History ScrappyMechanic / GenshinImpact

* Plenty of items requiring Resin to farm are affected by significant amounts of RNG in the drop rate, which means that the amount of Resin required to reach the required quantity can vary significantly. Because of how slowly Resin recharges, missing a threshold by even a single item can mean waiting for hours or even days for the next opportunity to continue farming that item. A particular annoyance are the world bosses, which cost 40 Resin to farm, drop little of note except elemental gems and their special drop, and can drop 2-3 of their special drop at [=WL8=], 46 of which are required to fully ascend a character. Only receiving 2 special drops from a world boss kill will often leave the character one special drop short of an ascension. In contrast, there is zero variation in drop rates for the equivalent in ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' (Stagnant Shadow unique drops), which also drop far more unique drops per run.

* Nobushi and Kairagi are notorious for having [[RareRandomDrop unusually poor drop rates]] for their materials (Handguards) relative to the threat they present, with their drop rates being comparable to [[TheGoomba Slimes and Hilichurls]]. Nobushi are as tanky as the stronger Treasure Hoarders, but even level 90 Nobushi aren't guaranteed to drop a basic material (Old Handguard). Kairagi are the toughest basic enemies outside Sumeru and have extremely dangerous attacks, but level 90 Kairagi are only guaranteed to drop a minimum of one Old Handguard. In contrast, level 90 Samachurls are guaranteed to drop a minimum of two Divining Scrolls and level 90 Fatui Skirmishers are guaranteed to drop a minimum of 4 Recruit's Insignia and 1 Sergeant's Insignia (equivalent to 3 Recruit's Insignia). This can make farming Handguards unusually onerous.

* For limited character banners and Chronicled Wish, the infamous "[=50/50=]" exists. There is a 50% chance that the 5★ you receive is ''not the featured 5★ character'' (for limited character banners) or ''not the 5★ character or weapon you chose''(for Chronicled Wish), but rather one of the seven standard banner 5★ characters[[note]]Tighnari, Jean, Diluc, Mona, Keqing, Qiqi, Dehya[[/note]] (for limited character banners) or another 5★ in the pool of the same type as the player's selection (for Chronicled Wish). If that happens, the short banner duration and limited Primogem income mean that the player has likely lost their chance to obtain the featured or desired 5★ unless they have saved up (or pay approximately ''USD 180'' for) another 90 wishes. Thus, expect much rage when a player finally gets a 5★ on either banner type, only to "lose the [=50/50=]" - especially if it's to 5★ characters or weapons that are badly outclassed in the endgame. The only consolation to this is that if you "lose the [=50/50=]" on either banner type, your next 5★ on that banner type is guaranteed to be the featured character or chosen 5★[[note]]This means that in order to absolutely guarantee that you obtain the featured character or desired 5★, you need up to a whopping ''180'' Intertwined Fates, assuming that you lose the 50% chance at[=/=]near the 90th pull[[/note]]. For limited character banners, this guarantee carries over across banner changes. This is often compared to ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', where hitting pity on the character banner guarantees the featured S-rank Valkyrie, and ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', whose weakest standard banner unit (Yanqing) becomes workable once the player acquires Gepard.

** Each artifact domain has ''two'' 5★ artifact sets that it can drop. Some are very resin efficient. Others, especially those containing the best-in-slot artifact for a one specific character, tend to get paired with an artifact set that ranges from "alternatives are more resin-efficient to farm" to "generally useless in endgame". This means that when farming such domains, half the 5★ artifact drops end up wasted. The worst offender is "Valley of Remembrance", which contains Maiden Beloved, a healing bonus artifact set almost always outclassed by the Ocean-Hued Clam artifact set, and Viridescent Venerer, an artifact set that is de facto mandatory for all Anemo support units.

** In an attempt to alleviate issues with Daily Commission fatigue, the "Adventure Encounters" system launched with Version 4.1, allowing certain other tasks to be completed in lieu of Daily Commissions. However, all these tasks are ''one-time'' exploration or event objectives (open chests, collect oculi, complete quests, obtain event rewards). This is in contrast with ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' whose Daily Training Activity includes ''repeatable'' tasks done as part of the character raising process (e.g. level up Relics and Light Cones). As a result, when there is no new content available, the "Adventure Encounters" system is near-useless for veteran players and content speedrunners -- the very players who want relief from Daily Commission fatigue. This is exacerabated by (i) a trend of newer events timegating in blocks of 48 hours instead of 24; and (ii) end-of-version filler events ("Overflowing Mastery", "Ley Line Overflow" and "Marvelous Merchandise") not counting as providing claimable event rewards.

** The game rounds the "exploration progress" percentage to the nearest whole number. Thus, "[=100%=] exploration progress" displayed on the in-game map may still mean that there are exploration objectives (chests, puzzles etc.) left to be completed. This leaves no easy way to determine if an area has been fully explored and all exploration objectives have been completed.
** The "exploration progress" percentage counts almost every one-time exploration objective, ranging from all-important chests and teleport waypoints to even floating Mora boxes in the water. This makes it impossible to determine at a glance what needs to be done to finish up the last few percentages of missing exploration progress.

* While "Chronicled Wish" helps players access characters and weapons which have not been rerun in a while, it appears to have a bit too much FOMO baked in. While this banner uses limited banner wishes and also has a "[=50/50=]", its guarantee uses a similar system to the weapon banner's Epitomised Path (except only requiring failing once). This means that if you "lose the [=50/50=]" and fail to subsequently pull the chosen 5★ before the banner disappears, you lose your guarantee -- a stark contrast to the limited character banners and their transferrable guarantee. Furthermore, if the inaugural edition in Version 4.5 sets the precedent, the banner seems needlessly short (3 weeks in the first half, when it could last the whole patch). Developers' statements also do not suggest it will run on a predictable schedule. Generally, opinion on the banner is that it is not worth pulling on unless the player has enough wishes to guarantee their chosen 5★ within the banner period.

* To alleviate concerns about the significant amount of content weekly bosses are locked behind, a mechanic was introduced that allows players to solo challenge weekly bosses they have not yet unlocked. This unlocks at [=AR40=], which is supposed to match when the player unlocks the ability to level character talents beyond 6 (and thus needs weekly boss drops). However, this makes it ''impossible'' to pre-farm drops from Azhdaha, Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto, Guardian of Apep's Oasis and All-Devouring Narwhal, since (i) all these bosses have their unlock quests gated behind [=AR40=], which unlocks World Level 5 and (ii) a player can only join a multiplayer session with a lower World Level than their own. Given how Fontaine's Archon Quest unlocks at [=AR40=] and new characters always seem to be assigned the latest weekly bosses, this issue is expected to continue going forward.

** Characters need unique materials from the weekly bosses to upgrade their talents beyond Level 6. Each weekly boss has three types of unique materials. There's only a single opportunity a week to get up to 2 to 3 of such unique materials, and multiple of the same unique material can drop. Players can go weeks without getting the needed ascension material, leaving their talents stuck at Level 6. Version 1.5 [[AuthorsSavingThrow alleviates this a bit]] by introducing the Dream Solvent, which lets players convert any weekly boss's unique drops into either of its other drops, but that also only drops from weekly bosses.

* There is no character loadout system for Artifacts and weapons to rapidly switch characters between different possible builds. For example, Ganyu can be built around her charged shots in a Melt team (for single-target content), or around her Elemental Burst in a Freeze team (for multi-target content), and the different elemental Travelers have drastically different movesets and scalings from each other. However, switching between these radically different builds with different stat requirements requires the time-consuming process of manually replacing every Artifact. The developers have noted this and indicated that they are "currently discussing a new plan to help [players] select and equip Artifacts as quickly as possible."

** In an attempt to alleviate issues with Daily Commission fatigue, the "Adventure Encounters" system launched with Version 4.1, allowing certain other tasks to be completed in lieu of Daily Commissions. However, almost all of these tasks are ''non-repeatable'' exploration and event tasks (open chests, collect oculi, complete quests, obtain event rewards). This is in contrast with ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' whose Daily Training Activity includes ''repeatable'' tasks (e.g. level up Relics and Light Cones). As a result, when there is no new content available, the "Adventure Encounters" system is near-useless for veteran players and content speedrunners -- the very players who want relief from Daily Commission fatigue. This is exacerabated by (i) a trend of newer events timegating in blocks of 48 hours instead of 24; and (ii) end-of-version filler events ("Overflowing Mastery", "Ley Line Overflow" and "Marvelous Merchandise") not counting as providing claimable event rewards.

* Unique weapons (and furniture[=/=] blueprints) earned from a version's limited-time flagship events are ''permanently unobtainable'' once they end. Most of these aren't particularly valuable, but one such unique item is the Cinnabar Spindle sword from "Shadows Amidst Snowstorms", the only sword other than the 3★ Traveler's Handy Sword with a DEF secondary stat. Players who have Albedo but weren't able to participate in the event to get the sword are permanently locked out of his best-in-slot weapon.

* While Chronicled Wish helps players access characters and weapons which have not been rerun in a while, it appears to have a bit too much FOMO baked in. While using limited banner wishes and having the same [=50/50=] as the limited character banners, its guarantee uses a similar system to the weapon banner's Epitomised Path (except only requiring failing once). This means that if you "lose the [=50/50=]" and fail to pull the chosen character before the banner disappears, you lose your guarantee -- a stark contrast to the limited character banners and their transferrable guarantee. Furthermore, if the inaugural edition in Version 4.5 sets the precedent, the banner seems needlessly short (3 weeks in the first half, when it could last the whole patch). Developers' statements also do not suggest it will run on a predictable schedule. Generally, opinion on the banner is that it is not worth going into unless the player has enough wishes to guarantee their chosen item within the banner period.

* For limited character banners and Chronicled Wish, the infamous "[=50/50=]" exists. There is a 50% chance that the 5★ you receive is ''not the featured 5★ character'' (for limited character banners) or ''not the 5★ character or weapon you chose''(for Chronicled Wish), but rather one of the seven standard banner 5★ characters[[note]]Tighnari, Jean, Diluc, Mona, Keqing, Qiqi, Dehya[[/note]] (for limited character banners) or another 5★ character or weapon in the pool (for Chronicled Wish). If that happens, the short banner duration and limited Primogem income mean that the player has likely lost their chance to obtain the featured or desired 5★ unless they have saved up (or pay approximately ''USD 180'' for) another 90 wishes. Thus, expect much rage when a player finally gets a 5★ on either banner type, only to "lose the [=50/50=]" - especially if it's to Qiqi or Dehya, whose kits are generally considered ''unsalvageable'' in the endgame. The only consolation to this is that if you "lose the [=50/50=]" on either banner type, your next 5★ on that banner type is guaranteed to be the featured character or chosen 5★[[note]]This means that in order to absolutely guarantee that you obtain the featured character or desired 5★, you need up to a whopping ''180'' Intertwined Fates, assuming that you lose the 50% chance at[=/=]near the 90th pull[[/note]]. For limited character banners, this guarantee carries over across banner changes. This is often compared to ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', where hitting pity on the character banner guarantees the featured S-rank Valkyrie, and ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', whose weakest standard banner unit (Yanqing) becomes workable once the player acquires Gepard.

** The odds of obtaining a desired 5★ weapon are somewhat poor. Under the current double banner system, two limited 5★ weapons run simultaneously. In place of the [="50/50"=], when a 5★ weapon is pulled, there is a 25% chance to obtain a standard banner weapon, while the remaining 75% is split between the two limited 5★ weapons. Receiving a standard banner weapon only guarantees that the next 5★ weapon will be ''either'' of the limited 5★ weapons. Unless the player commits to pulling ''three'' 5★ weapons before the banner ends (detailed below), there is no guarantee to get the desired limited 5★. This is exacerbated by banners pairing a highly desirable weapon (e.g., Engulfing Lightning) paired with a relatively niche or undesirable weapon (e.g. Everlasting Moonglow and Jadefall's Splendor). In contrast, ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' simply has two separate limited Light Cone banners with one 5★ Light Cone each, allowing players to guarantee a specific limited 5★ Light Cone.

* For limited character banners, there's a 50% chance that the 5★ you receive is ''not the featured character'', but rather one of the seven (since 3.6) standard banner 5★ characters[[note]]Tighnari, Jean, Diluc, Mona, Keqing, Qiqi, Dehya[[/note]]. If that happens, the short banner duration (3 weeks) and limited Primogem income mean that the player has likely lost their chance to obtain the featured character unless they have saved up (or pay approximately ''USD 180'' for) another 90 wishes. Thus, expect much rage when a player finally gets a 5★ on a limited character banner only to "lose the [=50/50=]" - especially if it's to Qiqi or Dehya, whose kits are generally considered ''unsalvageable'' in the endgame. The only consolation to this is that if you didn't get the featured 5★ character the first time, your next 5★ is guaranteed to be the featured character[[note]]This means that in order to absolutely guarantee that you obtain the featured character, you need up to a whopping ''180'' Intertwined Fates, assuming that you lose the 50% chance at[=/=]near the 90th pull[[/note]], and this carries over between limited character banners. This is often compared to ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', where hitting pity on the character banner guarantees the featured S-rank Valkyrie, and ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', whose weakest standard banner unit (Yanqing) becomes workable once the player acquires Gepard.
* On the other end of the spectrum, players who want a specific standard banner 5★ character will have a ''really hard time'' getting their (pun unintended) wish. While in practice, the standard banner 5★s can be obtained at literally any time, regardless of which banner that isn't a weapon banner the player pulled on, getting them not only requires "losing the [=50/50=]", but having to deal with all seven of the standard banner 5★s sharing the same 50% drop rate, making it impossible to guarantee a specific one; this ironically makes getting a specific standard character much harder than pulling limited 5★ characters. In the standard banner, the pool is diluted even further with the 5★ weapons. To give an idea on how difficult it is to get a specific standard 5★, some players who played the game since launch claimed they have never got to see certain standard banner 5★s show up in their pulls ''at all'' during their gameplay. To this end, players wished the standard banner of ''Genshin'' would get a similar reward system to the standard banner of ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', where players can pick a free standard 5★ of their choice after pulling a certain number of times on the standard banner.

* The "double banner" system automatically features the two limited 5★ characters' signature weapons as the featured 5★ weapons in the event banner. Before version 4.5, this made non-standard banner 5★ weapons that were not signature weapons of a particular 5★ character[[note]]Summit Shaper, The Unforged, Memory of Dust, and Primordial Jade Cutter[[/note]] effectively ''unobtainable'' unless Albedo is a rate-up[[note]]Because Albedo doesn't have a 5★ signature weapon, the 5★ weapon slot attributed to him on Epitome Invocation will have a random 5★ sword, which can be Summit Shaper, Primordial Jade Cutter, or a 5★ sword that belongs to another character (ie. Freedom Sworn, which is Kazuha's associated weapon)[[/note]]; previously, "single banners" allowed them to appear as the second 5★ weapon featured on the weapon banner alongside the other character's signature weapon. This also affected signature weapons of characters who received a limited character banner before being added to the standard banner pool[[note]]Hunter's Path, Beacon of the Reed Sea[[/note]]. Version 4.5 appears to have begun remedying this issue with the "Chronicled Wish" system, whose first edition allows access to those weapons.

* The frequency and consistency of how[=/=]when a limited 5★ character gets their rerun banner tends to be very inconsistent; sometimes rerun banners are determined by if the character appears during a patch, other times not, and neither of these factors seem to take into account of how long a 5★ unit has been absent from having a rate up or if there are other 5★ characters waiting far longer than them. This often results in very unbalanced rerun schedules where some 5★ characters are getting reruns comparatively quickly over other 5★s who never got a rerun in a very long time, and there are even cases where a 5★ character can rerun twice or thrice while another 5★ is still waiting for their rerun[[note]]Throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023, Hu Tao, Shenhe, and Eula are unfortunate victims of this for example, having at least one instance where they were absent from the gacha for over a year while other 5★ characters got multiple rate-ups during that time[[/note]]. Many players considered this unfair toward characters who have already been waiting very long without getting their next rerun. As more 5★ characters are added to the game, it becomes much more difficult for all limited 5★s to get reruns in a timely manner, even with four character banners per patch.
* Version 2.3 introduced "double banners", where two limited character banners are featured at the same time during a single phase of a version instead of one, and the concurrent weapon banner will have both of the 5★ weapons be their signature weapons, which is helpful for giving different 5★ characters and their weapons a chance of getting a rate-up. However, with constant double banners being permanent since version 3.0, this has rendered the non-standard banner 5★ weapons that are not signature weapons of a particular 5★ character[[note]]Summit Shaper, The Unforged, Memory of Dust, and Primordial Jade Cutter[[/note]] effectively ''unobtainable'' unless Albedo is a rate-up[[note]]Because Albedo doesn't have a 5★ signature weapon, the 5★ weapon slot attributed to him on Epitome Invocation will have a random 5★ sword, which can be Summit Shaper, Primordial Jade Cutter, or a 5★ sword that belongs to another character (ie. Freedom Sworn, which is Kazuha's associated weapon)[[/note]]; previously, "single banners" allowed them to appear as the second 5★ weapon featured on the weapon banner alongside the other character's signature weapon. As it stands, how [=HoYoverse=] would find a way to make these weapons available again to the players remains to be seen; the Primordial Jade Cutter in particular is a very desirable 5★ Crit Rate sword that a lot of sword [=DPSs=] would greatly appreciate for its HP and HP-scaling ATK boost, and the Unforged claymore (which last had a rate up in v2.6) even finds a new lease on life in the hands of Navia (who made her playable debut in v4.3), and having the opportunities for these weapons getting a rate-up being gimped by the current banner format really hurts their availability. This issue also applies to (and is likely to continue with) signature weapons of characters who receive a limited character banner before being added to the standard banner pool (with reruns unlikely). This has already happened with Hunter's Path and Beacon of the Reed Sea, the signature 5★ weapons of Tighnari and Dehya respectively.

* On the other end of the spectrum, players who want a specific standard banner 5★ character will have a ''really hard time'' getting their (pun unintended) wish. While in practice, the standard banner 5★s can be obtained at literally any time, regardless of which banner that isn't a weapon banner the player pulled on, getting them not only requires "losing the [=50/50=]", but having to deal with all seven of the standard banner 5★s sharing the same 50% drop rate, making it impossible to guarantee a specific one, ironically making it harder than pulling limited 5★ characters. In the standard banner, the pool is diluted even further with the 5★ weapons. To give an idea on how difficult it is to get a specific standard 5★, some players who played the game since launch claimed they have never got to see certain standard banner 5★s show up in their pulls ''at all'' during their gameplay. To this end, players wished the standard banner of ''Genshin'' would get a similar reward system to the standard banner of ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', where players can pick a free standard 5★ of their choice after pulling a certain number of times on the standard banner.

* The frequency and consistency of how[=/=]when a limited 5★ character gets their rerun banner tends to be very inconsistent; sometimes rerun banners are determined by if the character appears during a patch, other times not, and neither of these factors seem to take into account of how long a 5★ unit has been absent from having a rate up or if there are other 5★ characters waiting far longer than them. This often results in very unbalanced rerun schedules where some 5★ characters are getting reruns comparatively quickly over other 5★s who never got a rerun in a very long time,[[note]]Throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023, Hu Tao, Shenhe, and Eula are unfortunate victims of this for example, having at least one instance where they were absent from the gacha for over a year while other 5★ characters got multiple rate-ups during that time[[/note]] which many players considered unfair toward characters who have already been waiting very long without getting their next rerun.

* To alleviate concerns about the significant amount of content weekly bosses are locked behind, a mechanic was introduced that allows players to solo challenge weekly bosses they have not yet unlocked. However, this unlocks at [=AR40=], which is supposed to be in line with when the player unlocks the ability to level character talents beyond 6 (and thus needs weekly boss drops). However, this makes it ''impossible'' to pre-farm drops from Azhdaha, Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto, Guardian of Apep's Oasis and All-Devouring Narwhal, since (i) all these bosses have their unlock quests gated behind [=AR40=], which unlocks World Level 5 and (ii) a player can only join a multiplayer session with a lower World Level than their own. Given how Fontaine's Archon Quest unlocks at [=AR40=] and new characters always seem to be assigned the latest weekly bosses, this issue is expected to continue going forward.

* You can only have one gadget equipped at a time. While not mostly an issue in freeroaming, it can become an annoyance if you need to keep opening your inventory to switch back and forth between using "freeroam"-based gadgets (ie. Treasure Compasses, Seed Dispensary, Red Feather Fan) and "puzzle-solving" gadgets (ie. Lumenstone Adjuvant, Sorush) to accommodate for any situations in the open world. This was alleviated in version 3.7, where a Gadget "Quick Swap" system was introduced, allowing you to equip up to four gadgets so that you can quickly switch between them on the fly.

* A number of world quests significantly alter the landscape upon completion, with no way to revert to the previous landscape. Many players regret finishing world quests simply because they find the previous landscape to be more unique. Examples include [[spoiler:Tsurumi Island's unique fog, the sandstorm on top of the Mausoleum of King Deshret and the spooky yellow colour of the Weeping Willow of the Lake in Erinnyes Forest]]. The most drastic example is a 4.2 quest [[spoiler:''In the Wake of Narcissus'', the finale of the Narzissenkreuz quest chain, which many players rushed after its release due to the quest chain's beloved cast of characters. While the quest's writing was well-received as usual, the quest permanently sinks the Tower of Gestalt into the sea, with no way to make it rise up again afterwards. The tower is the primary landmark in Morte Region, and without it, the region is extremely boring, dead and with absolutely nothing of note. In addition, while in other examples, the peculiar scenery is usually caused by TheCorruption, and thus players can expect it to go away when they progress through quests (so they know not to rush the quest), with how important the Tower of Gestalt is to the visuals of Morte Region, no players expected it to be removed from the above-water landscape of Fontaine]].

** In an attempt to alleviate issues with Daily Commission fatigue, the "Adventure Encounters" system launched with Version 4.1, allowing certain other tasks to be completed in lieu of Daily Commissions. However, almost all of these tasks are ''non-repeatable'' exploration and event tasks (open chests, collect oculi, complete quests, obtain event rewards). This is in contrast with ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'' whose Daily Training Activity includes ''repeatable'' tasks (e.g. level up Relics and Light Cones). As a result, when there is no new content available, the "Adventure Encounters" system is near-useless for veteran players and content speedrunners -- the very players who want relief from Daily Commission fatigue. Furthermore, certain recurring events, such as "Overflowing Mastery", "Ley Line Overflow" and "Marvelous Merchandise", do not count as providing claimable event rewards, so those who have completed most of the version's content are stuck with Daily Commissions if those are the only events active, which usually is the case in a patch's final week.