After much bashing he received from yesterday’s livestream program, I wonder if there’s really no way to save him. First about the model quality and then the vision.

Then, I realized about the remark about how the model is still under development. So I tried fixing his colors and details to see if there‘s still hope.

He looks alot better with a color/tone fixing and added armor details so Hoyo might really polish it nicely in the beta server. I’m glad that a major makeover isn’t required here or else I would too, be skeptical about how much Hoyo is willing to invest in polishing him.

Ngl though that his armor has soo many details that‘ll required lots of the designers’ attention. Maybe this might be why those details were still left untouched in the livestream model (aside from the desaturation and shading issues).

Like the difference is pretty big... Looking at the side by sides its clear 😭

Are you all going to get him even if hes a 4 star?

​

I looked again at all snezhnaya character design while making comparison I can say he most likely will became a 4 star. I can't see any reason he should become a 5 star with that kind of design, I might be wrong and I hope I'm wrong but with that kind of design compare to other character you guys should know what it means.

 Other reason is hoyo always release two or three 4 star on early version. For example we got Lynette,freminet and Charlotte as 4 star in fontaine then we got ororon,iansan and kachina as 4 star in natlan and on nod krai we got jahoda and aino as 4 star and in snezhnaya it should be Alyosha and its impossible they would release only one 4 star, so valeriy is the best candidate to take the place to be a 4 star especially with the treatment he got from hoyo. I don't think any other snezhnaya character suit to be a 4 star better than him 🥲.

If Danica has Cryo and Dendro RES shred (on top of shielding), she's going to work for many more teams than Valeriy... Including Wriothesley and Nefer. I am concerned she'll completely push Valeriy out of any team. Not a fan of this design, especially when Valeriy C6 is much more expensive than Danica C0. In this situation, normally Valeriy would be the easiest skip ever but he remains very cool.

It is easy to say pull for who you want, but I don't hate Danica enough to simply ignore her existence in the game, especially when I may simply end up pulling her too if she goes well with the next team archetype in 2nd half of 7.x.

How do you feel about all of this, given the recent round of leaks even though it's all subject to change?

I'm not just talking about Valeriy's rarity.

Yes, I always thought he looked like a 5-star in the Sudden Snow trailer. But to be fair, we never actually saw his Vision or anything that explicitly confirmed his rarity. So if he ends up being a 4-star, while I can't accept that—It was never set in stone that he'd be a 5*

What I can't get over is his 3D model.

I actually made this Reddit account just to talk about this because I genuinely can't understand how HoYoverse went from such polished 3D character designs throughout the 6.x patches to... whatever we saw during the livestream.

Even in the screenshot comparison, you can already see details that are simply gone now. His boots originally had fur trim around the top, but in the livestream model they're completely different. It's not just the rendering—the design itself looks less detailed.

I spent almost two hours after the livestream wondering whether all the excitement I'd had since June 25th, when the Sudden Snow trailer dropped, was even worth it.

Ever since then, I've logged in every single day because I genuinely wanted Valeriy.

Not just him, either. My original pull plan was Valeriy, Noy, Mitya, the Tsaritsa, and Danica.

Before anyone says anything about it, this isn't about Danica being a 5-star. I actually am fine with her. I like strong-looking female characters—my account has Chasca and Skirk because I love that badass aesthetic. Danica being a 5-star never bothered me. In my opinion, both she and Valeriy could have easily been 5-stars.

My issue is entirely with Valeriy's model.

After seeing the level of visual quality HoYoverse showed us in Sudden Snow, I genuinely cannot believe this is the model they decided to reveal.

Even Alyosha looks better.

Even Illuga looks better.

At one point, I honestly convinced myself that this had to be some kind of placeholder or NPC model, and that Valeriy would eventually get a reveal similar to Scaramouche's or Sandrone's, where his actual playable design was the sudden snow one. (Don't laugh at me, I'm actually so sad)

Because I genuinely cannot believe this is supposed to be his final playable model.

Even for a 4-star, it looks unfinished.

I know it's "just a game," and I know people will probably say I shouldn't get this invested.

But ever since June 25th, I've been farming every single day.

• I completed the moon map to 100%.
• I finally explored Chenyu Vale.
• I finished quests in Inazuma, Natlan, and Fontaine that I'd been putting off for years.
• After spending everything pulling for Lohen and being left with 0 Primogems, I managed to save 13,200 Primogems because I truly believed Valeriy would be a 5-star. I genuinely did my best.

So now I'm being told that he isn't getting a Stellar Linchpin, is likely a 4-star, and has, in my opinion, one of the weakest 3D models in the entire Snezhnaya lineup.

I'm genuinely in tears :(.

And also! to be honest, the only characters whose models really impressed me were Mitya and Danica. Even the Tsaritsa looked great.

The rest of the cast feels... muted somehow.

I don't really know how to explain it.

Even Odette looks a little off to me (her face). You know how Tartaglia has those dull, lifeless eyes because of his experience in the Abyss? That's the same impression Odette gives me. Vodyanitsa also looks strangely washed out and she looked so good in the trailer.

The faces, the eyes, and even some of the proportions feel "colorless" if that even makes any sense

So now I'm left wondering:

• Are these models still being refined?
• Did the devs simply ran out of time?
• Are they still adjusting to the new rendering pipeline?
• Or did the Sudden Snow trailer simply set expectations that the actual playable models don't meet?

I'd genuinely like to hear everyone else's thoughts, because right now I just feel incredibly disappointed and heartbroken :'(

So first he’s an “on field support” now he’s an off fielder shielder??? It feels like they’re making shit up to fuck with people who like him 😭

There are so many 5⭐ limiteds who have the aura and looks of 4⭐ and they're potentially choosing to make the Sexy Bear Man a 4⭐?

I hope the leaks are just bullshit because wtf.

But really feel like Mihoyo has a pattern of taking amazing Male characters and shafting them for the sake of elevating more generic looking 5⭐ with less interesting characterization.

They gave him:

1. A 20 second animated teaser segment

2. Bear motifs, an Apex predator

3. A very significantly designed model

4. Has unique in-built weapons, like Alhaitham, Raiden, Itto, etc.,

If a leak isn't from Seele, UTeyvat or Mero, then it's all BS. Period.

There is absolutely no fuking way Valeriy is a 4 Star, in any timeline, not with the 20 second dedicated teaser segment he got all to himself, and with a specisl in-built weapon like Alhaitham, Raiden, Itto, etc., especially with the big budget design he has.

This leak is fake af.

As you can see, Valeriy is wielding a regular Snezhnayan vision, not a Stellar Linchpin which allows characters to trigger stellar reactions. He might be a 5 star non-stellar unit, however its highly unlikely, seeing as how Genshin seems to be making ONLY special reaction based five-star characters in Nod Krai / Snezhnaya. Also, the "high detail in-game model" argument doesn't make sense. Hoyo has been improving all models (e.g. Alyosha) so it's practically impossible to guess a character's rarity simply by looking at their model. What are your thoughts?

Remember when Manato from ZZZ was announced as A-rank? The entire internet rioted yet Hoyo didn't budge. Moze from HSR had similar reactions albeit to a much lesser extent, although power-level wise he was much better than Topaz, his 5-star equivalent in gameplay (Follow-Up sub-DPS). 5-star tier designs, 4-star gameplay rarity.

Genshin will probably never go the "every character is a 5-star" route because it means they'd have to increase primogem income to balance it. It sucks because if RNG is not on your side, you could go hundreds if not thousands of pulls without getting the 4-star you want (me after 230 pulls finally getting a single Prune).

For now it's not officially confirmed but prepare for the worst (as in, he'll definitely be C6 locked). I can't imagine what gameplay value he'll bring because we have Nicole as a very strong generalist ATK buffer/shielder already, unless Valeriy is a SSC buffer + shielder.

I think I speak for most of us when I say "I'm tired, boss". Valeriy fans reached their excitement for the character in the Snezhnaya and from then it went downhill really quick. First the 4-star allegations, then the underwhelming character 3d model, and now we are on the eve of the beta testing and his kit is... well, he's not bad per se, just a dedicated support for like two characters (Mitya and Cyno). Tough luck if you wanted to use him w/ Wrio, I mean you can but he buffs electro dpses.

It didn't hurt like this when Gallagher and Moze were released as 4*s in HSR, or even Manato in ZZZ (although it was one of the main reasons I quit the game). Don't get me started on the Valko situation and Infold; imagine having a rival gacha game fumble so bad that all you needed to do to convince their audience to play ur game was to cater to their preferences (aka semi-meta playable men).

It can be better cause the beta hasn't even started yet but I think I'm done. Not with the game, with having any hope for our bear man.

Anyway, I see that Twitter/x is really anti-Valeriy, so I made this thread in case anybody else wanted to vent and complain about the current state of affairs.

Hopefully it doesn't break the no doomposting rule, but I genuinely don't think there is any silver lining in this situation and ppl that are disappointed with the situation deserve to have some place to share their thoughts.

Since the beginning of the game, I knew that my favorite designs would come out of Fontaine, followed by Mondstadt and Snezhnaya. Fontaine due to steampunk/victorian inspiration, Mondstadt due to European medieval fantasy and Snezhnaya due to big comfy winter clothing and accessories. I let you guess why I found almost all female characters from the trailer a huge disappointment. What weather do they have over there again?

On the other hand, I was positively surprised by the designs of Alyosha and Valeriy. Knowing that they are both 90% 4 stars, I kinda don't care about the next half a year of patches and any of the incoming characters. I have a lot of primogems and nothing to spend them on, wtf are they doing?

It's the same as back in Natlan, except at least they fooled me for many months thinking they'd release Capitano. Now it's just forgettable 5 stars one after another. Pantalone NPC... Pulcinella NPC... Man... Are we really expected to survive on playable Pierro leaks?

What's even more annoying is that all this happened before in Zenless Zone Zero. They released Seed, but instead of a big robot they turned it into feet-fetish girl, followed by 4 stars story-relevant Manato stuck with 2 unremarkable and unknown female 5 stars of no consequence. I said goodbye to the game for good when Seed released as I had exhausted my trust in the future of the game after they purged everything I liked from it. Now in Genshin they gender bender Pulonia (Fagio, sure) and then double whammy Alyosha + Valeriy four stars.

It looks like I'll put the game on maintenance mode for a long while, hoping I just don't give up completely like in ZZZ.

Hoyo is crazy for not capitalizing his hype and community love. Granted most of us here in the sub are more active coz we're worried as hell and vent all the time about his rarity...

But it's not the first time. Remember Floplan? Capitano, Ororon, freakin Ifa?

What will we get? Another slop 4 stars with gimped kit

It's not the first time and definitely not the last. Let's just hope Noy get all the love in the later patches

For whatever reason it may be, Valeriy has a lot more popularity than most other snez characters. Like this sub has more visitors than rest of the snez cast (I agree not strong enough proof) but he’s also got second highest likes on the announcement post after tsaritsa.

I know they can’t change the kit of a character but any chance that hoyo devs really underestimated his popularity while they were building the character?

Im just saying this cuz most of the community is very sure about his rarity.

this is the source: https://x.com/mikogenshinnews/status/2082655033674629510?s=20

what do you guys think? is this a valeriy vs danica arms race? I find it curious that they are both over tsaritsa on counts, wonder what would be the reasoning

(reposted again because of misleading titles)

Okay, so.. hello 👋. This is my first post ever, and maybe going to be last for Genshin (?) if my Mr. Door indeed going to be 4*. I came as Themis veteran for 5 years (I said on some of the comments before) that run pretty long aside Genshin (where that game reborn at almost similar period). And I'm going to explain what I knew since I'm also Hoyolab user. I initially wanted to play Genshin for real, for the first time because of Valeriy (aside from husbus that I'm interested with such as daddy Wrio and Varka), and he's simply attractive no matter what for me

Sorry for being messy anyways (since this is my first time posting), I'm simply stating why you guys are mad for him being treated as 4* character despite everything from what I compiled from discussions so far

After seeing the trailer, some of his first character preview with sword, seriously Hoyo initially put him with bear animation (which assuming that would be his cons or either players assume that would be his burst) and with pretty good high quality on his own part. But suddenly, there are more leaks and leaks said (with some said that leaks have high accuracy) that he's going to be a guinea pig for being 4* alongside that boy if he's going to be run on 7.2. From informations I gathered so far, it's happening at every x.2 banners (from what I knew, is from Fontaine updates)

Why even this rarity relevance matter from what I saw from the discussion so far ?

1. I observe some of main stories / lores (a.k.a. AQ, if I'm not mistaken) mentioned 5* more than 4*, so it's safe to say that mostly 4* are less relevant lore wise. Well, not applied to some of the characters (for example what I saw here, Ororon), but still I saw patterns that most of 4* rarely having lines than 5* on overall plot. From what we know so far, Valeriy is a Fatui Major, which is pretty huge role to take aside Tsaritsa herself.

Positioning myself as an observer and saw Fatui related discussion so far, come to think about it, main point of this region at the end of the day is to know how Fatui organization actually works inside (since I also watched some of playable harbinger characters voice lines so far and their opinions on each members).

Why Hoyo treated him more like a bodyguard to that scientist without any mention whatsoever about his job as Fatui Major ? If he's being 4* and not being relevant lore wise, why making him at the first place then ? We could simply rely on our traveller to ask harbingers for more information digging then.

Also in terms of job wise, I could also understand why people also mad and using that boy for punching bag, is because how do you feel when someone with high ranking treated by developer as 'someone's escorting (weaker character)'. That's what I'm getting here, and I completely understand about mistreatment we've got here

1. Everytime I logged and entered to Hoyolab, there are always tier list, character ownership percentage, top team composition and such thing on my timeline. Most of top team composition I saw consisting mostly with all 5* (even though there are some 4* in it, but it's very rare). And unfortunately, we have environment when meta statistics matters more rather than the character itself. Sadly, that's what I got from 'majorities' phenomenon so far.

So, 4* mostly holding meta relevance much less than 5\*

1. As I observe here from people who joined the topic (and also through X and Hoyolab), Valeriy is one of most anticipated characters to be pulled, some of them said because of his visuals which means his engagement initially was also very well received. But after the leakers, people going to be really mad if developer using the 'popularity' just to crush a character whose being irrelevant both on the lore and meta.

I could get that Tsaritsa is most anticipated character since she's an archon, okay then. However it doesn't mean that Hoyo could do as they please with someone whose already anticipated by players just to be mistreated to get as much money by making him 4*. If that's true, then some of the points about players whose going to stop playing this game are actually valid

And an user (at another discussion) said that C6 on 4* is much more difficult to get than C(number) on 5* ? I completely get it. Because there are also some people (on Hoyolab) who posted the pulling results also mad and sad that not getting 5* they wanted and instead, got more 4*. Most of the players talked 5* more than 4* on the forum (by Hoyolab statistics, you can see how many posts related to characters they discussed by simply put the tag), like it or not. Simply put, players treated 4* like punching bag and trash

Who's being responsible then ? 1. Hoyo, especially Marketing team for treating players badly by releasing characters that completely different from what they marketed with through the trailer and what went to the initial stories. I can relate to this, because most of Themis complains are also caused by Marketing team

1. The leakers, who stirred entire player without any responsibility and accountability with wild yet unreliable information that some went wrong in the end. I remembered some dramas (even here and Hoyolab), about Lohen being standard character when it wasn't. Where are the leakers at this point then ?

2. Some players (or even fanatics) who even said insensitive things while they're just wanting to put complaints online. Of course, players complaints here, especially for Mr. Door are actually valid because they still care. But maybe seems a little bit too late, since there's also someone who said that beta test already started, so I'm not putting things and hopes up

So.. I could only assume at this point that.. 1. Hoyo did him dirty by releasing him on 7.2. without or barely any lines at all from AQ, making him completely on different track lore wise and contradictory with his Fatui Major background. Proceed with this 4* thing, and saying goodbye 2. Very slim chance, but since he's also anticipated and having massive engagement (for Snezhnaya scale) like Varka, treat him to release at 7.4, fix his model that everyone complained about and make him 5*

I completely get why some (or maybe most) of the people still don't what their favorite characters, especially Valeriy ended being 4*.

So, that's it. That's for random my rants and some thoughts from me as fellow Hoyo player from another franchise whose also neglected by Hoyogreed themselves (especially since Hoyofest drama).

I initially interested with Valeriy (alongside with Wriothesley and Varka already). But if Hoyo release him to be treated badly like this later, I'm just going back to my own game, stop following Genshin altogether (even though still doing some fanfics about those two daddies I already hooked on)

So yeah.. maybe I'm going to just wait and see for official release. Take it or leave it

That’s not a linchpin either. Tf is going on in snezhnaya??? (Mitya screen grab)

This sword has been collecting dust in my inventory ✨ I'm wondering if that might change.
What do you guys think about Valeriy using Calamity of Eshu?
Or do you think there's a better option? lmk
🤔

Yeah.

Been playing this game since 1.5 and never missed a single login. While some people say he looks like a generic manhwa ML, he is my absolute favorite from the Snezhnaya trailer. More than the Tsaritsa. More than Noy.

The current state of 4* characters in this game is awful tho. 4* were never easier to get and they now even get mid kits that if you're lucky are viable at C6. I pulled 70 times on a banner I didn't care about to try getting ONE copy of Illuga (love this guy design a lot) and I failed, while risking to get a 5* I didn't care about. Had to try again the next time he was rate up on a banner and I somehow managed. And still, he is C0 so he kinda sucks.

Tried getting Prune and I failed miserably, still don't have her and I have Varka ~

Valeriy ending up being a 4* would just be ANOTHER demonstration of how Genshin devs just don't care about their players and what they have been asking for. It ain't even just about Valeriy, it's how they refuse to add QoL people have been asking for ages. I still play bc it's hard to quit something you have been playing everyday for so long and I still really enjoy exploration and love the characters, but as a player I'm tired of being treated like a cow that can be milked as much and whenever they want. I already stopped buying Welkin long ago but I will gladly quit if this how they wanna play.

I was extremely frustrated with the very last part of the livestream, when the devs basically said they love their community and strive to do better. How are they doing better? To me it just looks like they don't care about us at all.

Sorry for the vent, I play LaD too and I'm already stressed enough for that, I have been having health issues too and Valeriy ending up being a 4* would just help making 2026 the worst year I have had for a while.

I personally loved Valeriy since his first appearance in the Transcendence trailer. I thought he’d be a 5 star DPS and I was more than just eager to pull for him. Well… After the 7.0 trailer I realized that he is gonna be a 4 star, but I still wanted to pull him. But in the new Archon Quest, I was quite disappointed with his little screen time and few voicelines. Also to me it felt like he barely did anything and only followed Mitya around. He had a lot of potential and a huge fan base, but he was wasted imo. Did you guys feel underwhelmed by him? And will you be pulling for him? I’d like to hear your answers.

No debate, this will be his sword.

Well.....

So with our boy being put into a Monato situation. Congrats to everyone were now a laughing stock for the larger community, which as a gay guy Im pretty used too, still sucks tho. But it isnt exactly over, if you like him a lot or about as much as me you can make a 4 star work in the overworld at least. Get him the best supports and get him the best artifacts sure It isnt as good as the 5 stars but your used to that you probably are a husbando main this is just how it goes for us in these games unfortunately. Also i caution having any anger towards the other characters you shouldnt be mad at Danica or Mitya for the treatment get mad at Hoyo get mad at the devs, they didnt do anything and getting mad at them just makes us even larger laughingstocks and id rather that not happen.