Genshin Impact | 5.2 Special Program

[Moonface]

Considering that survey was done in response to an apparently large number of pull-regret posts on that subreddit, I wouldn't be surprised if the posts happening outside and prior to the survey weren't much different when it came to characters and reasons. When ever I've seen a subreddit try to do a post like that where it tries to compile frequently posted things into one spot to try and curb it, it normally comes off the back of the subreddit being practically dominated by that content.

[Moonface]

Genshin Impact Version 3.4 | The Exquisite Night Chimes
Despite following the official Genshin Twitter account, I didn't once see anything mentioned beforehand of a special program happening today otherwise I would've shared it. Naturally I don't watch these due to not playing the game, but I hope I at least manage to compile anything that was announced without missing anything.

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Version 3.4 Event Wishes
There will be two phases of Event Wishes for Version 3.4, and you can see the contents of each in the following images:

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New Characters - Alhaitham and Yaoyao
Two new characters, Alhaitham and Yaoyao, will be coming to Version 3.4. Here is the information provided about both of them, along with images of their character cards:

• Alhaitham (5-Star) | Element: Dendro | Weapon: Sword | Constellation: Vultur Volans
  
• Faruzan (4-Star) | Element: Dendro | Weapon: Polearm |Constellation: Osmanthus
  

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Redemption Codes
As always, this special program has three redemption codes for various in-game rewards, but be quick as they expire after today!

• Primogems ×100 + Mystic Enhancement Ore ×10 "NS8TUVJYR4UH"
  
• Primogems ×100 + Hero's Wit ×5 "NSQTVCKYRMDM"
  
• Primogems ×100 + Mora ×50,000 "LB8SDUJYQ4V9"
  

[Mr EliteL]

Yup got my codes in yesterday for each of my accounts. Work made me almost forget it was on until DL mentioned the weapon banner for the second phase of 3.4.

Yaoyao being the first Dendro healer should help comps if they're lacking a healer and want double Dendro resonance if they're not already using a different healer.

Dislike how the program is a week earlier than it used to be, keeps making me think it's the upcoming Tuesday/Wednesday, not a week after that, baka! I can wait though despite my eagerness to pull for Alhaitham.

[Dragon Lord]

3.4 patch is nice savings patch.

Terrible Dendro Keqing is an easy skip, especially since his multipliers got nerfed into the ground and Nahida is a much better Dendro character anyways. Yaoyao can be gotten for free through Lantern Rite (and isn't going to be that good from the sounds of it anyways). Already have Yelan and Hu Tao at C6. Could R5 my Aqua for Yelan, but since I already have an R5 Staff of Homa, and no need for a second copy of Homa, I'll pass on that for now.

I'll be saving up all the goodies from Lantern Rite and all of the events for Nilou's re-run.

Nice to see that best girl Hu Tao is going to be the centerpiece of this year's Lantern Rite. Can't wait to get to see her have all of this screentime. It's been too long since she had some of the spotlight.

[Moonface]

Apparently these two characters are going to be added in 3.5, but I can't actually find anything that specifically mentions that's the update they're coming in:

"The Eremites," a loosely-organized mercenary organization, is Sumeru's most powerful armed force. They consist of many mercenaries and bands of warriors-for-hire who carry out assignments independently.

One such brigade is the "Blazing Beasts," whose most renowned member is Dehya, also known as the "Flame-Mane."

A highly regarded warrior among the mercenary circles, Dehya is brave without being impulsive, and strong without being arrogant. Life in the harsh desert environment has allowed Dehya to accumulate much combat wisdom through various battles, and she is by no means your typical insolent and ignorant martial artist.

As long as the pay is good and the commission reasonable, Dehya is more than willing to take up her sword to defend those who hire her.

However, there is one thing these employers should be aware of. That is, the agreement they establish with Dehya is only temporary and purely transactional. The reins to tame this lioness is never, and will never be in their hands.

Although mercenaries sell their strength to make a living, their dignity and lives belong only to themselves.

The desert lioness is no one's slave, and her sword only follows her heart.

Mika, who is a member of the Knights of Favonius Reconnaissance Company, always diligently fulfills all the duties that come his way.

Setting up tents, lighting fires for cooking, repairing equipment... Even Hertha, the logistics captain, has nothing but praise for Mika's excellent efficiency.

Mika's dedication to work is not due to a weak character or his inability to say no, but instead stems from the value that he attaches to teamwork, and a genuine desire to learn from his experienced colleagues.

"Helping everyone as much as possible benefits the entire team too!"

Mika's favorite pastime is closely linked to his primary duty as a front-line surveyor.

That is: surveying unexplored regions, recording topographical data, and drawing accurate and effective maps.

"There is an abundance of resources here, but it is surrounded by monsters. Take note to exercise caution."

Mika, whose dream is to become an expert cartographer, adds another annotation to the new version of the military map he is designing.

[Mr EliteL]

Ah, cool Dehya is coming in 3.5 I shall save after I get Alhaitham as I also want her on one of my accounts, undecided on which yet or just on my main like him. Don't care if she'll be "meta" or not as I already like her character from the Sumeru Archon quest and can't wait to see her weapon as she sold it in the story, so we never got a chance get a look.

Mika I'm uninterested in, he'll be 4*, and yet another Mondstadt Cryo which they have too much of already. His introduction in an event was minor and nothing to write about. If he's on Dehya's banner then he'll be just an unused character for me...eh.

[Dragon Lord]

When MiHoYo announces the next characters like this, it's always the next patch, so they will be 3.5. They'll announce the 3.6 characters right before 3.5 is about to launch as well.

Dehya is a wait and see character for me. If she ends just being an off-field sub-DPS similar to Fischl, like leaks have suggested, then she's a skip for me and I'll just pull her during a re-run when I'm bored. Xiangling is already more than good enough as an off-field Pyro sub-DPS, so I don't see any reason to pull for and build Dehya if she's the same.

I don't really see what Mika can do that would make me want him. I've read some suggest that he'll be a physical damage buffer for Eula, but I haven't touched my Eula in months because she's incredibly boring to play, so I wouldn't want someone that buffs her anyways.

Sounding like I'm good to save all the way up until 3.6 at least.

[Moonface]

@Dragon Lord: Ah, I see. I wasn't sure if they were always guaranteed for the next update in case something was to come up that pushes a character back or not.

Also, for some reason I never thought this game had costumes, likely because I've never really noticed a character looking different and it never seems to be something announced in any of the special videos that get put out. It gives me the impression they're almost an afterthought. XD
I am curious though if either of you two have bothered with alternate costumes or not.

[Mr EliteL]

I haven't seen anything on Dehya yet, might wait until 3.5 Special Program drops to see. I'm enjoying Alhaitham already and have plenty to do until then. Even if she is similar to Xiangling in being a Pyro Support I'd still get her, would be an alternate choice, regardless if she's better or worse. I'd imagine not if she's a 5-star but you can argue Xiangling's kit is 5-star material like Bennett, Xingqiu and by extension Fischl and Sucrose.

For alternate costumes, the ones for 5-star characters are to buy upfront with a discount on the update they release on. I have so far got Keqing's and Diluc's that way. Haven't got Jean's or Ayaka's yet.
The 4-star character outfits have always been attainable in an event so you can unlock them that way. If not, then their up for purchase and no discounted price. So far I have all that have been available so far on my main, and will get Lisa's in the event later. I was able to get Ningguang's and Fischl's for my F2P EU account and Fischl's on my NA account and again will go and unlock Lisa's for them too.

There's also the free alternate outfits of their release outfits for Jean, Amber, Mona and Rosaria back when there was all that commotion over how...inappropriate let's just say their original outfits were to the CCP.

The release is very slow unfortunately for costumes. They could at least bring out more free 4-stars more often as event rewards but I suppose their current frequency is to stop possible backlash of players needing to spend so much during an update. Obvious solution there is to not put all your money into it, fools. Anyway the price for the costumes are pretty steep, standard pricing is already 80 gems/crystals OVER a 10 wish which is 1680 Genesis Crystals=1680 Primogems but have to be Genesis Crystals to receive the outfit. Discount price being 1350 (8 wishes + 70 gems). Then there's the 5-star outfit for Diluc sitting at a whopping 2480, 15 pulls and a half pulls. That was also at a discounted price upon release, can't remember how much.

I want to know why they've yet to have the option for Primogems to convert back into Genesis Crystals as they're worth the same amount in order to get outfits, for even F2P players to get them that way. Yup you're losing 10/15 wishes, but that is your choice to do so, and I would sacrifice them wishes too if I like the outfit enough.

[Moonface]

Backlash over in-game items that can be earned for free just because there's also an option to buy them with real money is stupid, especially when they're just cosmetic.

Do you have any favourite alternate costumes @Mr EliteL?

[Mr EliteL]

Backlash over in-game items that can be earned for free just because there's also an option to buy them with real money is stupid, especially when they're just cosmetic.

Do you have any favourite alternate costumes @Mr EliteL?

I haven't actually seen any comments like that yet, but I'm assuming they are out there somewhere. That or if character skins do start releasing more frequently, the comments most certainly will surface in the places I do look at.

Anyway my favourites so far is a tie between Ningguang's Orchid's Evening Gown and Keqing's Opulent Splendor, both released at the same time last year.

[Dragon Lord]

I'd have to say Diluc's is my favorite skin right now just because it had slightly more effort put into it with a new idle animation and adding minor changes to his skill and burst appearances. Not a whole lot, but at least it was something more than they'd done with every other skin so far. But the fact they want back to giving Ayaka a 4* skin instead of a 5* skin has me worried that they've decided it's not worth their time to put even that tiny bit of extra effort into skins. Kind of makes me wonder if they picked Diluc solely for the reason they knew it wouldn't sell well and they could use that as an excuse to justify not doing any more 5* skins.

They really should just get the Honkai Impact team to do skins for them. The skins that Hokai get are wonderful, and there's a lot of them. Azur Lane and Arknights also enjoy a bounty of absolutely wonderful skins. Genshin is the only gacha game that seems to be afraid of them.

[Moonface]

Special Program 3.5 Preview Airs Feb. 17
Didn't miss the announcement this time. A Special Program for Version 3.5 will be airing in two days, per the official Genshin Impact Twitter account:

[Mr EliteL]

Oh dang this version went by quickly, didn't realise it was almost time for the Special Program already. Uh...Albedo's there, meaning he's possibly getting a rerun yet he was in 3.1, or just an event he'll be included in. My bet is it's both.

Also there's been news of one of the English VA's has been up to...terrible things. Hoping the character (Tighnari) they voiced will get recast a new voice. Apparently players who use the character have been getting slack too because of it from others which is uncalled for.

[Dragon Lord]

Dehya and Albedo together in the same patch is probably the easiest skip I've ever seen.

I already have Albedo, and he's not that great (I only have him for my Noelle team), and from beta leaks, Dehya is worse then a majority of the 4*s and will easily be the absolute worst 5* they've released (not counting Aloy). Unless she gets some major buffing, she's going to be an easy skip. I like her design, but when it's sounding like even Xinyan is better than she is, yeah... not wasting my Primos.

My saving continues for a Nilou re-run, or for the new 5* character that's been rumored for 3.6 (if that character ends up being what the leaks say they will be).