Launched in 2020, Genshin Impact continues to build its playerbase with regular updates. However, new players face more challenges than expected.
Since launching in late 2020, Genshin Impact’s massive playerbase continues to grow with each version update. Many players may be nearing the Adventure Rank Level 60 cap, while others may just be starting for the very first time. Despite Genshin Impact’s Co-Op capabilities and open-world aspect, the game struggles to fully welcome new players into its immersive world.
As Genshin Impact has an enormous cast of characters, it is typical for these characters to have a corresponding Story Quest along with either major or minor roles in the Archon Quests. Additionally, select characters have Hangout events in which players can interact with and learn more about these characters outside of their roles in the main storyline. There is plenty of content to keep new players busy for hours on end.
However, the downfall of having as much complex content in an ongoing game is that new players will have to navigate the different objectives – which are sometimes locked behind the completion of another line of tasks – while attempting to balance the other core aspects of the game, such as character building, completing event challenges, and exploring new regions in Genshin Impact. Mechanisms that were simple during early launch end up becoming more complex and troublesome than it needs to be in the present day. With Genshin Impact’s current setup, new players will continue to struggle.
As new events release every version, it is relatively easy to miss important character interactions. Characters such as the Sixth Harbinger, Scaramouche - who first appeared in the limited-time Version 1.1 event “Unreconciled Stars” - remain a mystery to many. Notably, when Scaramouche appeared again in Version 2.1’s Archon Quest in Inazuma, many players were meeting him for the first time. Players who completed 1.1’s event received special dialogue upon their second meeting, whereas later players needed to piece together Scaramouche’s character with the context clues they were given. Players who were fans of Scaramouche before beginning the game - most likely courtesy of artwork from Genshin Impact fans - may have been shocked to discover that he only appears in a single scene of an Archon Quest locked behind the Inazuma region.
Another instance is Version 1.6’s “Midsummer Island Adventure” summer event. This event had an enormous cast that included many familiar faces, such as Jean, Barbara, Klee, Diluc, Razor, Kaeya, and Albedo. Fans of these characters who began after the event ended had missed out on all of the interactions between the group and were unable to experience it in-game. Since characters rarely interact in the open world, players are limited to seeing these characters in specific Quests. Even then, Quests that are not Hangout events are only able to be played once and never again.
In these situations, players need to rely on uploaded videos from older players, word of mouth, or unofficial sources. To combat this, there should be an option that allows players to replay past events, similar to the mechanics of the Hangout events in Genshin Impact. Alternatively, an in-game text record of the event’s dialogue could provide players with the opportunity to learn more about the characters involved. Genshin Impact already provides these records for Character Quests; it should go further and include past events as well. This way, players can experience the events and receive all the information available for better engagement in future updates and a deeper understanding of the main storyline.
With the release of Genshin Impact's 5-star Electro Catalyst-user Yae Miko, many players were successful in obtaining her on the featured banner. However, new players - and even casual players - under a certain Adventure Rank who pulled Yae Miko faced a very inconvenient issue: they were unable to build Yae Miko properly. In order to do so, they must first unlock the Enkanomiya region and complete its story, along with Raiden Ei’s first and second Story Quest, which unlocks the boss that awards the material Yae Miko requires for her Talents. Seeing as players need to be Adventure Rank 30 to initially enter Inazuma, this could be especially troublesome to those who have only unlocked the Mondstadt region.
As 5-stars are often a team’s main DMG dealer, players may need these new characters to complete challenges in order to advance to higher Adventure Ranks - which brings them closer to Genshin Impact’s endgame. These players are then placed in a position where they need a stronger character to level up easier, but they cannot use the character they have obtained until they reach a higher Adventure Rank. At this rate, a new player who begins when the last region has been released will have to clear all seven regions of Teyvat if they want to build a new character from that region.
To combat this, Genshin Impact can make Ascension materials available in select places on the map, given that the environmental needs are similar to the source. For example, Kazuha’s Ascension materials - Sea Ganoderma and Marionette Core - were available on the Golden Apple Archipelago islands before the Inazuma region was released. Alternatively, there can be a special traveling merchant who sells specialty items from other regions, and the stock can change daily or depend on RNG. This way, there is a fair chance for players to receive the materials they need if they do not have the time to grind Adventure Ranks and quests for hours on end.
In the early stages of the game, players are given Genshin Impact’s starter characters: the Traveler, Amber, Kaeya, and Lisa for free. As this is a free-to-play game, these characters were needed in order to fulfill the elemental requirement of open-world challenges without relying on rarer characters. However, these starter characters are easily outperformed by their 4- and 5-star counterparts. Although the traveler can resonate with each region’s Statue of the Seven, their kit for each element falls short compared to true Vision-wielders.
Since the Primogems needed for 10 wishes is relatively difficult to achieve without consistent playing, new players may depend on the starter characters for longer than they should. They may struggle to keep up with other players who have the opportunity to obtain rarer characters for stronger teams. Most likely, players would choose to bench the starter characters in favor of using a new character obtained via the Wish system in Genshin Impact.
The starter characters should be made stronger as the Wish system’s RNG may not give a player a character with an element or weapon type they need more. This way, all players have a fair chance at progressing in the game with similar amounts of difficulty as others, rather than one group struggling while the other excels. By buffing the starter characters in Genshin Impact, new players will be encouraged to continue playing for updates to come.
