[Soapbox] Personal Success: Finally Got Mona in Genshin Impact

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a big factor in many of the smartphone games that utilise gacha mechanics to pull weapons, characters summons or any other limited but in-demand type of item there is. Especially when you jump into a game later in its lifecycle, that character that caught your attention early on may not be easily obtainable, unless the game you are playing has a select summon item (sadly, often only available through spending real money). But while it may be tempting to bet it all on getting that specific character, it is important to play the long game, save your real money, and enjoy the adventure of the game – and let lady luck do its thing.

With how the banner system is set up in Genshin Impact, obtaining any of the standard banner 5-star characters is typically seen as an unfortunate pull, an indication that you have lost the 50:50 pull for the current limited-time banner’s feature character, and must begin pulling from scratch. But what if you actually wanted one of these characters? After all, even if they are not in the meta anymore, they are still notable characters in their own right.

In that case, you are playing a different game with lady luck. A game that I would argue is not fighting against, and instead incorporating as something that motivates you to continue playing through the content instead of whipping out the ol’ credit card.

Remember
Limited Banner Pulls over Standard Banner

Having lost many a 50:50, I have pulled many of the standard 5-stars characters at least once, but many multiple times. Specifically – Diluc C5, Keqing C1, Qiqi C4, Jean C0 and Tighnari C0. But alas, even though I own the figure of the enigmatic astrologer, Mona always stayed beyond my grasp. After all, if you stick to the limited-time banners, which you should, the odds of drawing a random standard 5* character potentially every 180 pulls or more means to get these characters you need to play the long game.

A mistake I made very early on in Genshin Impact‘s lifecycle was aiming for a particular standard character, at that time, Qiqi as the adorable zombie healer she is, which not only threw me off the meta for a whole version’s worth of updates but still didn’t net me a Qiqi for a year. So with this learning, I saved my money for IRL stuff, grinded up and bided my time and now have a C4 Qiqi in my party through general gameplay and minimal spending.

But now I have wanted Mona, a hunt that had been going on for a year and a half. The good thing is that for no or very minimal spending, there are enough ways to make free Primogems in Genshin Impact. This is what I have done over the last few months.

I kept up the hope that lady luck would shine on me… and it finally did. Through completing missions, opening chests and exploring the region of Sumeru, you can obtain Dendro Sigils, which can be redeemed for goodies as you collect more and more of them. These bonus items include Acquaint Fates for shots at the Standard Banner… nothing to lose right? Expecting to be another blue light… the light in the cutscene shone gold… I closed my eyes expecting another Diluc… and boom! Mona appeared!

I am happy right now… even days after unlocking her…! Even if she is not a character I would typically have in my party… her character has interesting roles in the narrative, her English voice actor Felecia Angelle does her justice, she continues to have a presence in recent events, and her character design is a cut above even more recently released characters. Plus, it is just nice to get that weight off my shoulders.

Perhaps there is no moral to this story. However this is just a reminder that you should keep up hope that you will obtain your “waifu” or “husbando”, and whether you spend money on a mobile game or prefer to stay on the free side of things – you should enjoy the game with the characters you receive, and with enough hope and luck, you may just have that dream character in your party. Or not, and you discover new characters that you love to play with. Of course, if you are focusing on a majority of the 5-stars who are only available via limited-time banners, remember that you are guaranteed to get them within 180 pulls or 90 if you just pulled a standard 5-star as part of the hard pity system.

IMPORTANT

Just a reminder that Genshin Impact, like many mobile games, is powered by a gacha system for pulling many of the game’s characters and 5-star weapons. This is considered to be a “game-of-chance”, and therefore if you are someone who likes to bet over their head or has any form of gambling addiction, this may not be a game for you. At the end of the day, this is a game with digital characters which nobody should risk their financial stability over.