It's been a few months since Honkai: Star Rail's release, and new content is coming soon following Honkai: Star Rail's Version 1.1 Special Program. The game's been around long enough for players to generate their own opinions on it, and some players have been saying that the Honkai: Star Rail is better than HoYoverse's other ongoing game, Genshin Impact. They have different styles of gameplay, so it seems unfair to compare them, but they share many similar features, one of which is farming.
As both Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact were made by the same developer, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they both resemble to each other, as they're both free-to-play gacha games. Both games place heavy focus on the farming aspect, as players need to farm all sorts of materials in order to upgrade characters and weapons. HoYoverse seems to recycle the formula of Genshin Impact for Honkai: Star Rail, but it appears that Honkai: Star Rail's farming is an improved version of its predecessor, as farming in Honkai: Star Rail feels more convenient and less tedious.
Genshin Impact's Resin vs. Honkai: Star Rail's Trailblaze Power
Both games implement a stamina system to limit the number of times players can claim rewards from certain sources. Genshin Impact's Resin system is limited up to 160 Original Resin that can be used for claiming rewards from Ley Line Outcrops, Domains, and both Normal and Weekly Genshin Impact Bosses. In order to replenish Original Resin, players will either have to wait for it to regenerate (1 Original Resin per 8 minutes), or consume Fragile Resin, Transient Resin, or Primogems to refill 60 Original Resin. Original Resin can be crafted into Condensed Resin by combining 40 Original Resin with crystal cores. Condensed Resin can be used to claim more rewards in one Outcrop or Domain trial to save time and effort.
Honkai: Star Rail's Trailblaze Power system is similar to Genshin Impact's Resin system, but with a few changes. The limit for Trailblaze Power is higher than the Resin system, capping up to 180 TP, allowing for more opportunities to claim rewards from six different activities: Calyxes (Golden and Crimson), Stagnant Shadows, Caverns of Corrosion, Echoes of War, and the Simulated Universe. To refill TP, players can either wait for regeneration (1 TP per 6 minutes) or consume Fuel or Stellar Jades. However, there's no equivalent of Condensed Resin with TP.
Genshin Impact's Ley Line Outcrops and Domains vs. Honkai: Star Rail's Calyxes and Other Activities
Both games require players to farm all sort of resources from different activities. Genshin Impact has four activities to obtain materials for upgrading characters and weapons, while Honkai: Star Rail has six, explaining why Honkai: Star Rail has a higher Trailblaze Power cap.
Ley Line Outcrops are trials found in open-world Teyvat, with two variants: Blossoms of Wealth for Mora and Blossoms of Revelation for character EXP materials, both costing 20 Resin or 1 Condense Resin to collect rewards. There are three types of Challenge Domains: Domains of Forgery (weapon ascension materials), Domains of Blessing (artifacts), and Domains of Mastery (character talent materials). All three also require 20 Resin or 1 Condense Resin to farm rewards. The last two activities are Normal Bosses (40 Resin cost) and Trounce Domains (30 Resin, maximum of three Weekly Bosses), which provide various unique materials for character or talent ascension, artifacts, and billets used to craft specific weapons.
Honkai: Star Rail's equivalent to Ley Line Outcrops are the Golden Calyxes, but they only cost 10 TP to obtain loot, which is cheaper than the original. They come in three types: Bud of Memories (character EXP material), Bud of Aether (light cone EXP material), and Bud of Treasures (Credits). Crimson Calyxes are further trials that reward materials specific to Honkai: Star Rail's seven Paths used for upgrading characters' traces and ascending light cones, also costing 10 TP to collect rewards.
The Cavern of Corrosion provides relics for characters to equip, which are synonymous to Genshin Impact's artifacts. However, it costs 40 TP to obtain relics, which is more expensive than Genshin Impact's artifact Domains. Stagnant Shadows drops unique character ascension materials, being the Honkai: Star Rail equivalent of Normal Bosses. Echoes of War are essentially Trounce Domains, as Echoes of War are weekly boss battles that drop rewards such as advanced trace materials, relics, and even light cones, which is better than Genshin Impact's Normal Bosses that don't drop complete weapons.
Genshin Impact's Expeditions vs. Honkai: Star Rail's Assignments
Genshin Impact's Expeditions pale in comparison to Honkai: Star Rail's Assignments. Expeditions/Assignments are a mini-feature in both games in which players can assign owned characters to fetch certain materials in the background. The main difference between Expeditions and Assignments is their accessibility and the kinds of materials to be scavenged.
Genshin Impact's Expeditions can only be assigned through talking with Katheryne, who is found in Teyvat's four major cities. The materials obtainable through Expeditions include Mora, ores, and ingredients for food. Honkai: Star Rail's Assignments have much more useful things to scavenge. Unlike Expeditions, Honkai: Star Rail Assignments can gather character/trace materials and character/light cone experience materials, along with synthesis materials and credits. Additionally, players can set Assignments anytime, anywhere by accessing in the game's menu.
What to Change in Future Genshin Impact Updates
Overall, Honkai: Star Rail's farming feels better than Genshin Impact due to the fundamental differences in gameplay and exploration. For instance, Ley Line Outcrops require players to manually travel to them, and after claiming rewards from one Outcrop, another one spawns in a nearby location, meaning players have to trek on foot again. In Honkai: Star Rail, players can conveniently teleport to Golden Calyxes, and each Calyx trial can be replayed up to six waves in one run for a total of 60 TP. Also, Honkai: Star Rail has the option of autoplay, so the game farms Calyxes and other activities automatically, which is impossible to do in Genshin Impact.
HoYoverse should change some things in future Genshin Impact updates in order to compete with Honkai: Star Rail's farming. It could consider adding character EXP materials and character/weapon ascension materials to Expeditions. Considering Genshin Impact's large cast of characters to farm materials for, another possibility would be to increase the amount of rewards for all activities, especially Domains and Normal Bosses. Raising the Resin cap could appeal to a majority of the playerbase as well. HoYoverse needs to show some love to its other game in future updates.
Honkai: Star Rail is available now on Mobile and PC. PS4 and PS5 version is in development.
