Changes in 2026 Gacha Explained

Arknights: Endfield and the First Real Shift in Gacha RPGs

From 2021 onward, in Italy, Europe, and North America—especially with and through Genshin Impact—Chinese-origin gacha RPGs have taken on enormous weight within the gaming industry, influencing not only the market but also artistic and design choices.

In recent months, however, one title in particular has begun to spark discussion not so much for its aesthetics or setting, but for how it treats the gacha system itself: Arknights: Endfield.

To understand why Endfield is interesting, it helps to take a step back and look at how current gacha models operate, placing them side by side.

Models Compared

Game	Characters	Weapons	Relevant Notes
Genshin Impact	90 pity, 50/50 + guarantee	Separate banner, high risk	Foundational model
Honkai: Star Rail	90 pity, 50/50 + guarantee	Separate banner	Strong meta pressure
Zenless Zone Zero	90 pity, 50/50 + guarantee, 100% reruns	Separate banner	First Hoyoverse correction
Wuthering Waves	80 pity, 50/50 + guarantee	100% guaranteed	Optimization-focused
Stella Sora	Fixed 120 pity	Partly free	High accessibility
Arknights: Endfield	80 pity, 50/50 with reruns on loss	120 hard pity (no carry-over)	Integrated model

Looking at the table, Endfield stands out not for generosity, but for how it redistributes risk.

What Endfield Actually Does

Double pity like in Stella Sora, and… an accessory weapon banner tied to the character banner?

Endfield uses a non-binary 50/50 system. Missing the featured character does not automatically result in a low-value outcome: the system can still return recent limited operators from previous banners, rather than only standard-pool characters.

I really didn’t expect this feature at all, but it increases the chances of being satisfied.

The hard guarantee arrives at 120 pulls, but it is banner-specific. This makes the investment explicit and contained, rather than abstractly deferred.

The most significant change, however, concerns equipment.

Weapons are obtained through a resource generated by pulling on the character banner. Top-tier weapon rates are relatively high, and there is no separate premium weapon banner. Optimization remains time- and resource-intensive, but it is no longer locked behind a second, independent gacha system.

Looking Back: When Wanting Was Simple

The very first character banner I’ve ever seen in my life was this one.

Early Genshin Impact framed desire around identity and gameplay change, not efficiency. A 90-pull banner with a 50% chance felt like an opportunity rather than an obligation.

Only later did soft pity and real probability curves become widely understood, and the 0.6% base rate began to feel oppressive—especially once standard characters lost relevance.

From Characters to Equipment

One of the most infamous banners in gacha history… for reasons that were anything but pleasant.

Over time, desire shifted from characters to numerical optimization.

Weapon banners like Staff of Homa marked a turning point: the focus moved away from playstyle and toward efficiency. Even after later adjustments by Hoyoverse, equipment remained the true bottleneck.

The Thirst for Completion

Because of the incredible power of the talent unlocked by The Herta’s second Eidolon, I made the reckless decision to go for seven copies…

Honkai: Star Rail amplified this dynamic through Light Cones, Eidolons, and copy-based power scaling.

At that point, chasing duplicates stopped being about discovery and became about completing a system. That was the breaking point.

Early Corrections

Seemingly generous… but is it really?

Some titles attempted partial fixes:

• Wuthering Waves reduced frustration by guaranteeing weapons, but still tied optimization to premium resources.

• Stella Sora raised base rates, but without enough gameplay pressure to make pulls feel meaningful.

• Duet Night Abyss removed character gacha entirely, replacing it with acquisition systems that feel structurally weaker.

A Signal from Hoyoverse

One of the loudest pieces of news from version 2.5: the first ever 100% guarantee in Hoyoverse.

With version 2.5, Zenless Zone Zero introduced 100% guaranteed reruns within a capped pull range.

This does not change the core model, but it acknowledges a difference between new acquisition and roster maintenance. It is not a revolution, but it is a clear adjustment.

Why Endfield Is Different

The weapon banner, with the ability to even purchase specific weapons with points, besides pulling.

Endfield does not remove risk. It changes where risk matters.

Characters remain costly decisions, but power is no longer locked behind a second toll. Failure still produces usable outcomes, and optimization emerges as a consequence of play rather than a parallel system.

Conclusion

The core issue with gacha has never been randomness itself, but how risk has been layered and compounded over time.

Endfield represents an attempt—still imperfect, but deliberate—to unwind that accumulation.