Ever since it left Beta,Genshin Impacthas become hugely popular in the West and East. Already the successor to a hugely popular game in China, it has seenover 17 million mobile downloads, not counting other systems.
However, anyone who playsGenshin Impactwill quickly learn something important: it’s a Gacha game. This refers to a game where players must either grind for resources extensively or pay real-life money for random, possibly good rewards. In the case ofGenshin Impact, players basically roll a die whenever they try to unlock a new character, and hope they draw the desired one from a pack. Because of the random nature of character unlocks, the good characters players manage to draw are very precious. This is why new information leaked about the game is troubling.
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Not long ago, arumor began that Patch 1.1 is coming toGenshin Impact.Many players were hopeful that this would add new characters and world content, like the next region to explore. Now the patch is a sure thing, and a beta tester for the new content leaked some details about new stuff players can expect. Sadly a new region is apparently not forthcoming, although that is not the worst news. Three heroes (Diluc, Venti, and Fischl) are getting nerfed by the patch. All three are characters that players can unlock, and it doesn’t look like they are getting bonuses to balance the nerfs.
As of this article, there are not many details on the nerfs in terms of specific numbers. According to the leak, the biggest nerfs are on the characters' attack speeds. Venti has suffered an additional nerf given special mention: his Burst ability costs 20 more energy to use. These devalue the characters without decreasing their price or making them easier to get. This is particularly disturbing in a game where one streamer has alreadyspent $2,000 to get a character.
In a PVP game, nerfs are regular and are done to maintain balance in the PVP scene. However, all ofGenshin Impactis PVE content so far, so this seems like unnecessary balancing to many. The conclusion many have made as to why the nerfs are happening is to slow down gameplay. After all, the nerfs are lowering attack speed, ensuring monsters take longer to beat. This means progression will also be comparatively slower with these characters. As a result, player progress will be slowed. In a roundabout way, it’s similar to howAvengersnerfed its loot drops, except it makes the grind worse instead of the reward.
There is no doubt thatGenshin Impactis doing something rightto be so popular. But it should also be remembered that, at heart, it is a gacha game invested in causing players to spend real money to avoid grind.
Genshin Impactis available for PC, PS4, and mobile devices.
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