Genshin impact is one of the most gargantuan and, after some point, grindy games currently in existence, but its players still feel like the contents. On February 3, they will briefly celebrate a big event: the Lantern Rite Festival, which will feature a new playable character, stories and challenges, and a tower defense mode.
Today, during the broadcast, developer Mihoyo announced that the Lantern Rite Festival will be the centerpiece of Genshin impact‘s 1.3 is updated and contains what it will contain. It will take place in Liyue port, the event will cover the place in lanterns (what else). Since Mihoyo knows what makes players come back (hint: they’re animated characters), your first business order will complete a story search centered on a new playable character: Xiao, the conqueror of demons.
Xiao is an elemental element Anemo (reads: wind) that handles an arm, and one of its abilities allows him to initiate a fall attack from any height without receiving damages by fall. The damage from the attack is determined by its height when it starts, so I’m thrilled by the inevitable flood of YouTube videos in which players shot hard heads that distorted them from the top of the world. Xiao also has an elemental blast ability called “Bane of All Evil,” which sees him put on a great mask and increase his damage and AOE, but at the expense of his HP.
During the Lantern Rite event, players with an adventure rank of 23 or higher will be able to embark on Xiao’s mission, without the need for any history keys. Once the event is over, however, you must be 32 years of age or older, and if you have no history key, you must earn a full eight commissions, which are basically daily missions. In case of any doubt, Mihoyo wants the players to come back and resume the game (and buying Primogems) sooner rather than later.
Upon reaching this point home, the Lantern Rite Festival will also include a Ley Line overflow event, during which special challenges (which require Genshinfrequently malignant “resin” currency) will award two rewards. This event will have a limited duration alongside the Lantern Rite Festival. Neither currently has a set end date, though players speculate it will likely be in mid-February. At this point, the Lantern Rite Festival won’t go away forever, but it won’t be repeated until next year.
Once you’ve completed Xiao’s quest, the Lantern Rite Festival will begin in earnest. It will consist of several parts, including a special event store called Xiao Market, which, according to the voice actors hosting the broadcast, has no confusion or connection to the character Xiao. The store will unlock new products in stages, as you complete requests and stories to fill a “Festive Fever” counter.
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You can earn the event coin by completing various activities, including a new mode called Theater Mechanicus, which appears to be a hybrid of Genshin impact combat preparation and tower defense. In this place, organize Mechanici (little chess-looking robots) to defend a territory and then fight waves of monsters next to it.
There’s also a new photography-based activity that seems like a fun (albeit slightly coercive) change of pace. Each day of the event there will be a new photo theme. You will have ten daily chances to use a new item called “Kurious Kamera” (lmao) to take a photo of the corresponding object, which in turn will provide you with a random photo as a reward. No, this is not a typo. Yes, get a photo for a photo. Each photo has a color. If you collect a complete set of five colors, you can exchange it for a fortune, which contains primroses and materials. Now that photo rewards are random, there’s a chance you’ll get multiple matching colors. The system, then, is designed to encourage you to make and exchange friends with the game.
Along with these important features, the update will also include improvements in quality of life, such as a “living beings” file category that will allow you to see detailed information about everything you’ve found in the game world, as well as additions to your character’s screen. The ascent of characters, that is to say, to improve the personages after having reached the maximum level, will also be easier, with new unlockable objects that will allow the players to elaborate an elementary material in another one and to transmute materials.
Finally, there will be new rock dragon monsters called Geovishaps that you will threaten to hunt, first sending characters you choose (including one that belongs to a friend) on expeditions, and then going to their location and finishing the job yourself. The next fights against the bosses will apparently be pretty tough. Hopefully there will be some very high cliffs.