, Qiuyuan appeared for like 5 seconds, Danjin was lucky enough to get a side-quest, but Mortefi got only a tiny random daily. The incoming spending event with the Shorekeeper who hasn't had a rerun in more than a year? A joke. It's like Kuro Games are trying to annoying players who don't have her weapon or her sequences. And it's not the first time they pulled something like this too. The events? Are the same combat event every single patch. No story events, no management, no dates, no games. I yell about all these issues every single survey, but there's zero reaction, zero improvement for more than a year. We get the same reruns every few versions (Chisa, Iuno and Lynae) while fan favorite characters like Qiuyuan, Augusta, Camellya, Carlotta, Shorekeeper, Lupa etc get NOTHING. And today was the cherry on top: Kuro Games replaced a normal download method via Steam with their god awful launcher. The thing that I was trying to avoid by playing on Steam. Who on Earth even asked for this??? Steam is much faster and much more straightforward, and I don't care how you're trying to "improve" my experience. I was fine! I didn't ask for this obligatory update, but now all Steam players are forced to play the game of launching the launchers. Nobody asked for this. But Kuro still decided to do it instead of addressing any of the actual issues the game has. Listen, I've been playing since beta. I always advocated for this game and I want nothing but success for WuWa. I love the main character, I love the music and the visuals, the combat is fun (when I'm not forced to do the same combat events and end-game content every single version), I've spent a disgusting amount of money on this game trying to support the developers and get my favorite boys and girls BUT it's the last straw. I'm done with this game until it starts doing better.