Genshin Impact (PC/PS5/PS4/NSW/iOS) - Open-World Action RPG - 2020

[Kachiko]

Not sure about a new weekly boss, but the new character is just an "event" where you claim it. Probably has the L30 Adventure level restriction most things have.

Also, my code, if anyone hasn't played in 2 weeks and is checking out Fontaine and wants primo gems:

GBEVYGNA6N

[The Stig]

Thank you! I thought the char was limited time. Got it now.
I'll start exploring tomorrow but I now also have an urge to try and clear out Sumeru first too!

[Obsidian]

Yeah Lynette is just a permanent free character like Barbara or Xiangling, you can claim her once you're AR 25.

Wriothsley and Neuvilette leaks are out. Water man looks very strong. Wolf man looks very sick. I was just going to hoard until Focalors but I may have to relent and get Wriothsley, he just looks awesome.

[Gokulo]

After the story itself, I really liked Navia + Clorinde seemed badass from the first leaks to me, so kinda interested how their kits turn out. But Navia is geo so I'm not expecting anything great >.>;
And yeah, Wriothesley is also another character that piqued my interested from the first leaks and his gameplay looks cool (although I lol'd that it's basically Luka's animations from Star Rail), but I think I need to hold back - saving up for the Archon is always my priority first, then maybe waiting for someone really good to pop up along the way.

[Obsidian]

I'm at 40k primos, 25 Fates, and ~60 Fates worth of Starglitter, on top of being like 65 wishes into pity, so in theory I can probably get Wriothsley and still have enough for the Archon and her weapon even if she's in 4.2. It's really just a question of if he ends up being good enough to go for. Neuvellite is looking like he's going to end up being pretty strong but his design just doesn't speak to me.

[Yuri-G]

While I still think Zhongli is amazing (and I pray we get some more good Geo constructs to abuse his pillar pulsing with in the future), I'd say he's really only a must-pull if you like Bow characters.

With the introduction of Dendro/Bloom reactions I also think I'd add Kokomi to that group. Being a character that can both heal and apply Hydro from off-field makes her very good in a variety of Dendro and Freeze teams, often doing the job of two characters on her own.

The highest priority for any newer player should definitely be Nahida, and then Kazuha though. The two of them separately can be the core of so many teams that having them both means you can make almost anything work.

that's fair. I don't even think Zhongli is a must-pull so much as he's the only character who just completely invalidates difficult content, which may or may not be something people like.

haven't really explored the new area much, too many other games to play. also if I'm being honest I'm just dreading the underwater areas. it sounds similar to the ground areas but.. just slower? not sure it's my vibe.

also wtf is Lyney about? "welcome to Fontaine, here's a mono-pyro dps!" like no thanks? I'm good? he's cool and all, and he is a solid unit in his niche, but... I have so many mono pyro DPS characters already, and most of them can also vape or reverse melt, which he can't do effectively. I am honestly not sure what hoyoverse was smoking with that one.

Neuvillette on the other hand... well I can't turn down a "I'MMA FIRIN MAH LAZER" character lol

[Obsidian]

I haven't done much exploring yet but from the little of the underwater sections I've done, they're really not that bad. You get underwater sprint stamina. Swimming is also nice because it means you don't have to fucking climb everything.

What separates Lyney from other Pyros (aside from Dehya, rip) is that he almost literally can't vape, whereas the others can. His second Ascension passive only works on things with Pyro applied to them, and reactions like Melt and Vaporize remove the Pyro status. He also then obviously can't work well on any enemy that can't be afflicted with Pyro, like shielded mobs or elemental bosses.

In situations where he does work, he is honestly one of the stronger Pyro characters. But his kit is just too limiting for me to want to bother with when I've already invested so much into Diluc (rank 34 on Akasha) and I now also have Yoimiya.

[Yuri-G]

that's what I'm saying, Lyney's numbers are GREAT but he literally loses like 25% of his damage if the enemy isn't affected by pyro and/or you don't have a full pyro team (or at least 3 pyro). it's just a bizarre design choice and I'm not sure what the devs were thinking.

good to hear the underwater sections aren't TOO bad. sprint does help, I hadn't thought of that. although I don't climb things to be fair, I just use wanderer I wonder if they'll release a unit that has really strong underwater travel abilities akin to his flight? that could be interesting.

[Obsidian]

I think it was just meant to differentiate him from other Pyros, and kind of like a tradeoff. "Hey, he's quite good but you can't use him everywhere to balance it out."

I thought about pulling for Wanderer last week but every time I did his trial I just hated the feeling of using him, haha. He's great for exploring but even I'm not willing to pull a 5* JUST for exploration.

[Gokulo]

Underwater gameplay isn't as bad as I was afraid it could be, although it will always suck that you are forced to fight there from time to time and any combat that doesn't let you use your normal character hits is annoying

[Obsidian]

Unrelated, but I think I've decided I'm gonna chip away at getting my Shenhe to C6 any time she's on a banner. I use Ayaka all the time and if I get Wrio there's even more incentive to abuse her C6 giving infinite NA/CA quills. It's gonna be a slow slog there but any time she re-runs and there's nothing coming up that I'm super interested in, I'm gonna go for it. Also probably gonna try to get Ayaka to C2 as well.

[Yuri-G]

I think that's a good goal to have. what's she at now? I'm working on C6 Yae, one constellation per banner. C4 now, two more to go.

[Obsidian]

Mine's C0 at the moment, the only limited banner 5*s I have constellations on are Zhongli (C1), Yae (C1 kind of by accident lol), and Raiden (C2).

I don't spend much on this game (Welkin + Battle Pass), I only do top-ups when I'm really desperate haha. I try to save enough to get the banner characters I want and have a reasonable chance at their weapons which ends up in me not pulling on many banners because the weapons are such a crap shoot. I think I'm at the point now though where I'm just gonna end up being pickier about the characters I go for (which will mostly come down to their designs and not being Dehya-level bad) which should make it a bit easier to spare the primos for Shenhe and Ayaka banners as they come around.

Also anyone with an alternate sprint is must-pull to me. Everyone seems to hate the Mona/Ayaka dash but I think they're great, haha. Thank God Wanderer's movement is tied to his E, or I would have been duty-bound to pull him even though I really don't like his kit.

[Gokulo]

Ayaka gains extra points in Fontaine since you don't use up stamina in water so can use her dash to go through it faster (well, stamina still gets used but you won't drown)

Also, big fan of the overworld battle music in Fontaine

[Yuri-G]

the more I think about it the more I like Lyney's combat. his lack of versatility really isn't an issue when you can already field literally any archetype in the game multiple times over. plus the back-and-forth between his charged shot, E, and Q makes for interesting rotations and a surprisingly deep character. so I decided to pull for him a bit since I was close to pity, and figured I'd either get him or save the guarantee for Neuvillette. failed the 50/50 on Jean which I was pretty happy with, then got Lyney anyway two pulls later. I sat on that screen for a good ~10 seconds just staring lol

[Gokulo]

I forgot we're also getting Cloud Retainer sometime down the road in Fontaine, yeah, it's gonna be hard to choose who to go after other than Furina...

[Obsidian]

I still haven't gotten 2 five stars in the same 10 pull. Some day.

Congrats though!

[The Stig]

omg I'm trying to clear up Sumeru quests and I didn't realise I was putting myself into playing literal Tomb Raider ... going through multiple caves and temples is exhausting haha

[Gokulo]

omg I'm trying to clear up Sumeru quests and I didn't realise I was putting myself into playing literal Tomb Raider ... going through multiple caves and temples is exhausting haha

At least now you have multi-layer maps, I Imagine that's going to make the whole thing a lot less painful than before >.>

Seems there's a chance they will be switching dailies to a system similar to Star Rail, which I'd definitely like:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/...ai-star-rail-s

[RalphTheDwarf]

The new map system is definitely helping with Sumeru stuff, got sidetracked there the other day and saw a difference. I haven't done my reputation quests this week because was hoping to unlock them in new region but not sure I'll be able to get to rank 2 before the reset, I need about 200 more points and the only way it seems to do that fast is 40% exploration.