This was supposed to actually be my 6 month update (posted at the end of April but I was busy with real life stuff where this fell off the table). The last time I did a detailed writeup was a few weeks after I began playing prior to the 1.1 update. As of this writing, the game is on update 1.6. Obviously, there have been a number of changes (I’m not going to go over all of them). And obviously, this is going to be another wall of text (most of it positive in nature).
There are parts of Genshin Impact that I still enjoy; the game world (plus the explorable verticality in its design), the story telling, the impactful and visceral combat, some of the twists to the RPG aspects in this game. What I’m not fond of is the gacha component to getting characters (and then on top of that, tying a component of their progressive growth, the Constellation system, to that business model), the Adventure Rank/World Level component, and the inability to effectively level your characters the old fashion way (you get token amounts of XP from mobs since the “right” way is to use character EXP mats from rewards and events). Some of these “negatives” I outlined in the prior writeup linked above. Again, I realize this is foremost designed (business model) as a gacha game with other parts of the monetization tied to the premium battlepass (Gnostic Hymn) and the limited battle supplies that can be purchased (with Genesis crystals) each week (more on this later). With version 1.6, cosmetic skins have been introduced (currently very limited with one available for free during the event period in 1.6 as well as a paid version that will be discounted for the duration of this update).
Backing up a bit, one of the system changes was that the resin cap did indeed increase from 120 to 160 and the amount of condensed resin you can have increased from 3 to 5. The first expansion of the map (Dragonspine) also took place in version 1.2 and added a new open world mechanic (Sheer Cold) where you are affected by the cold conditions and will begin to take damage once the gauge fills unless you approach a heat source (camp fires, the fire under a cooking pot, heaters known as ruin braziers that can be activated, warming seelies, warming bottle gadget). This again gave me Guild Wars 2 vibes (Bjora Marches map when a blizzard/ice storm kicks up). New gadgets were introduced in subsequent versions while version 1.4, included a new system feature; the ability to lower your World Level (WL) by 1 once you reached WL5 as well as a character hangout feature (currently for Barbara, Noelle, Bennett, Chongyun, and Diona as of 1.5). Version 1.5 also introduced the housing system (instanced).
While actual expansions to the game world map have been relatively slow going, it’s been a steady drip of new mechanics, gadgets and systems (like the hangouts and housing). The time limited archipelagos for the summer event is the exact type of content exploration junkies like myself have high praise for; it’s actually disappointing all of that design effort will all go away in a month. The boat gadget is incredibly fun and puts another dimension into the game when it comes to ocean based content (that leaves actual diving as the final explorable horizontal/verticality mechanic that is missing). Newer players who signup after this patch will never get to experience this unless miHoYo finds a way to rerun them in the future. That’s the bane of having this much level of cross platform design since storage space for assets is a continual concern for mobile players (actually, there’s a lot of reused assets; there are real server/client concerns with state tracking since there are timers on respawns for mobs and materials).
If you completely ignore the gacha mechanic, the designs in Genshin Impact make this incredibly amazing RPG. The gacha mechanic tarnishes this because IMHO, it’s a predatory design that preys on the part of our brain that has this desire to gamble and “win” in order to feed that dopamine fix. I’m cognitive of this (which is why Vegas casinos never appealed to me) and am neither a whale nor a completely free-to-play player; the game is designed well enough that I see no issues with spending a small amount (more on this later). miHoYo doesn’t limit the amount of accounts you can create so I actually have 5 accounts (one is completely new and just there if I ever want to recapture the whole starting feel of the game, another is AR10 to redeem codes but something also not regularly logged in to, and after that are the 3 accounts I play at differing amounts/style).
My “main” account (what I had referred to in my previous Genshin Impact postings) is currently self-capped at Adventure Ranking (AR) 35 (WL3) with close to 360K adventure experience accrued. I have two other accounts (one is at AR55 and the other is AR52). I’m keeping this “main” account capped for the time being so that I can more easily farm character ascension mats (using the higher AR characters to join the lower level one). Basically, the actual drop rate for key ascension materials do not increase (the amounts are RNG between 1-3). Sure, some higher grade mats and artifact drops aren’t in the loot table at WL3 and it may not be an efficient use of resin but this is allowing me to quickly build up mats for lower level characters that need to be leveled. For the higher AR accounts, I still farm bosses in my own world (though I lowered the WL by 1 since again, there isn’t a drastic difference in drop rates and it’s faster to get through open world mobs and bosses).
Why in the world am I playing this way? Well this requires a (normal for me) wall of text to explain. Since materials and resources become ever more constrained at higher character levels (higher grade materials and more quantities needed when ascending), I’m trying to get characters I prefer playing rather than burning through those resources on those I do have, but don’t really enjoy playing (and thus not wanting to waste too much resources on). As your AR/WL increases though, if you don’t have certain characters keeping up, that becomes problematic (and you need to waste those resources on the ones you do have just to make sure you have a particular character you need to call on). For example, for the longest time, my only Cryo character was Kaeya (on this AR35 account) and I left him at level 45. It wasn’t until the event where you could select one of 4 characters that I finally got another (I picked Chongyun and used some resources on him to level him to 60). Shortly after that was the event where you could get Diona for free but I don’t use her since I’m saving my Cryo mats to try and get Ganyu on her re-run (for this AR35 account).
While each patch allows testing characters that are on the main banner, you have to do that trial with a preset team (making it difficult to gauge if you’ll actually enjoy playing that character or having it in your party). Example: when Zhongli came out, I didn’t really care for him when test playing him in the trial. I happen to have him on the AR52 account and after he was buffed, his Jade Shield is really nice. On my AR35 account, I previously tried pulling for Ganyu (after accumulating 16K Primogems) when she was released back in January, but failed to get her (I got Mona instead on my soft pity). Since then, I’ve been re-accumulating Primogems but did a small pull in early May since I wanted to get Yanfei (a 4-star Pyrocaster) when she was released in late April.
That main banner featured a re-run of Zhongli and I had 10 Intertwined Fates from rewards along with the re-accumulated 16K Primogems (I was willing to use 3200 of them to get Yanfei). I wasn’t expecting to pull a 5-star since my last pulls in January, was the soft pity (where I got Mona). As it turned out, I ended up pulling Zhongli on the 25th pull (I did all singles instead of 10 at a time) and I got Yanfei on the 40th. Additionally, to complete the 50 pulls for this battle pass, I did 10 more pulls a in late May, and got Mona (for Constellation 1) on my first pull. I have no idea how their pull system is designed (like how the RNG is calculated when doing 10 wishes as a time versus single pull). If single pull RNG are predetermined based on the 10 pull RNG, then the outcomes would be no different after 10 separate pulls. However, if the RNG is rolled with every individual pull, you can get very different results by doing single pulls. My point is that previously, I had done 10 wish pulls at a time and gotten less than stellar results on my AR35 account. Doing single pulls though, I also got other 4-star characters (dupes) for additional constellations (pulling duplicates is currently the only way to unlock that characters constellations). In more simpler terms, I’ve gotten better pull results doing singles and will be really putting this to the test once Inazuma (the next major expansion to the map) characters are released.
Basically, I’m trying to save my Primogems since I want to get Ganyu (as noted, she’s slated for a re-run in the next 2-3 months) on my AR35 (she’s on the other two accounts which again are played to varying degrees; the AR52 misses a lot of events and dailies and is primarily to test pulled characters to see if that is what I want to actually play while the AR55 is pretty much like an actual main account but is resource starved from upgrading character artifacts and talent skills). The next new region (Inazuma) was previewed recently by miHoYo and is slated for 1.7 in July; one of the new characters that will eventually be released that I want to pull for is Ayaka Kamisato (a sword based Cryo character) and possibly the pyro archer Yoimiya. There is also the Electro Archon that will be released somewhere in all of this (that’s a lot of 5-stars to go after).
Preferences wise, I really like the feel of characters that use swords as their weapons in this game; Keqing eludes my AR35 account but I absolutely like having her in my lineup (she is on my AR10, AR52 and AR55). The team composition I’m primarily enjoying their synergy is Zhongli, Ganyu, Keqing, and Diluc on the AR52 account. The AR55 account doesn’t have Zhongli so I’m running a mix of Ningguang/Jean/Ganyu, Barbara, Keqing, and Diluc. My AR35 currently doesn’t have Ganyu, Keqing, and Diluc. Basically, my AR35 doesn’t have most of the characters that I’ve found that I enjoy playing so my main composition is primarily the ones I got early on (like Barbara, Razor, Fischl, Xiangling, and the traveler). But it has the biggest stockpile of Primogems (24K and counting). I’m leveling up Yanfei and I now need to level up Zhongli and am not wasting resources on Diona (as mentioned, free from a recent event); her shield is nice but I’m trying to save my Cryo mats for Ganyu (Ayaka will be using Inazuma specific mats). I’m debating on leveling my Noelle (Geo) since I have her at C5 now (courtesy of the 40 pulls I did to get Yanfei where besides Zhongli, I pulled several Noelle’s) since I find her fun to play. But besides Ganyu and Ayaka, I’m also trying to get Diluc (Pyro Claymore wielder) and Keqing (Electro sword user) on my AR35 account. Once I get Ganyu and hopefully Ayaka (at minimum), I’ll probably finally ascend the account. If the RNG ends up failing me, I may just end up putting most of my time farming resources on the AR55 (which has little Mora, little gathered plants, etc) and building up Primogems there (and just shoot for Ayaka).
Basically, there’s a method to the madness of how I’m playing these accounts which bottomline, is centered on playing my way versus whatever meta is in vogue. Genshin Impact is a free to play single player game with limited multiplayer co-op. You are only competing against others if you turn it into that (the usual e-peen factor). That’s never been my idea of fun in games like this where I prefer playing at whatever pace I feel like. Again, there’s no restriction to the amount of accounts you can create (to try and use the free Primogems and wishes they throw at you early on to see what 4/5-stars you can get). It would seem that I should just make the AR52 my main; but it’s missed most every event so it doesn’t have a lot of those rewards (gadgets). The AR55 has a lot of those event items but no Zhongli and is resource starved from leveling characters to test them out. At face value, that looks like the path of least resistance but it also doesn’t have a stockpile of Primogems accumulated (since they were all burned for pulls; I don’t know if I can get enough to insure 100 pulls by the time Ayaka is released). It’s the usual conundrum that can be “solved” by semi-whaling (couple of hundred bucks worth of Genesis Crystals) but I have absolutely zero desire to go down that rabbit hole.
As I wrote in my prior posting (linked up top), I refuse to whale in this game (actually, I refuse to do that period in any game because the game industry is one of the worst when it comes to quality customer support and just predatory game design/business practices by development studios; that’s the problem with whales where they end up helping perpetuate the poor business practices and predatory business models utilized in the gaming industry). Gacha type games are the proverbial black hole; Genshin Impact is no exception if you fall into that trap of the thrill of pulling and hoping to hit the jackpot along with the instant gratification of getting dupes to max out a characters constellation. And to be honest, once you get the characters that you think you want and then play them for a period of time, you do end up coming to the realization that they aren’t worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to pull/max out. I mean whales will do what they do because they have a skewed perspective of the value of money. Content creators who spend thousands of dollars often times recoup that from the sheer number of subs and viewers they have. You can spend your way to will the 5-stars that you want, but you also need to spend a lot more to get dupes to fill out their constellations (so you need six additional duplicate pulls) to get the most impact. And that leads me to my next point.
Content creators who whale this game to serve up entertainment, end up creating content that can lead to unrealistic expectations for some of their viewers. Genshin Impact has a wide demographic of players; many are seasoned gacha players from other mobile games. There are also the usual whales who do what they do in these type of games (effectively funding the company for several years). There are also the younger and more impressionable players (the ones who I hope aren’t being affected too much by the gacha mechanics which can be an issue for those who can become addicted to the gambling component of pulling). Many of these younger players are by extension, free-to-play because they don’t have the money to spend. Then there are players like myself; traditional console/PC players who like the RPG, exploration, and storytelling aspects of the game (within this demographic, some of us despise the gacha mechanic and have realistic expectations and reasonable spending limits).
For me, the $5 per 30 days Blessing of the Welkin Moon is fine (you get 300 Genesis Crystals immediately and 90 Primogems daily or 2700 for the 30 days). In the grander scheme of things, it’s immaterial to miHoYo given how much whales tend to spend to get what they want. Again, IMHO, no character (digital pixels) in this game is worth purchasing/spending hundreds or thousands of dollars of Genesis Crystals (which can be converted 1:1 for Primogems) for the “instant gratification” of willing your way past the designed RNG. So folks like myself have to choose what we pull on wisely and save enough to hit the soft pity several times.
And this leads me to the final point I wanted to get to; there’s a point where miHoYo will have WAY too many gacha characters with the trajectory they are on. That becomes a design challenge without having to resort to power creeping newer ones (to make them attractive) to supplant the older ones. It also becomes a balancing nightmare when you look at each character as a specific skill set (with modifiers) that you’d normally have in one slot on your skill hot bar in most RPG’s. It becomes ever more challenging to come up with unique aesthetics for their character models. The game is also currently capped at AR60/WL8 and character level 90. AR55+ is a grind (that one should not grind anyway unless you really give a damn about e-peening the AR60 milestone) due to the amount of adventure experience required from that point.
All of this layered progression (with characters, their talent skills, their weapns, and the game world) has a price with resources being ever more scarce as more characters are introduced, and you have to force progress them in order to be usable. It’s literally an unsatisfying grind with this current design when you constantly have no resin left and quickly burn through six plus figures worth of Mora. That’s where the other systems are supposed to come into play like the hangouts and housing (but some player immediately maxed out their trust ranking and Adeptal Energy and trying to manage the load of the furnishings in their housing instances). Basically, there is never an easy way to not have players burn through content when there is some kind of grinding element involved. Once Inazuma is released, these same players will find every chest, every seelie, every Inazuma specific oculi (rumored to be electroculus) for the regions’ Statue of the Sevens within a few days of its launch while hard grinding for region specific mats and resources. More power to those folks who enjoy playing that way (I don’t). miHoYo then has to constantly find ways to keep these players satiated and engaged between content updates.
That’s partly how I look at my self-capped AR35 account. There’s a bunch of objectives I need to work through based on what I learned on my other two higher level accounts. Getting Zhongli on it was an unexpected surprise because he is just that good of a support to carry the others in your team. I honestly never expected to be playing this game for long when I first downloaded it because I figured it would ultimately be throwing mobile game cash shop mechanics at me left and right. As I wrote in my earlier impressions (patch 1.1) post, that has been the most pleasant surprise and has been my main RPG fix (supplanting Guild Wars 2 exploration in the process). I still give miHoYo critical feedback on their surveys (including toning down the reliance on time challenges for everything) but I also cannot wait to give them a bunch of positive feedback regarding the summer event archipelagos and the puzzles they created on it (but more so, to get the point across that new areas to explore is the hook that got me, and continues to keep me playing despite the gacha business model).
