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Developers Talk About Endgame Content

Source: gamespot

The Genshin Impact version 3.1 update has recently went live, and with it came the chance to speak with HoYoverse's developers over e-mail to gain insight into the team's plans for the future.

Gamespot asked about endgame content, Resin caps, costumes, and more. In their responses, the developers touch on what's currently being worked on, as well as potential ideas for future updates.

GameSpot: Versions 3.0 and 3.1 are expected to be one week shorter than usual. In the future, will you be continuing with these shortened version lengths, or should players expect update releases to return to their former pace?

Starting from Version 3.0 to the end of Version 3.2, the length of each update will be shortened to five weeks. But a shorter update cycle will not influence the quality of gameplay and content. Please stay tuned.

Currently, the Spiral Abyss is the only true endgame content for players at high Adventure Ranks. Are there any plans to release new, permanent endgame content in the same vein as the Spiral Abyss?

The Spiral Abyss is one of the most effective ways [for] players [to] test out their party composition and combat strength. If we design another type of permanent endgame that is similar to the Spiral Abyss, it might end up creating excessive anxiety for our players--not everyone is interested in Musk Reef.

Just like [the] Genius Invokation TCG that we unveiled in the Special Program for Version 3.2, we are also working on designing more interesting gameplay in the future. As an open-world game, Genshin Impact has a natural compatibility with various types of gameplay, which gives us confidence in the long-term operation.

Genshin Impact is going into year two with an ever-expanding roster. Some older characters might get left behind as power creep settles in and newer characters become much stronger choices. Is there a plan in place to potentially upgrade older characters and make them more viable?

If a character is only ass**sed by a single dimension of numerical strength, power creep could indeed be an issue. However, in Genshin Impact, [the] rules of gameplay [are more impactful] than how strong a character is. Therefore, new battlegrounds, new challenge levels, or even new team builds, all have potential to bring new life to existing content.

The introduction of Dendro has created plenty of new ways to cause elemental reactions, but some elements have been left out. Has there been any discussion regarding the addition of new reactions for existing elements? For example, in the future, could there be a new Geo and Dendro reaction?

We have no such plans for the time being. With the release of the Dendro element, the seven-element system has become somewhat complex. For us, there are other ways to increase the fun for players rather than simply increasing the complexity of game rules.

With easy and open rules, given some time, players will come to discover their own ways of developing builds. That is the fun of this game. The balancing of all gameplay rules is part of the team's long-term design focus, plus the team's experience and learning from player feedback in the long run are all important to maintain that focus.

For us, there are other ways to increase the fun for players rather than simply increasing the complexity of game rules.

The world of Teyvat continues to expand, giving players so many more challenges to complete daily (Domains, bosses, Ley Lines). Is there a chance we see a cap increase for Original Resin, or a quicker regeneration rate to allow players to take on more of these challenges each day?

Domains, bosses, and Ley Lines are important means to farm character and weapon ascension materials, and resins [are] required to claim these items as rewards. Meanwhile, we're also providing more options for gamers to obtain character development items. For example, many character and weapon ascension materials can be obtained and redeemed from events that we run periodically.

New players may have been a bit lost when starting the Summertime Odyssey event because they missed Fischl and Mona's first introductions. This also happened when Scaramouche showed up in Inazuma’s Archon Quest after appearing in the limited-time Mondstadt event. Is the team considering adding a way for new players to see or replay old story-related content and cutscenes that only existed in past limited-time events?

We’re aware of this issue and are looking into solutions for it. On one hand, stories from limited-time events shall never become barriers to understanding and playing Archon Quests. On the other hand, we’re also working on beginner tutorial adjustments, client capacity optimization, intelligent management of past content, and other optimizations. And as our technology and capacity [grow], we hope to have useful solutions that players welcome.

Costumes were added to the game last year, providing new, stylish looks for some characters. How likely is it that the Traveler becomes a recipient of one of these costumes? It would be interesting to see the Traveler in clothing that represents some of the regions they enter on their journey.

It is an intriguing idea to design outfits and accessories with regional characteristics for the Traveler. We don’t have anything to share on that front, but we’re always considering new ideas.

As a follow-up to the previous question, Aether and Lumine seem to get fun little accessories during certain quests, like a mask or flower crown, but they can only be worn for short periods of time. Have you ever considered turning these temporary accessories into permanent cosmetics?

We’ve been discussing this question within the team and some other ideas similar to it, however, we don’t have any news or details to reveal at this time.

On top of Genshin Impact, HoYoverse is also working on Honkai Impact 3rd , Zenless Zone Zero, and Honkai: Star Rail. There’s been a crossover between Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd in the past where Keqing and Fischl arrived in Honkai Impact. Are there any plans in store to do the reverse, and bring characters from Honkai Impact 3rd into Genshin Impact?

In terms of characterization, we wish to channel more effort and attention [into] creating characters from the world of Genshin Impact. If there are new opportunities for crossover in the future, we will be sure to share them with everyone.

Why Genshin Impact's Dendro Element Took So Long to Arrive

Source: IGN

When Genshin Impact first launched, it included playable characters for six elements: Pyro (fire), Hydro (water), Anemo (wind), Electro (electricity), Cryo (ice), and Geo (earth). However, anyone paying attention at all to Genshin's lore. some of its monsters, or even its loading screen would have noticed that a seventh element was seemingly missing in action: Dendro, or nature.

For the first two major Genshin Impact chapters, Dendro remained elusive. But with 3.0 and the introduction of dendro-focused continent Sumeru, we're at last getting a taste of greenery. Bow users Collei and Tighnari kicked dendro off alongside the Traveler gaining a Dendro element through the Sumaru storyline — and more are on the way.

But why did it take so long for developer miHoYo to introduce Dendro, especially when all other elements were present from the start? What was it about Dendro that required a little more time in the veggie steamer?

In an interview with IGN, a Genshin Impact spokesperson shed a little bit of light on what, exactly, took Dendro so long to join its elemental brethren, as well as why its character rollout has been a bit slow:

"The Dendro element is the last piece of the puzzle in the seven-element system. It is also the representative element of Sumeru, the nation of wisdom. Therefore, when we designed its elemental reaction mechanisms, we wanted it to be an element with more profound gameplay, one that enables multi-element reactions.

However, at the time of design, we were unable to come up with a mechanic that the development team found satisfying and innovative. As the development of the Sumeru area progressed, we had gathered more ideas and inspirations amidst constant polishing. We made a deeper connection between the Dendro element and Pyro/Hydro/Electro elements, so that the Elemental Reactions are not only reflected by characters, but also in the entire ecological environment of Sumeru.

For example, there are many plants and creatures with Dendro characteristics. Such plants and creatures have the potential of exhibiting polymorphic transformation that alters their appearances, functions, and even behavior, which is also the reason why we released the Dendro element along with its featured nation.

So for Dendro, it was largely a matter of miHoYo wanting multi-element interactions but struggling to come up with the right ones until Sumeru development prompted some inspiration.

The core concepts of the Dendro element have always been catalysis, wisdom, and life. However, the in-game presentation of its gameplay has gone through many iterations over time. We hope that the Dendro element can not only symbolize Sumeru's image of the nation of wisdom, but also have a system of elemental reactions that conforms to common sense and contains enough strategy and gameplay diversity to connect more elements together.

Sumeru, Dendro, and everything else we've seen in 3.0 come as part of an ongoing 10-year roadmap of content for Genshin Impact that began at its launch. MiHoYo told us that it has a "rather clear long-term plan in mind" that it can't share due to spoilers. But everything we know from Genshin's lore indicates we'll likely visit the respective continents of the all the elements we haven't been to yet (Cryo, Pyro, and Hydro). MiHoYo has affirmed that Dendro is the "last piece of the puzzle in the seven-element system" so we're unlikely to get any surprise new elements, but more dendro characters down the line are sure to add even more interesting elemental interactions."

Genshin Impact Developer Is Considering How to Make Limited-Time Events Replayable in the Future

Source: IGN

Among the absolutely massive amount of explorable world and evergreen story content in Genshin Impact, one of the ways the open-world adventure keeps folks busy over time is through limited-time events that often cannot be accessed later if they are missed. But developer MiHoYo may be looking for a way for players to reexperience them after all.

While some events have come back around, such as Windtrace and Lost Riches, others with character development involved are either seemingly gone for good, or if they return, have story content changed between iterations to account for how the story has evolved since.

But in an interview with IGN, a MiHoYo spokesperson acknowledged the community's sadness at missing story events for characters like Albedo and Childe, as well as the desire for at least some sort of story recap option to catch up on critical information players may have missed without having to dive into a wiki.

"With limited-time seasonal events, we want to show players how the world of Teyvat and each character have changed over time outside of the main storyline. Therefore, even if events return, such as the Golden Apple Archipelago in Version 2.8, there will be changes to the characters, stories, and gameplay of relevance. However, we are considering the issues you mentioned and may have new ideas in the future with the advancement of our technology and productivity."

MiHoYo has been working hard on pushing its technological advancements in several other areas, too, such as upcoming improved support for PS5 players using DualSense controllers. And MiHoYo confirmed that the announced Switch version is still in development, though it couldn't give further details. It's likely we'll see how the studio handles its various limited-time events shift over the years, especially as it pushes further into its ten-year roadmap, introduces more characters and continents, and gets increasingly far removed from its earliest story moments.

[Concept] Fontaine City

Now that Sumeru has been revealed, I am looking to conceptualize how Fontaine is gonna look like. While searching through the net, I found that half of the "fantasy french" concept arts look very similiar to how Mondstadt is, so in here I only post some of the arts that doesn't look similiar to Mondstadt. (Tho I suspect certain elements will still look similar when the final products finally come in the future; just like how some elements from Liyue and Inazuma might appear similar from afar, but different in close up).

source:link | Village / market district.

source:link | Village for some of the more rural area(s).

source:link | I imagine that there will be a number of ports / body of water scattered throughout the nation as well, with residential houses build atop available surface area.

source:link | Something a capital city has? Maybe goverment building, or a very majestic library that towers toward the sky.

source:link | looks fairly advanced in technology and kinda steampunk?

source:link | Capital city or port, or both.

source:link | Maybe somewhere that borders Fontaine and Sumeru?

source:link | Now on to the more steampunk side of things.

source:link

source:link

source:link | (4 June 2023) Perhaps some of the more populated area might even consider branching out into underwater buildings. Since diving mechanism is coming, we might have to traverse to this type of area to unlock a luxury chest.

source:link | Maybe some ridable boats?

source:link | Fontaine's main justice building, with lots of water to represent their nation's element.

source:link | If fontaine has blimps, it must be because they have buildings that's located high up in the sky to travel up and down to.

source:link | Train station.

Recap: Sumeru City [Concept] post

Earlier 2 years ago I predicted that they will have big trees with horizontal surfaces (now Apam Woods), but big enough that they can put NPC shops on them. That last part didn't quite happen tho, but there was a big tree centralized around a town (Sumeru City) or village (Gandharva Ville), though not up to quite as full scale as I had initially imagined it. After seeing the result, especially with the introduction of that swinging vine, the impractical treehouse city that I first imagined now doesn't look as impossible to navigate anymore.

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