What would Genshin Impact be like without our complaints?

In recent updates, miHoYo has made numerous changes to Genshin Impact, improving gameplay and enhancing the overall player experience. However, these changes are the result of years of relentless feedback and suggestions from the Genshin Impact community, spanning across multiple versions and countless emails. Many of these improvements may not have been possible if everyone had the mindset of 'it's good enough as it is'. So, do you know just how bad Genshin Impact used to be?

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The perplexing features of Genshin Impact 1.0

First off, let Mytour reminisce about something everyone remembers. For over 3 years, Genshin Impact players had to waste a lot of time... running from the starting point of a domain to where the key was to begin farming. This usually took about 10-15 seconds, and for many players, this was the majority of Genshin Impact's 'gameplay'—they were so strong that they could clear a domain in just a few fleeting seconds.

It wasn't until version 4.3 that miHoYo improved this by allowing players to start right at the combat area, with the key appearing nearby when challenging again. This saved a lot of time and truly made domain farming much more convenient.

Also in patch 4.3, the Expedite Exploration feature allows us to claim rewards and repeat with just 2 mouse clicks. However, did you know that when the game was first released, sending a character on an expedition meant that character was unusable until the expedition ended? This was one of the most 'useless' features of the game, but luckily, players protested enough to prompt miHoYo to quickly address it.

But wait, the list of early-game questionable decisions doesn't end there. On Sundays, in patch 1.0, all domain and weapon ascension material drops were... random. This feature was extremely absurd, to the point where articles and guide videos for Genshin Impact at that time always emphasized saving resin for weekend boss fights instead of farming domains. It wasn't until patch 1.2 that players were allowed to choose what they wanted to farm from domains on Sundays.

Speaking of weekly bosses, in patch 1.0, the game required us to spend 60 resin to claim weekly boss rewards, causing players to worry that they wouldn't have enough resin as more bosses were added. It wasn't until patch 1.5 that miHoYo proposed a solution to halve the resin cost for the first 3 weekly bosses, after which you still had to use 60 resin. However, many players were still unhappy with this solution because bosses were already limited to being fought only once per week.

Birthday Turmoil

These days, whenever Genshin Impact celebrates another year (annually on September 28), players receive 10 gacha rolls from a week-long login event, along with 1,600 Primogems spread over 4 days. But did you know that this is the result of a 'holy war' witnessing the Qiqi icon being spammed perhaps tens of thousands of times on miHoYo's official Discord server at the end of September 2021?

The reason for this is because the original birthday rewards were extremely stingy, especially considering the game raked in billions of USD in its first year alone. Initially, miHoYo only intended to gift 10 rolls and sell a package of wings, Primogems, and name cards for around $30, but they ultimately split this package and sent it to players' inboxes as part of the birthday gift. Not to mention several other 'foot-shooting' events that had occurred earlier, leading to prolonged player dissatisfaction, such as the 1 Billion Primogems event turning into the '108 Primogems' meme.

In the days leading up to Genshin Impact's first birthday, the player community was also sharply divided. Many die-hard miHoYo fans defended the publisher and said it was good enough, while mocking those who opposed miHoYo's ultra-stingy 'birthday' celebration. But this is a perplexing viewpoint considering that we, the players, contribute to the game's success, whether directly through spending money or through promotion and sharing. Moreover, it's these very fans who are more than willing to accept those Primogems.

Notable Improvements

For seasoned Genshin Impact players, the appearance of Venti while farming artifacts in early co-op days always made them wary. This was because, at that time, the artifacts received from the Geo Structures would drop on the ground, and you had to pick them up yourself. However, many 'reckless' players used Venti's burst skill to vacuum up all the artifacts into the void, causing other team members to waste resin for nothing. miHoYo addressed this issue by having artifacts drop directly into your inventory in patch 1.2.

The reason why Genshin Impact players despise these disruptive individuals is also easy to understand. Each artifact farm requires 20 resin, equivalent to two and a half hours of waiting. Moreover, at this time, the resin limit in the game was only 120, which was increased to 160 in patch 1.1 after player complaints. miHoYo also added 2 new items in this version: Condensed Resin and the ability to craft Mystic Enhancement Ores using resin. However, initially, we could only hold 3 Condensed Resin, which was later 'upgraded' to 5.

By version 1.5, miHoYo introduced the Serenitea Pot feature and gave players a little more resin each week through the Time-Saving Condensed Resin item. This was also the last time miHoYo 'loosened up' with resin, and since then, the Genshin Impact development team has always maintained an 'iron fist' policy to tightly control the amount of resin players can use each week. This prevents players from progressing as quickly as they would like when building their characters and forces them to engage with the game for the long term.

Fortunately, when version 2.0 was released, players had a new way to obtain sacred artifacts. That's the Divine Procession, or the Sacred Ritual. It allows us to exchange 3 old 5-star artifacts for a new one and gamble with luck once again. Although the 3:1 ratio may seem a bit low, it's actually close to 2:1, details of which can be found in the .

The Spiral Abyss has also been greatly improved since version 1.0. You may not remember, but the 'Retry' button is a new feature added later. Initially, whenever you failed, you had to exit the Abyss, reopen it, and select characters again even if you wanted to keep the current team. Moreover, Genshin Impact didn't allow us to preview opponents in the character selection interface, so players often had to rely on an external website to see what they were up against and choose their team!

Areas Still Needing Improvement

As of the time this article is written, Genshin Impact has become much better compared to its early days, thanks to the efforts of the development team. However, the game is not yet perfect, and those who play both of miHoYo's latest titles will find improvements they want to see in Genshin Impact.

We can cite examples such as the ability to farm weekly bosses three times in a row, without waiting days to farm weapon and skill upgrade materials. According to Mytour, Honkai: Star Rail initially reused the material rotation system from Genshin Impact's dungeons during its testing phase, but due to strong opposition from players, it was adjusted to allow farming at any time like it is now.

Not to mention the differences in features between the PC, iOS, and Android versions of Genshin Impact – this alone could be the subject of a story. Hopefully, miHoYo will continue its efforts to improve its gaming experience and make the game even more appealing in the future.

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