The AR ranks will come pretty fast and I think AR35 (out of 60) is when they highest gating anything behind it at all.I had this sort of vague idea in my head that I could maybe catch up with the current content in time so that I could experience Fontaine along with everyone else. This was when Fontaine was still releasing 'at some point in the future'. Now I understand that it is apparently expected in 6 weeks. It seems difficult and probably inadvisable to try and get through 3 years worth of content in 6 weeks just to be able to catch up. And this notion totally died when I came up against the same issue that bothered me in Star Rail which is that there are minimum adventure rank requirements to continue the story. I finished Mondstadt at AR19 and the requirement for the next quest to go to Liyue was AR23. I'm still not a fan of this kind of gating but the shock was less than it was when it happened in Star Rail. Although, I can sort understand it here a bit more because the content is supposed to last for much longer and there's always stuff you can go and do in the open world to move things along. It still took several days because the most effective way to increase rank is still the daily commissions and I was hoping to play this game a bit more casually (meaning no daily commitments). So progress will be slow and catching up is probably out of the question.
So I had some time today and decided to give that specific quest one last go. Swapped out Bennett for Barbara and had already dumped Tighnari for Kaeya. With the elemental combos I was just about able to complete the challenge and finished off the quest. Then I just spent some time randomly doing things in the mountain and also went and did the weekly bounties (which I didn't know would reset tomorrow). That took up all my time and I was not able to get around to starting off the event so that'll have to wait.But note that you cannot complete quests in coop. BUT that specific challenge in Dragonspine is not technically part of the quest. So we could just join you if you want to post your ID here
So is it worth it to stick with the main story just to catch up? I'm generally the kind of player who likes to do almost everything in RPGs (at least all side quests) and it actually feels weird to just play the main story without doing the other stuff. Of course the upside would be that I would be able to catch up with the narrative and I guess unlock all the areas quicker. And with this game it's not like you can finish up an area/region completely and then move on. Feels like going back to older regions to do stuff you missed or deliberately left is not the worst thing.The AR ranks will come pretty fast and I think AR35 (out of 60) is when they highest gating anything behind it at all.
One thing I wanted to highlight is there's "content" and there's the "story". The actual archon quests, assuming you meet the requirements, can be done relatively quickly and that catches you up on basically everything. The side areas (Dragonspine, Chasm, Enkonomiya) have some interesting lore / stories but are not part of the main plot exactly, and same for all of the side stories.
AR20-40 is probably like, the hardest difficulty points in the game at times, but coop can help and getting some stuff farmed up helps too.
I added youThat said, my UID is 700620158 and it'd be great if anyone here wanted to add me up. Will probably need help at some point in the near future
To me, as long as you don't struggle or get hit with a rank gate... It's up to you really. I don't 100% regions before going to the next in general, I like coming back to collect things.So is it worth it to stick with the main story just to catch up? I'm generally the kind of player who likes to do almost everything in RPGs (at least all side quests) and it actually feels weird to just play the main story without doing the other stuff. Of course the upside would be that I would be able to catch up with the narrative and I guess unlock all the areas quicker. And with this game it's not like you can finish up an area/region completely and then move on. Feels like going back to older regions to do stuff you missed or deliberately left is not the worst thing.
What would you guys advise here?
So... Hangouts are like more visual novel-style interactions with a character, with multiple story paths and endings.I also unlocked some quests at AR26 today. Hangout quests or something like that. How are we supposed to do those. I looked a long list of them and some were AR locked and others required keys which you get from dailies? Are you supposed to unlock parts of quests like that? It felt a bit weird that you'd unlock a feature and then not be able to do anything at all with it so I'm wondering if I missed something there.
Likely Yelan. She is the fastest character to move around, regenerates stamina when dashing like this, and she's also an incredible Hydro support. Rumors are she's coming back with 4.0.Another vague question... I was watching some youtube video about the game and someone was playing with a character that I couldn't identify. She had this ability where she would dash short distances with full player control and she turned dark blue while dashing. Can anyone tell me who that was? She seemed to make a traversal puzzles easier.
The game was missing a lot of QoL stuff when I started playing (like patch 2 of Inazuma?) so I pretty much focused on the main progression quests so I could be "caught up" and do the events, plus that unlocked every area in the game if I wanted to do something specific. After that I went back and explored more / did more quests when I wanted to. With Quickstart as a thing now events aren't as gated behind your progress which is great, although some of the combat focused ones can still be hard (although they usually offer trial characters now).So is it worth it to stick with the main story just to catch up? I'm generally the kind of player who likes to do almost everything in RPGs (at least all side quests) and it actually feels weird to just play the main story without doing the other stuff. Of course the upside would be that I would be able to catch up with the narrative and I guess unlock all the areas quicker. And with this game it's not like you can finish up an area/region completely and then move on. Feels like going back to older regions to do stuff you missed or deliberately left is not the worst thing.
What would you guys advise here?
Yea I should have mentioned I'm playing both these mihoyo games on the EU server. In theory I should play them on the Asia server but I somehow get double the ping there compared to EU. Go figure. Thank you for adding me though. Would welcome anyone else who wanted to add me as wellI added you
Genshin is not cross region though, so your account can't play with everyone....
Yea I unlocked the first key today. I think I'll just save them for character quests first and do the hangout stuff later.So... Hangouts are like more visual novel-style interactions with a character, with multiple story paths and endings.
But there's also character quests, more in line with what you already know (and most are plot relevant, but not all).
And yes you unlock them with "keys", you get one for two days of dailies completed. But can only stash three at a time. Another of those weird decisions, so you can end up having not enough early (after that, it's do 2 days of dailies every six weeks so it's whatever, reinforcing the strange and pointless design)... your choice if you want to unlock a hangout, or the upcoming character quests, Klee's one starts at rank 32.
No rush for any of that, but that's definitely one of those GaaSy ass elements...
Yeah I had a look at videos and it was Yelan. The guy whose video I was watching was zooming around the mountain with her and seemed to make some of the traversal stuff easier. Plus I guess you can get farther without freezing, which is nice. I'll see about getting her if she does in fact appear in a banner soon.Likely Yelan. She is the fastest character to move around, regenerates stamina when dashing like this, and she's also an incredible Hydro support. Rumors are she's coming back with 4.0.
Kirara also helps, she's not quite as fast, but she can also make super jumps with her skill that transforms her into an amazon box, and can run up walls while transformed.
To me, as long as you don't struggle or get hit with a rank gate... It's up to you really. I don't 100% regions before going to the next in general, I like coming back to collect things.
It can be a bit annoying when I have tons of quests that conflict with one another sometimes.
Wanted to address these two parts together. So yesterday when I started to play I thought I'll do the daily chores, wrap up some stuff on the mountain and then head to Liyue. Well, the wrapping up part just took so long because I kept running into new quests to do and all. When I was finally finished and started heading into Liyue, it finally dawned on me just how big this game world is. So far running around the Mondstadt region felt like it was a big but contained area. This new zone, and actually realizing how far the map extends further, drove home the point that there is simply no way I can play how I normally do and catch up before Fontaine. As you said Amzin, all the stuff you can do is exponentially more content than the story. So I've kind of given up on the idea for now. It would have been nice to experience it with everyone else but I really am way too far behind.The game was missing a lot of QoL stuff when I started playing (like patch 2 of Inazuma?) so I pretty much focused on the main progression quests so I could be "caught up" and do the events, plus that unlocked every area in the game if I wanted to do something specific. After that I went back and explored more / did more quests when I wanted to. With Quickstart as a thing now events aren't as gated behind your progress which is great, although some of the combat focused ones can still be hard (although they usually offer trial characters now).
I don't know the actual stats but the side quests + character quests + side regions + exploration is magnitudes more content than the core quests, so it really depends on if you want to explore "in order" or are more keen to catch up and then revisit areas (I liked revisiting and swapping around so I didn't get bored of anywhere, cough Inazuma cough, at this point the only non-100% area for me is the newest Sumeru spot).
I got to 237 vouchers playing normally. Getting to 240 and then 270 will get me all the rewards. Not feeling compelled to go and find literally all of the chests and everything even if it means missing out on primogems and all. Maybe I'll go back to find them if the mood strikes.Dunno if you saw spindoctor but you get two gadgets to see all chests and challenges on the map, depending on how many Joyeux Vouchers you got, so completing it isn't hard at all. Maybe a bit too much? It makes the length even shorter the usual, even if practical, they probably should have kept away the early one that works as a short range radar... made a lot of the exploration a bit meaningless.
This happened to me today actually and it's not just bosses that leveled up. All enemies are now level 47 while my party is level 40. So suddenly the game decided it should get harder and enemies take 2-3 times longer to kill. As it happens I decided to wrap up the Mondstadt reputation quests (the ones I can do anyway) and one of them is in Dragonspine. So now you're freezing (what a lovely mechanic) while fighting enemies that are taking 3 times longer to kill. I checked and some of the ascension materials are from domains I've not discovered yet. For the characters I have to kill enemies that are in Sumeru. So hey, just skip Liyue and run all the way across the fucking map to go and find those enemies that you need to kill to be able to get back to a level where you can actually play the game. This is some real bullshit design. And I don't know, I'm late, so maybe they've paced it perfectly and if you played when the content released it would not be a problem. Or maybe your first pull from a banner should not give you a character you cannot level up until you've played the game for 100 hours? Who knows?And if I'm not wrong, the Ascension rank 3 is automatic, and will bump bosses to around lvl50. Still very doable, but yeah, if you don't use resin, it can become a bit dicey...
Oh it's going to get harder. Lovely. I guess this means I really shouldn't do anything in the game except the main quest to keep getting to new areas to find level up materials. Huge mistake on my part to do the event just now which probably gave me a few adventure ranks.After that, there is a quest for the Ascension 4, and that's when things get much harder, reaching lvl70 is a bit of difficulty spike (not so much getting the materials, but everything definitely ramps up at that point). You can wait to complete the quest though.
Thanks for the tips on the characters. I think I'll just wait until some other banners show up with better characters. I think I might even take a break from this for a while.Honestly no idea what I'd do in your situation.
This is what made me quit Genshin originally. It's also why I pre-farm everything before increasing my Ascension Rank now.This happened to me today actually and it's not just bosses that leveled up. All enemies are now level 47 while my party is level 40. So suddenly the game decided it should get harder and enemies take 2-3 times longer to kill. As it happens I decided to wrap up the Mondstadt reputation quests (the ones I can do anyway) and one of them is in Dragonspine. So now you're freezing (what a lovely mechanic) while fighting enemies that are taking 3 times longer to kill. I checked and some of the ascension materials are from domains I've not discovered yet. For the characters I have to kill enemies that are in Sumeru. So hey, just skip Liyue and run all the way across the fucking map to go and find those enemies that you need to kill to be able to get back to a level where you can actually play the game. This is some real bullshit design. And I don't know, I'm late, so maybe they've paced it perfectly and if you played when the content released it would not be a problem. Or maybe your first pull from a banner should not give you a character you cannot level up until you've played the game for 100 hours? Who knows?
That's the real issue with having an open world design like this, getting characters that will require materials from much further in... and even then, it's Sumeru, so it's just a jog over there.This happened to me today actually and it's not just bosses that leveled up. All enemies are now level 47 while my party is level 40. So suddenly the game decided it should get harder and enemies take 2-3 times longer to kill. As it happens I decided to wrap up the Mondstadt reputation quests (the ones I can do anyway) and one of them is in Dragonspine. So now you're freezing (what a lovely mechanic) while fighting enemies that are taking 3 times longer to kill. I checked and some of the ascension materials are from domains I've not discovered yet. For the characters I have to kill enemies that are in Sumeru. So hey, just skip Liyue and run all the way across the fucking map to go and find those enemies that you need to kill to be able to get back to a level where you can actually play the game. This is some real bullshit design. And I don't know, I'm late, so maybe they've paced it perfectly and if you played when the content released it would not be a problem. Or maybe your first pull from a banner should not give you a character you cannot level up until you've played the game for 100 hours? Who knows?
For difficulty, I'm like 87% sure that's it's because you lack key progression in some areas, especially since Genshin doesn't scale at all in the same way that HSR does.Oh it's going to get harder. Lovely. I guess this means I really shouldn't do anything in the game except the main quest to keep getting to new areas to find level up materials. Huge mistake on my part to do the event just now which probably gave me a few adventure ranks.
Seriously annoyed with the game right now. First blemish on what was turning out to be a lovely experience for me.
Thanks for the tips on the characters. I think I'll just wait until some other banners show up with better characters. I think I might even take a break from this for a while.
And this case it wasn't even something I did. Just reached 30 and the world got harder around me. I don't understand why every other ascension is automatic. Star Rail makes you choose every single equilibrium increase and you can happily choose to stay at a lower level if you're not bothered about getting more/higher tier materials that you don't immediately need anyway.This is what made me quit Genshin originally. It's also why I pre-farm everything before increasing my Ascension Rank now.
My weapons so far are leveled up to the same level as characters. I can't go further because I haven't found the correct domains yet and also you need to play on specific days lol. As for artifacts, so far I've been using blues and the handful of purples the game gives you. Using stats that make sense to me and getting set bonuses. I don't even understand why green and white artifacts exist in the game. That's another thing Star Rail does better. Starts with blue and showers you with purples while you play so you don't actually have to farm them like it seems I'll have to do in this game. I'll go and look at builds for the characters and see if there's any modifications I can do to make things easier. Not been able to level any talents because they require phase 2 ascension (level 40+ I believe) and I've not been able to do that for anyone except the Traveler because free mats.For difficulty, I'm like 87% sure that's it's because you lack key progression in some areas, especially since Genshin doesn't scale at all in the same way that HSR does.
In Genshin, in order of importance it's weapon level (and those should not be affected by your story progress early since you're unlikely to use crafted weapons from further than Mondstadt), artifacts (you don't need great pieces, but you really, REALLY want to push them to 16, even a basic bunch of random +ATK will do, though all characters have different needs), talents (now those are a problem for Sumeru characters since you'll need to go there) and then level up.
People say that skillful gameplay can solve a lot of issues with difficulty but I'd really like to see them take on a miniboss with this disadvantage on the mountain when there's a timer before you freeze. What skill allows you to defy the onward march of time?Levelling up is almost irrelevant (well, except for Anemo, but that's for another time), and if you really start struggling, it's very likely a combination of the first two factors. I've seen people reach AR50 without even a single artifact lvl16, somehow, and with lvl1 weapons
The easiest option would be to focus on Bennett, Lisa, Barbara and maybe Kaeya (plus Xiangling, if you want) I suppose? They a decent job and don't require anything special.
I assume your weapons are all the original ones, possibly the few that are given with AR ranks too, and all of those use 1.0 materials that you should have access to?My weapons so far are leveled up to the same level as characters. I can't go further because I haven't found the correct domains yet and also you need to play on specific days lol. As for artifacts, so far I've been using blues and the handful of purples the game gives you. Using stats that make sense to me and getting set bonuses. I don't even understand why green and white artifacts exist in the game. That's another thing Star Rail does better. Starts with blue and showers you with purples while you play so you don't actually have to farm them like it seems I'll have to do in this game. I'll go and look at builds for the characters and see if there's any modifications I can do to make things easier. Not been able to level any talents because they require phase 2 ascension (level 40+ I believe) and I've not been able to do that for anyone except the Traveler because free mats.
Note that freezing is never a certainty in Dragonspine. You need to get close to a heat source to lower your cold bar, or gather some scarlet quartz for a little bit of heat. There's also a food that greatly increases your cold resistance, as well as an unlockable warmth bottle that straight up empties the cold bar in emergencies.People say that skillful gameplay can solve a lot of issues with difficulty but I'd really like to see them take on a miniboss with this disadvantage on the mountain when there's a timer before you freeze. What skill allows you to defy the onward march of time?
The thing is that Bennett has a very similar role to Dehya in your team, except he also comes with a massive heal and attack buff. He's also one of the rare characters that scale with flat ATK, so he's even less dependent than usual to gear, but he needs a weapon of decent level since that's the majority of his damage/buff.And yeah, I suppose I could focus just on Mondstadt characters but I like my 5-stars. I know Dehya has a bad reputation but she is my strongest and tankiest character and Tighnari does loads of damage. Not to mention their interaction is the best. It took this summer event that occurred fortuitously to get Tighnari up from level 20 to 40 where I could play him again and all of 2 days later ascension becomes a problem again. It's so annoying. I really do think I'll take a break for a while.
The Genshin team does seem allergic to focusing on QoL issues that have been solved in their other games (including older ones) - I think they are just very heavily content-centered.And this case it wasn't even something I did. Just reached 30 and the world got harder around me. I don't understand why every other ascension is automatic. Star Rail makes you choose every single equilibrium increase and you can happily choose to stay at a lower level if you're not bothered about getting more/higher tier materials that you don't immediately need anyway.
My weapons so far are leveled up to the same level as characters. I can't go further because I haven't found the correct domains yet and also you need to play on specific days lol. As for artifacts, so far I've been using blues and the handful of purples the game gives you. Using stats that make sense to me and getting set bonuses. I don't even understand why green and white artifacts exist in the game. That's another thing Star Rail does better. Starts with blue and showers you with purples while you play so you don't actually have to farm them like it seems I'll have to do in this game. I'll go and look at builds for the characters and see if there's any modifications I can do to make things easier. Not been able to level any talents because they require phase 2 ascension (level 40+ I believe) and I've not been able to do that for anyone except the Traveler because free mats.
break for a while.
In addition to a few weapon billets that I got from regular progression, I actually have this box of stuff that will let me craft any of the weapons in Mondstadt as far as I can tell.You're lacking materials for weapons like prototype rancour (excellent for Bennett by the way, also you won't really need the Traveler at any point, content will scale for them... but then, they are decent enough later), which everyone gets for free, materials from 1.0.
Should I actually go ahead and make something?
I mean yeah obviously playing the game more will eventually sort things out. The issue here is that somehow the game has gotten ahead of me. Maybe I broke the natural progression by doing some parts of Dragonspine and the summer event. If I hadn't gotten a bunch of adventure ranks from doing those things maybe it would be different. Maybe I'd reach AR30/World tier 3 right when I finish Liyue. Instead I'm now going to have to deal with a more difficult version of Liyue because my account progressed faster than the game is set up for.In the same way you lack artifact fodder... but both of those have a simple solution which is: play the game and explore Li Yue? You're not in a different situation from anyone else, be it three years ago or today, which is why I'm a bit confused?
You can (since your story is there) just do Li Yue content... there's even a certain side quest that will reward you a 5* artifact. Takes a looooong while though.
Nice, that's the one I'm using at rank 5 for Barbara.As for 3* weapons, yes some are very good, I keep refined versions of all of them. The most obvious one is Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers, it's THE dedicated catalyst for supports like Barbara.
I guess I'll have to pay more attention to the weapons I'm using. So far it has just been 'use the purple weapon if you have one' or otherwise just pick the best sounding blue one.And for weapons, usually you'll use crafted ones before getting lucky (or unlucky I guess) in the banners. That all depends on what you have already, and what you want to focus on, I guess you could either check a guide or just ask here depending on the weapons billets you have (I think they give you a free greatsword one during the early progression), then they are spread around in "souvenir shops" like Marjorie in Mondstadt, or as very rare weekly boss rewards. Weekly boss fights can also drop 5* artifacts starting from AR30, and they drop much needed boss materials for later...
I'll say that Tighnari has an excellent option in the 3* Slingshot too. Bloodtainted Greatsword is also good on Dehya, but you'll lose the energy recharge of the Favonius Greatsword (which is... pretty eh but better than nothing for her).
For Lisa... well she's arguably the most complex character in the game, and there's an entire book to read to learn of all her intricacies on keqingmains.com... so huh, depends I guess.
In a rare moment of QOL, now you can convert weapon billets to any of the other ones, so you can keep them for later.In addition to a few weapon billets that I got from regular progression, I actually have this box of stuff that will let me craft any of the weapons in Mondstadt as far as I can tell.
Should I actually go ahead and make something?
See we talked about that in here a while ago, and I do think that's it's Dragonspine that is the issue, you're not the first player to be stuck between a rock and a hard place there, the difficulty is way higher, and the AR XP you get from it probably shifts the rest of "normal" progression that should be in Li Yue... the event I don't think brings much AR XP in general.I mean yeah obviously playing the game more will eventually sort things out. The issue here is that somehow the game has gotten ahead of me. Maybe I broke the natural progression by doing some parts of Dragonspine and the summer event. If I hadn't gotten a bunch of adventure ranks from doing those things maybe it would be different. Maybe I'd reach AR30/World tier 3 right when I finish Liyue. Instead I'm now going to have to deal with a more difficult version of Liyue because my account progressed faster than the game is set up for.
That's where Genshin gets into the theorycrafting stuff quickly. Purple weapons have higher base damage (and sub stats) and blue ones, and gold ones are yet higher than purple ones, but the effects and the way they work is very, very character based and sometimes unique for all of them, they all have needs and ways to play that will affect what you use on them. Way more than the general stat ticks of HSR of non-dedicated light cones.I guess I'll have to pay more attention to the weapons I'm using. So far it has just been 'use the purple weapon if you have one' or otherwise just pick the best sounding blue one.
Ain't nothing wrong with pausing a game.I think I am definitely slipping away from Genshin. I've only been logging in to do events/daily stuff the last few weeks, despite only just being past the Festival in the Sumeru story(which I was mostly enjoying, despite Paimon). Now I find myself not even doing my commissions. I think it was farming the dendro cube for the millionth time to ascend both Al and Yao Yao that finally broke me.
Anyway, with BG3 and Starfield just around the corner, I won't have the time/interest for Genshin at all, I imagine. At least HSR can auto-play its chores in the background while I eat my breakfast and browse forums!
Well, we all get a free Lynette supposedly, so there will be a new character to build and play around with at least.Hm, yeah, ultimately, I didn't get many characters either. I liked their stories for the most part, but I was never tempted to roll on most chars there... I don't like how specific so many of them ended up being. I think that's the main thing explaining the lesser excitation, since they barely had two new limited 5* in 2023...
For me it's not starting well for Fontaine with Lyney either. Don't care one bit looking at those leaks.
I sure hope 4.1 will be more exciting, because not rolling till Furina is yet again a looong time...
I'm finally completing all the leftover quests and the exploration I haven't done. Really regrettable that the entire Oasis content isn't voice acted, it's really cool otherwise.
Eh, it's probably just gonna be like the introduction of Dendro was, except it's nation mechanics instead of element mechanics.I'm still pensive about some of the leaked Fontaine stuff but it just seems so unlikely they'd add much of an obstacle to the team building we've done for years and characters everyone has had forever.
I'll see if I can get back to the actual game and get the train moving out of the station.
Ultimately, it's all about what you expect from the game. You can catch up to the story in a few weeks, but at the cost of exploring and doing all the side content, and then you're left with doing just that.Back here after a few weeks. I've not been playing the game a whole lot for a few different reasons. The most obvious one is that other stuff came out that distracted me. It's crazy how many good games are all coming out right about now. Another reason is that somehow the realization that I would not be able to catch up with everyone else before Fontaine really deflated my drive to keep playing. Which I know is very silly because what's the point in being disappointed at something that was always an impossibility?
That said, I have still been playing frequently. It's just that I log in and it seems more important to do the daily chores to get the primogems than it does to actually continue the story. Can't describe how weird it feels that progression is not just playing more and instead getting gems is 'the real thing'. You'd think after playing these games for a few months I'd be better conditioned towards how to approach them.
Well... the thing is, if you want "well built team", it's a lot harder to do in your situation. Say you get Kokomi, you fill the healer and Hydro support part. But you're still left with big holes in your team. And really, same with Yelan, sure she's strong, but if you don't have a main, fast attacking DPS, and the energy recharge for her... you get another underwhelming Hydro support. Runs fast, tho.If you remember I did the trial for Eula when she was available in the last banner and liked her enough to try and get her. Except I got to 70 pulls without getting her and then suddenly stopped right for whatever reason (even I still don't understand what I was thinking). I recently did the trial for Kokomi and really liked her and thought about trying to get her. Then I did the trial for Wanderer and guess what, really liked him too. So I guess these trials are doing their job of making you want the characters. For me they're not just about the specific characters but having a fully well built team also let's me see the full potential of Genshin combat which I can't at my current low levels. And it's really fun isn't it? Anyway I haven't pulled for either of these 2 current characters because I know Yelan is coming in 4.0 and I had said I might want to get her when she returns. Apparently she is a really popular character although I've not been able to figure out what she does that is so much better than everyone else. Guess I'll find out in her trial. I have 100 wishes saved up so at least one character of choice is guaranteed even if I lose the 50-50.
It's a good amount of ressources, but unfinished, indeed... I don't think I'd do that.I reached level 36 of the battlepass and it doesn't seem like I'll get much further. Would you guys buy the battlepass at that level? From experience in Star Rail I know how useful the premium battlepass materials can be when starting out but not completing it feels bad right?
The world exploration really is the strong point, and it only gets better. Which is also why I'm not sure rushing the story is ideal, but I like to push for some story beats sometimes. You'll reach Inazuma and Sumeru one day.So when I'm busy not playing the real game I've been wandering around Liyue and every time I reach a new area I'm always reminded of just how good the artists of this company are. And also how silly it is that I'm not playing the game more. I didn't do much of anything in Liyue past where I was last time but I did follow a video and collecting all the geoculus thingies upfront. Not sure why but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I'll see if I can get back to the actual game and get the train moving out of the station.
I don't think I'll be rushing the story just to catch up. It's not how I play games in general and like you said, it's not how this one is intended to be played. I'll just do all the quests I find and explore to solve as many secrets and puzzle as I can. I finished Mondstadt with about 80% region completion which is what I expect here too. Dragonspine was at 51% completion because fuck that place lol.Taking your time to do a bit of everything is more in line with what the game expects of you, but it's not like you need to do it either.
For some reason (and this might be a mistake), I am not really bothered about getting a meta/optimal team together right now. I'm years late to the game and so far behind in story progression that I don't know anything about any of the characters in the game. The hope is that the game is easy enough to be completed with the core characters plus whoever I pick up along the way without having to worry about (and wait for) getting specific characters. In other words, I'm currently not thinking about how this character of this element synergizes well with this skill of this other character and all that. I'm thinking "Wow Wanderer can fly!". Or "Yelan can run really fast" which would have been so useful as I was trekking all over Liyue these past few days. And there's still so much of this huge map left to uncover. So yeah I'm thinking I'll just try for characters that seem nice and that you guys recommend and not get bogged down in optimizing right now.Well... the thing is, if you want "well built team", it's a lot harder to do in your situation. Say you get Kokomi, you fill the healer and Hydro support part. But you're still left with big holes in your team. And really, same with Yelan, sure she's strong, but if you don't have a main, fast attacking DPS, and the energy recharge for her... you get another underwhelming Hydro support. Runs fast, tho.
Usually, a team is built around the main DPS first, and here that leaves Wanderer, which fills that job very well, on top of being fun and useful in the world.
This has actually been demoted to a secondary problem now because a bigger issue seems to be coming up. I'm currently playing at world tier 3 which unlocked at AR30. I have gone past AR35 and I didn't do the ascension trial, so it's okay for now. However, my accumulated XP is around AR37 already and I expect it will go past AR40 before I even leave Liyue. So when I eventually go to do the AR35 ascension trial and complete it to unlock world tier 4, I will also get an automatic bump to world tier 5 because I'm past AR40. That will mean a 20 level increase for enemies and I'll have to prepare my own characters to ascend that much. Except, as far as I understand, you actually need to kill some high level enemies to get certain materials to ascend your character. So we'll have to see how to navigate that issue.But to go back to your earlier issues... all three of those characters will require materials from beyond Li Yue. All three need Inazuma mats, and that's locked until you complete Li Yue and do a bunch of plot points in Inazuma itself.
He's the Liyue archon right? Is it true that mihoyo actually makes archons deliberately stronger than regular characters because of lore reasons or whatever? I've read that Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Shogun are extremely popular because they are also extremely powerful. Maybe it might be worth trying to get Zhongli if that's the case. I'm still gathering primogems from just playing the game so there's no strategy here of saving for this character or that one. It's just try and pull on whichever character seems good and if it works out that's great otherwise back to saving.Next patch also comes with Zhongli. Now he has none of those problems, but his role in a team is "don't take damage" and that's it. Trivializes any content, but doesn't exactly do much.
Yea I reached 37 today and it's bothering me. Paying for an incomplete battle pass feels bad. But I also realized this might be the ceiling for me in terms of battle pass progression. When I look at the weekly tasks which would be a big part of completing the whole thing... I'm already doing what I can or am willing to do. I do the reputation bounties/quests, domains sometimes, the crafting, the cooking. But I don't do some of the other things like spending 500k Mora or 10 bosses or using up 1000 resin or the TCG stuff or the furnishing etc. I'm fairly certain you need to do at least a few of these things regularly to reach level 50. It's probably okay to miss a few of things a few times over the duration of 6 weeks but if you absolutely do not them at all for all 6 weeks you're not getting to 50. So, yeah, I don't know what to do here. They'll probably disable battle pass sales in a day or so as well.It's a good amount of ressources, but unfinished, indeed... I don't think I'd do that.
Also next patch patch the BP is updated with new weapons (on top of the old ones), so I think it might be a good option then...? Genshin is less dependent on it than HSR, but it sure is useful early on.
I actually had a question about this. Where exactly is Fontaine going to be on the world map? As in, west of Mondstadt or south of Liyue or where exactly? It's useless information but I am curious.The world exploration really is the strong point, and it only gets better. Which is also why I'm not sure rushing the story is ideal, but I like to push for some story beats sometimes. You'll reach Inazuma and Sumeru one day.
Also, Fontaine exploration will be just one teleport away after the Mondstadt story, seems like they've thought about that this time. Won't help you with Inazuma, but at least you'll be able to go pick up whatever and do events in Fontaine or something.
So.... this is actually a problem in the short term, because the game does expect you to star using its reaction mechanics, especially in Inazuma which ramps up a lot of things.For some reason (and this might be a mistake), I am not really bothered about getting a meta/optimal team together right now. I'm years late to the game and so far behind in story progression that I don't know anything about any of the characters in the game. The hope is that the game is easy enough to be completed with the core characters plus whoever I pick up along the way without having to worry about (and wait for) getting specific characters. In other words, I'm currently not thinking about how this character of this element synergizes well with this skill of this other character and all that. I'm thinking "Wow Wanderer can fly!". Or "Yelan can run really fast" which would have been so useful as I was trekking all over Liyue these past few days. And there's still so much of this huge map left to uncover. So yeah I'm thinking I'll just try for characters that seem nice and that you guys recommend and not get bogged down in optimizing right now.
This one is not a problem, you can fuse lower materials into higher ones at the alchemy table, at least.This has actually been demoted to a secondary problem now because a bigger issue seems to be coming up. I'm currently playing at world tier 3 which unlocked at AR30. I have gone past AR35 and I didn't do the ascension trial, so it's okay for now. However, my accumulated XP is around AR37 already and I expect it will go past AR40 before I even leave Liyue. So when I eventually go to do the AR35 ascension trial and complete it to unlock world tier 4, I will also get an automatic bump to world tier 5 because I'm past AR40. That will mean a 20 level increase for enemies and I'll have to prepare my own characters to ascend that much. Except, as far as I understand, you actually need to kill some high level enemies to get certain materials to ascend your character. So we'll have to see how to navigate that issue.
Archons are almost always super strong, though Zhongli got the only buff in the game after release because China was not happy about his state. That's another can of worms...He's the Liyue archon right? Is it true that mihoyo actually makes archons deliberately stronger than regular characters because of lore reasons or whatever? I've read that Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Shogun are extremely popular because they are also extremely powerful. Maybe it might be worth trying to get Zhongli if that's the case. I'm still gathering primogems from just playing the game so there's no strategy here of saving for this character or that one. It's just try and pull on whichever character seems good and if it works out that's great otherwise back to saving.
There's enough leeway to finish the BP around two weeks before it ends, since events also get you BP levels (it will definitely be the case with Fontaine's release) so you don't really need that much done each week (definitely don't spend 500k for no reason, that's for sure... but later that's just one level 10 talent upgrade )... if you play often that is.Yea I reached 37 today and it's bothering me. Paying for an incomplete battle pass feels bad. But I also realized this might be the ceiling for me in terms of battle pass progression. When I look at the weekly tasks which would be a big part of completing the whole thing... I'm already doing what I can or am willing to do. I do the reputation bounties/quests, domains sometimes, the crafting, the cooking. But I don't do some of the other things like spending 500k Mora or 10 bosses or using up 1000 resin or the TCG stuff or the furnishing etc. I'm fairly certain you need to do at least a few of these things regularly to reach level 50. It's probably okay to miss a few of things a few times over the duration of 6 weeks but if you absolutely do not them at all for all 6 weeks you're not getting to 50. So, yeah, I don't know what to do here. They'll probably disable battle pass sales in a day or so as well.
Now that's it's in the official marketing, I guess it's not really a spoiler anymore... Fontaine (well the first big chunk anyway) is located all the way to the North-North West of Sumeru, accessible by boat with the teleport point opened for you right after the prologue quest.I actually had a question about this. Where exactly is Fontaine going to be on the world map? As in, west of Mondstadt or south of Liyue or where exactly? It's useless information but I am curious.
The archons are definitely among the best units in the game.He's the Liyue archon right? Is it true that mihoyo actually makes archons deliberately stronger than regular characters because of lore reasons or whatever? I've read that Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Shogun are extremely popular because they are also extremely powerful. Maybe it might be worth trying to get Zhongli if that's the case. I'm still gathering primogems from just playing the game so there's no strategy here of saving for this character or that one. It's just try and pull on whichever character seems good and if it works out that's great otherwise back to saving.
So now I have to ask, which ones are these specifically? Because I've clearly not been doing them and I guess I should be since they're time gated weekly. Is it fair to assume that they are similar to Star Rail where you require boss materials for the last few talent upgrades but you can reach one below that level and still be mostly okay in the game? Are they also required for actual character or weapon ascension?Don't forget the weekly ones, those are extremely valuable and actually very limited! (... and you will see actual limit for some at higher talent ranks in full force)
I actually did all the season long event battlepass challenges and still didn't manage to get past 41. It was the weekly challenges where progression faltered. I did some of the easier ones but I never used up all my resin nor did I grind out ley lines or domains. Like I said before, I somehow just don't want to spend my time doing the GAAS grinding in this GAAS game outside of the daily primogem commissions. In contrast, I finished the Star Rail battlepass today after just over 3 weeks because I did basically everything in that game. These battlepasses can be completed with time to spare as long as you are doing a lot of the things to do. You can finish them just in time as long as you are doing most of the things. It's unfortunate I don't play the game enough to get to the end because the rewards scale up as you go deeper into the thing. We'll see how it goes in the next patch.There's enough leeway to finish the BP around two weeks before it ends, since events also get you BP levels (it will definitely be the case with Fontaine's release) so you don't really need that much done each week (definitely don't spend 500k for no reason, that's for sure... but later that's just one level 10 talent upgrade )... if you play often that is.
Note that you don't need to redeem boss drops for them to count, just kill them, so you can go on a killing spree for weaker ones and fill it up (back in the day, we would do that over a few days since the flower "chest" does not reset until the next day), same for Ley Line deposits, no need to spend resin, just completing them. And for the domains, you can just endlessly complete the Elemental trials in the Temple of the Lion (south east Mondstadt), it counts too.
You can also join someone's teapot... but that's for later.
The weekly bosses are essentially the big boss fights you do during archon quests (or archon's follow up quests, like Zhongli's personal ones). After you do the quest they "unlock" as domains/bosses you can claim rewards from once a week. 3 per week you get a discount of 50% stamina cost, 30 instead of 60, so the recommendation is obviously do at least 3 per week but I did all of them every week for a while.So now I have to ask, which ones are these specifically? Because I've clearly not been doing them and I guess I should be since they're time gated weekly. Is it fair to assume that they are similar to Star Rail where you require boss materials for the last few talent upgrades but you can reach one below that level and still be mostly okay in the game? Are they also required for actual character or weapon ascension?
I find this teleport point to Fontaine curious because while it unlocks after finishing the Mondstadt archon quest, the actual location is nowhere near Mondstadt. You would have the run through the entire map to get to that place. That's not great.
Oh yeah, while doing that event which required you to find those little animals, I had to run half way across the map. It was beautiful, as usual, but I also came across this location called the chasm. Am I right in assuming this is another Dragonspine type location which I can just skip when I finish Liyue and move on to Inazuma?
The community idea of a working team can be a net negative while levelling, a lot of teams are optimized for the endgame Spiral Abyss... or just damage-per-screenshot, while there's now way for them to work until you're far enough to get the appropriate artifacts and weapons.A while ago I tried something that sort of drives home this point. The entire community is unanimous on the notion that Dehya is rubbish and Xiangling is supposed to be quite good. So I thought I should maybe swap out Dehya for Xiangling in my team. But it didn't work for me because I'm used to Dehya applying her AOE fire all the time and then Tighnari putting down his AOE dendro thing and then Lisa comes in and blows up everything up with electro. And from time to time I use Barbara to apply hydro when required. Xiangling's ultimate is damn good but it was just not as comfortable using her. It's not that I thought Xiangling was bad or anything. Not being able to make her work is probably a skill issue or an artifact issue or whatever. I just went back to using the 'bad' character and as long as I can keep making my way through the story and side quests that's good enough for me. That's not to say I won't replace her if I want to but for now she's working out fine. Barbara is there for her heal but I find that I don't need it all that often so replacing her with hydro Yelan sounds like it could be a good idea. And it's a plus that she's a bow user. So far I've been using Dehya as the tank but I've also kept Noelle leveled up in case an actual tank/shielder becomes necessary at some point. Zhongli sounds a character that would take care of that problem permanently so we'll see if that can work out. I've also been keeping Kaeya and the Traveler leveled up (as far as possible with my resources) in case other elements are absolutely required.
Speaking of Zhongli, I finally just met him yesterday in the Liyue archon quest. Him being the archon takes care of the whole Rex Lapis murder mystery story of this entire region
Like Amzin said, they are weekly bosses, they are called "Trounce Domains" in your Adventurer handbook.So now I have to ask, which ones are these specifically? Because I've clearly not been doing them and I guess I should be since they're time gated weekly. Is it fair to assume that they are similar to Star Rail where you require boss materials for the last few talent upgrades but you can reach one below that level and still be mostly okay in the game? Are they also required for actual character or weapon ascension?
I wouldn't be surprised that it's because you came back to the game shortly before the current BP started, which makes things slower early (after all, you still don't get the weekly freebies like the ones in the housing teapot right now, I don't think? It unlocks late in Li Yue) and made you miss some of the event reward in the BP too.I actually did all the season long event battlepass challenges and still didn't manage to get past 41. It was the weekly challenges where progression faltered. I did some of the easier ones but I never used up all my resin nor did I grind out ley lines or domains. Like I said before, I somehow just don't want to spend my time doing the GAAS grinding in this GAAS game outside of the daily primogem commissions. In contrast, I finished the Star Rail battlepass today after just over 3 weeks because I did basically everything in that game. These battlepasses can be completed with time to spare as long as you are doing a lot of the things to do. You can finish them just in time as long as you are doing most of the things. It's unfortunate I don't play the game enough to get to the end because the rewards scale up as you go deeper into the thing. We'll see how it goes in the next patch.
That's going back to what we were talking about in here, it is just weird that there's no boat route to Fontaine yet, while it's clearly the way it's done in universe.I find this teleport point to Fontaine curious because while it unlocks after finishing the Mondstadt archon quest, the actual location is nowhere near Mondstadt. You would have the run through the entire map to get to that place. That's not great.
The Chasm is canonically done after you're done with the entirety of Inazuma. Unlike Dragonspine, there's nothing especially dangerous or required there, so you can explore it anytime. You may want to if you get Yelan, as her boss is in there actually.Oh yeah, while doing that event which required you to find those little animals, I had to run half way across the map. It was beautiful, as usual, but I also came across this location called the chasm. Am I right in assuming this is another Dragonspine type location which I can just skip when I finish Liyue and move on to Inazuma?
Oh and in a minor victory, I actually managed to 100% an area without actually trying for it. Felt good to have found all the secrets and stuff by myself.