Hoyoverse's schedules are all a little out of sync from what we're used to at the moment - Genshin and Zenless Zone Zero moved the release of drip marketing to after patches go live, and now we're wondering where the next Honkai Star Rail drip is showing off which characters we can pull for.
We're at the end of the 3.x Honkai Star Rail updates now, and impatiently waiting to see where, what, and who 4.0 is all about. Hoyoverse has acknowledged the delay, offering some stellar jade as a gift to make up for the extended 3.8 patch.
According to leaks, the reason for the extension is tensions between China and Japan in the real world - 4.0 is coming later than we'd expected, likely due to the team changing some elements as the new area was rumored to be Japanese-inspired.
By now, we'd usually have seen which characters will be coming up on the next version's banners after Yao Guang and Sparxie, and we'd have a livestream showing them off, but players are in a content void, waiting for official word. There's confirmation of more Planarcadia characters on social media, but there's no telling who comes next, or even what rarity they are… but let's be honest, they're likely all five-stars, as HSR is allergic to four-stars.
If you're a peruser of leaks, you may have seen some of the content posted by beta testers, including gameplay of Yao Guang and Sparxie, and what potential reruns may be. Nothing is confirmed by Hoyoverse publicly, though.
There's a Zenless Zone Zero livestream happening on January 30, and a Genshin stream is due in about two weeks, so we may see some Honkai content slotted in between, as the 3.8 update is currently scheduled to end on February 12. There could be another delay, though - we'll need to wait and see, but mid-February seems likely for the big update's release. Oh well, gives me more time to save for Blade. Again.