With Genshin Impact’s big 4.0 Update on the horizon, many long-term players are looking forward to the new characters and new areas to explore. However, major title updates, such as the 4.0 Update, will likely draw in new players who want to see what all the hype is about. While Genshin Impact has a lot of content for new players to dive into right away, arguably one of Genshin Impact’s biggest features - the character banners - may frustrate a lot of new players and perhaps turn them off of the game entirely, and not just because they may lose their first 50/50 for a limited 5-star character. The problem actually lies in Genshin Impact’s character ascension system.
While Genshin Impact does give a good avenue for many new players to start their adventure, players looking to build characters they just pulled on a whim off the limited banner may be disappointed to find out that their chosen character requires materials that can only be accessed after completing hours upon hours or story content and exploration. So the character they invested their primogems (or money) into is effectively capped until they progress much further into the game. A solution needs to be found to this problem so new players won’t be locked out of characters they pulled for without knowing the boss material requirements were locked behind hours of content.
The Ever-Expanding World of Teyvat
By its very design, Genshin Impact is a live-service open world game. With nearly every update, the playable map expands to add new regions and sub-regions for players to explore, new characters to obtain, and new bosses to fight. Both Version 2.0 and Version 3.0 added entire regions to the game that featured massive new areas to explore. With almost every Version Update, such as the recent Version 3.6 release, new areas are often added to existing regions. Version 3.6 added the Gavireh Lajavard and Realm of Farakhert areas to the northwestern region of the Sumeru Desert. In addition to these new areas, it also introduced a new boss for players to challenge, which is required for the brand-new playable characters Baizhu and Kirara.
From 3.0 to the current 3.7 update, seven overworld bosses have been added into the mix which are required for ascending characters. Often, though not always, these bosses are added to the new region (or subregion, like Enkanomiya or The Chasm) introduced in that respective Version Update – in the case of 3.X this would be Sumeru. These new bosses are usually required to ascend characters that are introduced on the banners following the release of the boss, which is the core of the problem.
Genshin Impact's Character Ascension Struggle
New players starting Genshin Impact now are faced with a substantial obstacle should they choose to use their wishes on the limited character banners. Newer players may see a character like Raiden Shogun and simply pull on her banner because they tested her in the Trail Run and liked her playstyle or design, not knowing that to get her leveled up and through the ascension thresholds they require regional-specific items from Inazuma along with materials from a boss that is not only inaccessible until the player completes a considerable amount of Genshin Impact’s story, but also they would need to complete a lengthy world quest to completely unlock Seirai Island where the Thunder Manifestation boss is located.
In short, this new player pulled for a character that will be locked at the ascension level 2 wall until they finish the first two major arcs of the Genshin Impact campaign. While Raiden Shogun is the most extreme example of this, any Inazuma characters are in a similar situation. Players cannot access Inazuma until they complete the Liyue story arc, and certain boss materials may be even harder to access than simply unlocking the region. Characters like Yae Miko, whose banner is currently featured in Genshin Impact Version 3.7, and Shenhe require boss materials from Enkanomiya. Enkanomiya is locked behind Act 2: Chapter 3 of the main storyline as well as a very lengthy side quest that begins on Watatsumi Island.
While the latest region added, Sumeru, can be visited once players are allowed to leave Mondstadt, it is certainly not an easy journey early on. The Iniquitous Baptist world boss required to ascend Baizhu and Kirara is located at the opposite end of the Sumeru region from where players enter from. So new players would have to make their way from Mondstadt all the way through Liyue and all the way through Sumeru, just to reach this boss. Players just starting out in Genshin Impact may not realize that a character they wished for requires a journey that they may be unable to complete yet, thus rendering their use of primogems (or actual money) useless until they progress further in the game. The character they were so excited to get becomes a set piece until they commit the time to get further in the story or exploration.
A Solvent Solution for Genshin Impact
A potential solution to this problem could come in the form of something similar to Dream Solvent. Dream Solvent currently is used to convert Trounce Domain boss materials. Trounce Domain bosses have three different materials they could drop, and each character uses a Trounce Domain material to level up talents to Level 7 or above. Dream Solvent is used to convert a boss material from one type to another within the same boss loot pool.
While Trounce Domains are just as inaccessible and limited in number of sources to new players, Dream Solvent could be used as a template for Hoyoverse to create a new material that functions in a similar way but for World Boss materials. Of course, if this material is used to convert world boss materials from one to another, it would need to be balanced to not be abused by high-level players looking to get out of some elements of the Genshin Impact grind. Perhaps it is at a rate of 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 which is okay for getting an early ascension level, but costly for trying to ascend a high level character where it takes up to 20 boss materials to ascend.
Whether that sort of idea is the direction HoYoverse decides to move in or not, something needs to be done for new players to be able to ascend new characters without having to force themselves to rush through the story or explore regions too quickly. The current system encourages new players to skip the story, which is one of the biggest parts of Genshin Impact, in favor of speedrunning content just to be able to level up their brand-new character. This problem is only going to get worse as more regions are added to Genshin Impact, and the upcoming 4.0 Update will likely draw in plenty of new players, so there is no better time than then to start working on a solution to this ever-growing problem.
Genshin Impact is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Mobile. A Switch version is in development.
