Genshin Impact has taken the gaming world by storm and won many awards as the year comes to a close! The open-world game is still in its infancy, however, and on December 23rd, just before Christmas, Genshin players will be able to update to the 1.2 version and enjoy all the new content! Here is some of what players should be looking forward to.
Pre-Installation
Before we get to the content, pre-installation should be available for your launcher by the time of publication.
Mihoyo’s servers being in China, the updates could sometimes take hours for players in foreign servers depending on their network bandwidth. This new function will download game resources progressively (even as you play) before the official update. Therefore, once December 23rd comes around, you will only need to install the already updated game resources.
New Content
While update 1.1 brought us new story quests, improved functionalities, and two unique banners, 1.2 is undoubtedly the game’s first major update. For the first time since launch, Genshin Impact will feature a new area on the map and a new environmental mechanic. Of course, there will also be new story quests, several events, and new banners too.
First, the Dragonspine region in Monstradt will be explorable. You can spot some of the new locations on the map, notably the Starglow cavern, an Entombed city beneath the ice, and Wyrmrest valley where Durin, the dragon who fought Dvalin long ago, lies dormant.
Dragonspine features a harsh winter environment, which brings us to our new mechanic: Subzero climate. This climate will enable the Freezing status (not to be confused with Frozen). While in the region, a Sheer Cold bar will continuously deplete. When the bar reaches 0, characters will start taking damage. Particular gadgets will be unusable in this climate, and actions such as walking into snowstorms or swimming in water could accelerate the bar’s depletion. To maintain the bar above 0, the player will have to find sources of warmth such as fires, braziers, and warming seelies.
New Characters
Two new 5 star characters will get their banners in the update: the chief alchemist of Monstadt Albebo and the legendary cocogoat, Ganyu. Albedo is a Geo sword user, and Ganyu is a Cryo archer.
Of course, to obtain new characters, you must roll them in the gacha, and to that effect, Mihoyo has a little Christmas present for us! As of 1.2, players will receive an Acquaint Fate for level thresholds their character’s reach, which will be at level 20, 50, and 70. Therefore, if you have ten characters who are at least level 20, you will receive 10 free wishes, 20 wishes if you have ten characters at least at level 50, etc. Of course, you cannot roll on the event banner with Acquaint Fates, but you can still obtain good 5 star characters on the standard banner and try your luck at the event one after! They have separate pity counters, so you could obtain two 5 star characters if you are blessed by RNGsus.
Paimon Replaced? New Emergency Food?
Another addition to this update is pets. From now on, players can have pet seelies follow them around the map. Is Paimon being replaced?
New Event
Alongside the new update is new events. ‘‘The Chalk Prince and the Dragon’’ will be up as of the 23rd of December. Of course, the player must have reached Adventure Rank 20 to participate. The new quests are as follows:
- New Archon quest: ‘‘For a tomorrow without tears.’’
- Albedo story quest: ‘‘Princeps Cretaceus Chapter.’’
- Ganyu story quest: ‘‘Sinae Unicornis Chapter.’’
- New challenge quests
Fortunately, as you can see, Travelers need not spend resin to collect event rewards as there is an event shop for that purpose. Furthermore, this will be a four-part event similar to the previous meteorite event. At the end of the event, Travelers may obtain the 4-star sword, Festering Desire.
One last important detail to know about Dragonspine is the new Frostbearing Tree. This tree operates much like a statue, but with a few minor quirks. First, the tree has 12 levels instead of 10, it levels up with Crismon Agate (which can be found throughout the region), and it offers different rewards from typical regional statues.
Notably, a level 4 tree will enable you to craft the warming bottle, which will help you manage your Sheer Cold bar better, and a level 10 tree will allow you to forge the four star catalyst Frostbearer.
There are so many more details we could get into based on the update files so far, but this is a comprehensive summary of what to expect in 1.2, from the new content to the new mechanics. So far, Genshin Impact’s Update 1.1 has been a success, but 1.2 will be Mihoyo’s greatest challenge yet. If you wish to have a full list of what is dropping on the 23rd of December, you can find it in the Version 1.2 Special Program.