A character drops, everyone pulls, and then the devs say 'it was a bug all along' — arguably the oldest trick in the gacha playbook. This time, the spotlight is on Steel Mist (钢岚), a mech-themed mobile game published by Zilong (紫龙).
The backstory is straightforward. A fire terrain mechanic — where pushing enemies into flames dealt bonus damage — had existed in the game for an entire patch prior to the new character's release. The original poster pointed out that this terrain effect was present in-game from the start and, based on player testing, triggered whenever a displacement effect occurred. What made it worse was that the official trial stage literally gave players a push-based character, encouraging them to exploit the very same interaction. Multiple community guides and tier lists had already bumped up the new character's rating because of this synergy — meaning the so-called 'bug' was effectively a selling point the devs themselves had promoted.
But the moment the gacha banner went live and players had already burned through their resources pulling for the character, Zilong suddenly dropped an announcement: this mechanic was a bug and would be patched out.
What enraged players most wasn't just the nerf itself — it was the timing. According to multiple player accounts, the fix had already been implemented in the day's update, but the devs deliberately held off on any announcement until the banner had been live long enough for mass spending to occur. The original poster fumed: 'If you'd just mentioned it when the patch dropped yesterday, nobody would have complained. But you specifically waited — are you really testing our limits?' Others echoed the frustration: 'Where was this a month ago? The previews and theorycrafting were out for weeks, and you only call it a bug after everyone's already pulled?'
Players dug up even more damning details: the character's skill kit and preview had been circulating since around New Year's, and discussions about 'pushing enemies into fire' on Tieba and NGA had been ongoing. 'When bosses and mobs brutalize the player, it's called game mechanics. But when a gacha character deals good damage and everyone's already pulled? Suddenly it's a bug that needs fixing. Absolutely disgusting,' one commenter wrote.
The comment section wasn't entirely one-sided, though. One player questioned whether the fix was actually harmful to players: 'When the enemy pushes you into fire terrain during their turn and triggers the multi-hit burn, does removing that really hurt you more than it helps?' Others pushed back, noting that the mechanic worked both ways but was far more exploitable on the offensive side — which was precisely why everyone rushed to pull for the character in the first place.
After the backlash escalated, Zilong issued an apology and compensation: 20 free pulls plus ultimate ability unlock materials. But players were hardly satisfied. Commenters dug up the studio's track record — 'Isn't this just Zilong's signature move? No test server... oh wait, the live server IS the paid test server.' Others drew parallels to past scandals in Zilong's other titles and even a last-minute censorship announcement in a different gacha game. One commenter quipped: 'If this happened overseas, there'd be trucks parked outside the studio by now.'
As it stands, Zilong has apologized and handed out compensation, but the trust damage is already done. 'You have to stay on your toes when playing Zilong games,' one player warned. Others noted that 'Zilong actually listens when you yell loud enough — half their improvements came from community outrage.' Whether 20 pulls is enough to smooth things over remains to be seen. After all, nerfing a character right after the banner opens tends to set a precedent — and players have long memories.
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