Buzz
In two consecutive versions, Genshin Impact has continuously released parallel banners, leaving many players in distress.
In version 2.3, two 5-star characters, Eula and Albedo, returned together in a parallel banner. Despite expectations for rerun-only banners, Genshin Impact players were shocked in version 2.4 when Xiao and Shenhe were both released in a parallel banner. Shenhe, a new 5-star character, followed the Ganyu-Zhongli banner.
Perhaps realizing the effectiveness of parallel banners, miHoYo has consistently applied this gacha format. Players have more options when gachaing characters and weapons. However, Genshin Impact's parallel banners also have some drawbacks, directly affecting players.
Genshin Impact is currently one of the most successful gacha games in terms of both revenue and coverage. The game's gacha mechanism is reflected through the 'Wish' system with various banners. If a player performs 90 wishes on a banner, they are guaranteed to receive a 5-star character/weapon. These wishes accumulate across banners. In parallel banners, the wish history is still shared between the two. As a result, players with enough resources or luck can own both 5-star characters in these parallel banners.
Another advantage is that rerun banners appear more frequently due to parallel banners. New players can acquire characters that have been released for a while, characters they missed in previous runs, or obtain additional constellations. Similarly, the weapons featured in parallel banners generally benefit Genshin Impact players.
However, there is a significant drawback to parallel banners that can directly impact players. This is because 5-star characters appear too frequently, reducing the time players have to gather resources and Primogems for specific characters. For example, players who want both Shenhe and Xiao will have to roll a maximum of 360 times in just 20 days. Typically, if the two character banners were separate, it would take 40 days, giving players more time to grind for their desired characters.
This means that parallel banners are pushing players to spend more and faster on gacha. This drawback primarily affects F2P players, who mainly earn Primogems through grinding and saving for months. Therefore, many F2P players were deeply distressed by the simultaneous release of four 5-star characters in version 2.4 of Genshin Impact. Some even showed outrage and opposed this parallel banner model.
However, in reality, the downsides of parallel banners do not affect all players. Some may only choose 1-2 characters in a version to gacha, and even if they fail, they still have a safety net for other characters in the future.
After version 2.4, it is evident that parallel banners have brought some benefits to Genshin Impact and are being consistently used by miHoYo in the future. It is unclear whether all updates will apply this model or if there will be 'triple banners' in the future. However, at the current moment, Genshin Impact fans have gradually accepted the game's new gacha system.
