entertainment / Sunday, 02-Feb-2025

Genshin Impact Could Have A Major Improvement To Artifact Farming With A Minor Tweak To Domains

A minor tweak to Domains could result in a major improvement in Artifact farming in Genshin Impact if developer HoYoverse were to ever implement it. Farming Artifacts is, notoriously, one of the most arduous tasks in the popular action RPG. Obtaining them, per si, is not exactly difficult, but gathering the ideal pieces for character builds can be rough, as the randomness of drops often seems to be playing against players themselves. It is quite too common for players to run a Domain in search of a specific Artifact piece in Genshin Impact and struggle to obtain one of them.

Furthermore, Artifacts have several other problems. Aside from obtaining specific pieces, it can also be quite difficult to get one with the desired main stat; for Mavuika’s build, for example, it’s recommended that she use a Pyro DMG Bonus Goblet, but the odds of pulling a Goblet with that stat are small in comparison to all the other stats the piece may have. In addition to that, the randomness of sub-stat enhancements can also utterly destroy a once-promising Artifact. There will be an Artifact update in Genshin Impact 5.5 that will help mitigate that, but there’s still room for improvement.

Artifact Domains In Genshin Impact Could Allow Players To Choose Their Preferred Set

This, In Turn, Could Increase The Desired Artifact’s Drop Rate

Another recurring problem that revolves around farming Artifacts is that Domains tend to share two different sets that may drop upon completing the challenge. When farming the Obsidian Codex set for Natlan DPS characters, players have to challenge the Sanctum of Rainbow Spirits, a Domain that has a chance of dropping Artifacts from the Obsidian Codex set and the Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City set. As such, there may be times in which the Domain is challenged for an Obsidian Codex Artifact in Genshin Impact, and players only obtain pieces from Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City.

To solve this issue, HoYoverse could implement a feature that allows players to choose the Artifact set they want to drop from the Domain. In lieu of having a 50% chance of dropping pieces from one set or the other, this feature could improve the odds at which the desired set drops. It wouldn’t necessarily need to exclude the unchosen Artifact set from the equation altogether, but make it less likely to obtain Artifacts the player doesn’t want and prioritize the ones they do, especially because they will still be struggling with the randomized stats and sub-stats in Genshin Impact.

Players Could Even Choose Their Preferred Artifact Piece In Genshin Impact’s Domains

This Could Help Players Reach The Best Builds For Other Activities

Genshin Impact's Yumemizuki Mizuki and Arataki Itto pose next to each other.
Genshin Impact's Yumemizuki Mizuki and Arataki Itto pose next to each other.
Custom Image by Bruno Yonezawa

In addition to this, Domains could even be tweaked to allow players to show the piece they are most interested in dropping. This wouldn’t affect the randomness of the stats and sub-stats that come with them, but the drop rate for the individual piece type from the specific Artifact set they desire. It would likely still require a lot of farming and grinding, but the experience would be a lot less punitive toward players. It would also allow players to reduce the time spent on reaching optimal character builds and proceed to optimize other characters in Genshin Impact.

This, in turn, could improve how often players tackle endgame activities, which are often not completed because they lack more well-built characters to tackle the challenges. The perfect example for this is the Imaginarium Theater, especially because of how restrictive the possible lineup of playable characters is in comparison to the Spiral Abyss. I’ve personally skipped some Imaginarium Theater phases because I lacked more characters of a certain Elemental Type and was discouraged by the idea of having to farm Artifacts on top of gathering their Ascension, Talent, and weapon materials in Genshin Impact.

If the way Artifacts are farmed were to receive some tweaks such as the aforementioned suggestions, I would likely have been more inclined to go for the builds and then tackle Imaginarium Theater at higher difficulties. HoYoverse has gradually been improving the Artifact system, with Artifact crafting being introduced in Version 5.0 and the guarantee that at least two sub-stat from crafted Artifacts will be enhanced starting in Version 5.5, but there’s still a long way to go. Even an item like Variable Dice in Genshin Impact could make that experience a lot smoother without taking away from the challenge.

For reference, Variable Dice is an item from Honkai: Star Rail (another of HoYoverse’s games) that allows players to randomly reroll the enhancements to sub-stats on maxed-out Relics and Ornaments (the equivalent to Artifacts).

The game doesn’t need to completely take away the struggle involved in obtaining perfect Artifacts for character builds, especially because these Artifact Domains would likely reach an all-time low in terms of how often they are challenged, but giving players a better chance at getting what they want from them and not have them farming for weeks and months on end could allow other activities to be enjoyed more frequently, overall improving the player experience and, possibly, incentivizing them to play more, even if within other activities in Genshin Impact.

Improved Artifact Farming In Genshin Impact Could Be Part Of Limited Events

Farming Artifacts Is Still A Frustrating Experience

Genshin Impact's Clorinde wields her pistol seriously.
Genshin Impact's Clorinde wields her pistol seriously.
Custom Image by Bruno Yonezawa

These tweaks don’t even need to be permanent. If HoYoverse were to implement a recurring limited-time event that allows players to better farm what they are looking for, character builds would greatly benefit from it. An event like Overflowing Mastery, but one that allows players to select which Artifact set they want to drop, for a week every one or two updates would already be much better than the way it currently is. The game is continuously expanding, with more characters and Artifact types arriving consistently, so improving this wouldn’t take away from Genshin Impact’s experience, but make it friendlier.

Even though obtaining Artifacts nowadays is a lot better than how it was closer to the game’s release, there is still a lot of frustration when challenging Domains and spending days, weeks, and potentially months without getting what is desired. Artifact crafting has significantly enhanced the odds at which players reach their endgame character builds, but it’s still very limited thanks to how hard it can be to obtain more Sanctifying Elixir. With more quality-of-life tweaks like these, Genshin Impact could become a lot more pleasant to play in the long run.

mixcollage-24-dec-2024-11-06-am-8215.jpg

Your Rating

Genshin Impact
Systems
Placeholder ImageOpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Avg:81/100Critics Rec:87%
Released
September 28, 2020
ESRB
T for Teen - Fantasy Violence, Alcohol Reference
Developer(s)
HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
Publisher(s)
HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
Engine
Unity
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play
Mobile, PC, PS4 & PS5, Xbox

trendglee

Fresh, fast, and fun — all the entertainment you need in one place.

© Trendglee. All Rights Reserved. Designed by trendglee