Genshin Impact players have very much been enjoying the game's steady flow of new content since release. Though it's only been out for a couple of months, fans of the game have already been introduced to a major in-game event, and several batches of entirely new enemies and characters, like the recently arrived Geo god, Zhongli.
As of now, miHoYo seems to be using a fairly straightforward character release system, which involves dropping a new mega-rare five-star character, alongside a handful of lesser four-stars, with every new Genshin Impact "summon banner." While players can Wish for characters and weapons from different banners, the newest and strongest features, one of which is supposed to be Zhongli, are reserved for the game's "Special Character Banner."
Needless to say, Travelers who successfully receive a powerful four or five-star entity, especially from the "Special Character Banner," generally expect to be left with a new powerhouse addition to their team/inventory. Unfortunately, players lucky enough to encounter the just-added Rex Lapis incarnate, Zhongli, however, are finding themselves with a lackluster prize.
As per posts across Genshin Impact social media, fans are collectively up in arms over the state of the highly anticipated Geo character Zhongli. In short, this five-star character seems to play vastly differently, depending on whether or not players have managed to unlock its full set of Constellation upgrades. After several days of fans voicing their concerns, miHoYo has finally released a public statement regarding the issue, and fans aren't particularly pleased, to say the least.
According to miHoYo, Zhongli is allegedly functioning precisely as intended. The game's developers argue that this potentially powerful Geo character (a literal god, as per the game), was actually meant to be a sort of support character that relies on his hefty shields to protect teammates. Specifically, miHoYo stipulates that Zhongli is meant for two main things: crowd control, and protection. While his ability, Jade Shield, can provide insta-protection to teammates, his Planet Befall is apparently intended to offer incomparable control over groups of enemies. miHoYo did however at least acknowledge a bug affecting Zhongli users, though, they seem to have focused on the lesser of two bug-related evils affecting players.
Zhongli users have pointed out that his abilities seem to generate Elemental Energy orbs at a completely arbitrary rate, which is to say, the feature is probably bugged. Rather than combatting this, miHoYo pointed out that Zhongli's Constellation Lv. 2 is also currently bugged and awaiting a patch.
Now, miHoYo's response has alarmed fans for two primary reasons: First of all, the Constellation bug is largely irrelevant, considering that most peoples' issue with Zhongli concerns the fact that he's weak without several Constellation levels. Second, despite the developers' argument, Zhongli actually isn't particularly stellar at either crowd control, or shielding. Fans have been quick to point out that characters like Ningguang and Diona, four-stars, easily outclass his shield capabilities. Meanwhile, his supposed crowd control strengths aren't outstanding, considering they're rooted in the less-favored Geo element, and how many other characters offer similar general area of effect attacks.
Simply put, players expect Constellations to serve as complementary buffs, rather than massive game-changing expansions. Whether or not Zhongli has some sweet support capabilities is insubstantial when players consider the facts: a Constellation Lv. 6 Zhongli functions nearly 100 percent differently than a freshly-summoned Zhongli. And therein lies the concern.
Genshin Impact is out now for PC, PS4, and mobile devices, with PS5 and Switch versions also in development.
Source: miHoYo