Genshin Impact‘s third anniversary has already passed, but HoYoverse isn’t done rewarding its players for their devotion. The annual Genshin Impact Lantern Rite festival is approaching, and historically, the Lantern Rite festival is home to some great rewards. Players can obtain 10 free wishes and a free 4-star character, but HoYoverse has included a reward that has rubbed some players the wrong way: three free wishes.
What is the Genshin Impact Three Wishes Drama?
To celebrate the game’s third anniversary (although it’s worth noting that Genshin Impact has already celebrated its third anniversary), HoYoverse is adding three free pulls to the Lantern Rite reward pool this year. Thematically, it’s one free pull for each year, in addition to 10 free pulls that were already planned, for a total of 13 free wishes. This has reportedly riled up the CN community in particular, who has resorted to review bombing the game and unfollowing the game’s social media channels in retaliation.
Many fans have pointed to Genshin Impact’s sister game, Honkai: Star Rail, for its more generous rewards. Recently, in celebration of the game’s win for Best Mobile Game at the 2023 Game Awards, Honkai: Star Rail rewarded players with a free 5-star character, Dr. Ratio. In contrast, three extra pulls in Genshin Impact do not even guarantee a 4-star character, although players are still receiving a large bounty of other rewards.
These retaliation efforts are reminiscent of the game’s first anniversary, where players from the Global community review bombed Genshin Impact for poor anniversary rewards (amusingly referred to as the “Google Classroom” incident by many players). Other “strike” efforts from players included spamming an emote of the game’s Qiqi character fallen on the ground to stifle conversation and bring attention from HoYoverse officials. Following these efforts, HoYoverse rewarded players with 10 extra pulls that year.
Speaking of the Global community, reactions to the “three extra pulls” are certainly not as vitriolic, although there’s some disappointment brewing within the community. Notably, popular Genshin Impact streamer Tectone has been particularly vocal about his disappointment with the Lantern Rite rewards and the state of the game in general. Content creator SipSipStefen has also weighed in on the controversy, stating in a tweet that “maybe Tectone’s rants about the game and [its] lack of progress were correct?” Regardless, HoYoverse hasn’t revealed any plans on expanding the reward pool for the Lantern Rite event, and with Version 4.4 just about a week away, it’s unlikely we’ll hear anything very soon.
Genshin Impact is available for PC, PS4, PS5, iOS, and Android devices.
