Impact Genshin released his newest character, Xiao, on Tuesday night. As fans prepared to play for him in practical ways – how to save money on the game to buy a chance to win it – people who want to play like Xiao are creating superstitious rituals to help “maximize” their chances of pulling the new character.
I put maximize in quotes, because these rituals don’t really increase the chances of rolling Xiao. Impact Genshin is a free, open-world fantasy gacha game that uses micro-transactions to roll around and get random items and characters – in other words, a loot box system.
Chances of putting Xiao or any other 5-star character Impact Genshin are low. Under the current flag, players have a 0.6% chance of pulling any 5-star character and a much lower chance of pulling Xiao. Therefore, players resorted to other means to improve their chances (at least mentally).
After Xiao’s release, Impact Genshin players filled TikTok with all kinds of fun pre-roll rituals. Many posted summoning circles with Xiao’s face and his canonically favorite food, almond tofu.
Others simply press a specific sequence of buttons and go to special locations in the hope that this will help their chances.
Some people “speak out” on behalf of friends and followers as in this video.
Polygon talked to game developer and writer Sisi Jiang about why they think these rituals took off.
“Honestly, I think it’s because of the community’s camaraderie,” said Jiang. “It’s like showing your desire to get a specific character. I don’t think so many people would be doing photoshopping convening circles if they didn’t have people to share them with.
“I mean, at the end of the day, most of my friends to know that the actual rates of obtaining a specific character are terrible. “
Again, I would like to emphasize, none of these rituals will really help the chances of rolling Xiao. If you really want to get better at the game, you might want to check out some guides. However, like wearing lucky underwear or superstitions in Pokémon, the practice really caught on with fans.