Is Genshin Impact Experiencing Power Creep? 

On a side note, why do people say/spell Xingqiu as Xingqui/"Zing-Kway"? o-o

I don't think yelan & xinqui are an example of powercreep, but the similarities in their bursts is defintely hoyo's way of saying that they are willing to make characters with similar kits, which can easily lead to powercreep.

Xingqiu and Yelan's similarity only goes to their burst and hairstyle. Xingqiu have survival capabilities like dmg reduction and healing while Yelan is only more dmg and dmg buffing. Both still have their own unique usage for different teams or perhaps even together

what will always keep xingqiu relevant is that he's a 4 star. f2ps and low spenders cant pull for every 5 star, and xingqiu doesn't lose to yelan that much in terms of damage. not to mention its much easier to pull for xingqiu's cons. in the end, they're both still extremely useful, but xingqiu is just easier to get your hands on

How do you even compare Shenhe to Chongyun? Just how? I understand Barbara vs Kokomi, Kazuha vs Sucrose, and Razor vs Eula but Chongyun and Shenhe are two different characters that are capable of different things. One is a burst DPS that can be a cryo main dps if hardly invested due to his E. and the other is a buffer. If you want to make Shenhe a dps then you HAVE to bring Chongyun in. Otherwise, it makes absolutely no sense. She also can't be a nuke like he is, while he can't buff the damage and only reduce cds. Reducing cryo res is the only thing they have in common as units. Shenhe is much more niche than Chongyun. He at least can work with other elements such as pyro. He can be the only cryo in the team and it will still work. Shenhe only wants cryo and nothing else. And if she is the only cryo unit, if she is not a support for Razor or smth - you, might as well just take her off the team and put Ayaka or Rosaria or even Chongyun and Kaeya instead. If you want to compare Chongyun to someone then it's Ayaka or even Rosaria. But not Shenhe.

I find Yelan to be one of the most fun characters to play. Even though her abilities seem similar to Xingqiu, she plays much more different. Yelan is much more dynamic and satisfying to play than most characters - like how Kazuha and Raiden Shogun are fun to play.

I think Genshin HAD a problem with power creep, but its not really prevalent anymore. Back when units like Xiao, Hu Tao and Ganyu were being released, they were just straight up better than anybody else and were straight upgrades to base characters like Diluc and Keqing. However nowdays with characters such as Ayato, Yelan and Yae Miko, they mainly just provide greater options or fill certain niches while not being broken or must haves, which is exactly what the game should be striving for.

Power creep is a bit of a overstatement, they are equaling power levels. They powercrept but not now, they did it so hard with the addition of the Liyue big 3 (Xiao, Hu tao, Ganyu) that left Hoyo in a position where they had to make stronger units to fill the gap and prevent the meta from becoming stale, but not so strong to create another gap, most powercrept characters were already behind of the pack, and the "stronger versions", while stronger than their counterparts, they aren't precisely rising the bar on power level. Rather than units being stronger is the fact that have the same kit and are stronger. Now, about similar units: 1- Kazuha (mono element teams) vs Sucrose (reaction teams) vs Venti (CC teams) 2-Yelan vs Xingqiu, Xingqiu has defensive utility (heal, shield, stagger resistance, element aplication) and atk scaling, Yelan has more offensive utility (dash, explosion on burst,) but limited scaling (hp), this difference is small but this can be a key factor in comps that don't relly on dedicated healers/shielders, like Taser or Fireworks. Both have the same power level, just happens that said power level is meta defining, I think the real problem with them is how unoriginal is Yelan's kit and how much overlap it has. Though, playing devil's advocate Xingqiu was required to make so many team comps functional, that a second one was kind of needed, though a third one would feel a bit extra. 3-Ayaka vs Ganyu, playstyle differences, power difference is relativelly small. Ps: Shenhe and Chongyun is a terrible comparison, Shenhe is a buffer, and Chongyun is an enabler they don't even overlap in team comps (chongyun freeze and Shenhe in nationals aren't precisely popular teams).

Despite how much characters mihoyo has released, I'm still glad that they're being creative to make sure the games functions with different properties. Venti Surcrose Kazuha r good examples, despite all 3 having same capabilities, but having different approaches for each one of them is something I really enjoy at best.

Once you're able to clear spiral abyss consistently every time, your metric for scaling your growth basically ceases to exist. You can see yourself getting stronger through raw numbers, but the purpose for pushing those boundaries has been cleared and because of this we don't get any kind of meaningful feedback from running through the end game content. That being said, given that this is the case, I think discussing powercreep and how it affects genshin is basically pointless because a good portion of players got to the point of being able to clear abyss almost a year ago at this point (or if they havent they play the game very casually and have no reason to worry about any of these issues). Any additional power or growth that you gain after that point is only for your own satisfaction because I don't see this game getting any harder any time soon. Long story short, play who you want. This game is designed in a way where your backseat closet-meta waifu is actually incredibly strong with the right time and investment. Even if other characters are better at specific things the game is so easy that you can bruteforce your way through most of its content so go nuts. (alright I'm done rant over).

Showing Yelan and Xingqiu in the thumbnail already means the answer to that question is no

you can usually tell if characters are being power-creeped based on the length of a new character’s skill descriptions compared to old ones

i feel like the game is designed in a way that even if you powercreep a character they will still be usable yelan's popularity didn't affect xinqui's and i'm pretty sure if a new character came and does everything bennet has to offer and better, bennet will still be relevant. i guess that's the problem with the earlier broken 4*s they are simply eternal in the meta, unless they get power crept by another cheap 4*

8:00 hard disagree. Using diluc I find that being able to apply hydro by being in an enemies face makes my vapes more consistent. Yelan vs Xinq on that team is night and day for me.

Game doesn't need a power creep, but a power shift, currently melt/vape/freeze are too dominant, we need new ways to play that are as powerful and allows us to use characters that we love who don't use these over powered reactions and abuse anemo vv shred units.

Theres a lil bit of powercreep but its not too bad,also hoyoverse are rlly good at making charcters niche enough to not be bad but not be so good it just breaks the game,last op charcter we got was like a year ago and most newer ccharcters are balanced enough,i am expecting powercreep in like the nexxt 2-3 years best case scenario,1-2 years worst case scenario

Yelan does not "vastly outperform" Xingqiu in the damage department like stated in 8:00. The math has shown that C0 Yelan and C6 Xingqiu are in fact close to equal DPS wise, it's misleading to look at the numbers because Xingqiu has more rainsword procs, less ER reqs, and a longer burst duration. Running Yelan and Xingiu *together* can result in Yelan DPS reaching higher numbers but that's actually because Xingqiu is shredding hydro res and decreasing ER reqs on Yelan, fixing her issues. C0 Yelan is a very good unit but far from Xingqiu powercreep.

I think powercreep in genshin does exist but in a rather genius way and only really visible vor whales. The constellation of the 5 star characters are the reason. The base 5 star characters are on a rather constant powerlevel, but when it comes to their constellations... Oh boy, Yelan ist the newest powercreep absolutely destroying every previous 5 star constellation.

Not a powercreep IMO. It only looks like that way since Yelan is dealing more damage than Xingqiu, understandably because she's a 5-star. And it's the 1st time that we have a character that scales almost fully with a specific stat other than ATK, and I think it's reasonable for Hoyo to give her bigger multipliers since she can't be buffed ATM. The result is a character that's very easy to increase its damage potential. In support role however, Xingqiu is more versatile than Yelan as he can provide more utility. Whether the character is strong or not, meta defining or obsolete, what I believe is the most important thing is having fun playing with the said character. It may be what ability it has in its kit, or the ability to fit in different teams to offer different yet fun comps, it's fulfilling to know that we know what we want our characters for.

I was wondering when were you going to mention Yelan's hydro application. I wanted to correct you in some stuff First off: Xingqiu's C2 gives him bonus 3 seconds of burst, thus allowing you to be more flexible with your rotations. In Raiden National, with Xingqiu everything is fine because cooldowns match perfectly. With Yelan, it's another story. She has only 15 seconds, which can be not enough to vaporize all of Xiangling's burst if you use it before her. Another problem would be that if you cast your Bennett before your Yelan, your Raiden suffers a damage loss when she should be at her strongest due to Yelan's A4 passive. Second: you underestimate Xingqiu's defensive utility. Go ahead, try to face tank everything with Raiden in Rational and see how it goes without Xingqiu's damage reduction. Especially against a hydro enemy where you'll get vaporized to oblivion. Third: Yelan's hydro application is really worse than Xingqiu. Mainly because Xingqiu has his orbitals which also apply hydro, allowing you to not overtake with Pyro and not mess up your reaction, not to mention his C6 where he can apply 2 units of hydro in the third attack. However, Yelan doesn't have that until C2, but even then she doesn't have the orbitals. With enough pyro application, you are in big trouble as Yelan cannot overtake the pyro and you'll end up not vaporizing your damage

Yelan is in no way a Xingqiu powercreep for the sole reason that there's a need for 2 team in the abyss. If anything she's actually an upgrade since they're capable of buffing each other seamlessly

Honestly I’m more concerned and frustrated by how hard to get the 5 star roster is starting to become and absolute despise the weapons weapons gacha. I don’t care if my units aren’t better than others but making it hard to get them or a weapon that looks pretty and fits my favs either in aesthetics or power is painful to see. I’m really praying for Mihoyo to show some mercy and either expand the standard banner or simply get rid of it and replace it when regional banners so that at least Monstat and Liyue characters are all readily available after they’ve been in the game for 2 years and yet only get a couple weeks of availability at a time.

C0 Yelan Burst actually can't apply enough hydro for Hu Tao, after a few dash attacks, Yelan will start vaporizing instead of Hu Tao

"there's no existing situation where Xingqiu would be better than Yelan" Kaeya freeze, that team has no room for healers or shielders: Kaeya, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Kazuha

a few things that should have been mentioned in terms of xingqiu and yelan: 1st. you mentioned that yelan's hydro application is less consistent, which is correct, but more specifically she applies fewer units of hydro than xingqiu. This means that yelan alone is not enough to allow hu tao to consistently vape. the only way for hu tao to vape with yelan is if you do a 1n1c combo (still leaves enemies with a weak hydro auro and most players will run out of stamina too quick). most meta yelan teams with hu tao still use xingqiu, if anything she side creeped albedo and vv shred teams lol 2nd. xingqiu is still preferred in most taser/soup teams as his damage reduction is really needed. it is true that not much healing is necessary in recent genshin content, but these specific team comps don't utilize any healers, so xingqiu's damage reduction is still preferred to yelan's raw dmg.

Before I watch the video I don't think yelan and xingqiu is an example of powercreep, cause in my mind powercreep would essentially be kicking the older unit out of the meta and is only used on very niche stages, a good example of this in genshin would be diluc getting powercrept by hutao as the supreme pyro dps

Xingqiu and yelan are not what I considered powercreep. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Hu tao and diluc is what I called powercreep. What diluc can do, hu tao can do better. Consistent pyro damage, check. AOE pyro burst, check.

Power creep exists in this game but in such a way that it does not blatantly bulldoze the last character featured or make existing ones completely useless. It presents itself in a way that the new character plays really well but not too much. Plus this instance does not happen every time there is a new banner announced so for me that is why the very early characters can still be used to complete the games events and quests while also giving players a sense that just because a character is old does not mean they feel old in terms of gameplay.

Can we all take in the fact that this is a single player game with co-op. This game is not hard, stop worrying about a character being released that is 5-15% stronger it doesn’t mean your previous charter is completely obsolete and now you can’t clear all the content. I would see the worry if there was a pvp aspect to the game but there isn’t, this is a waifu mobile game so enjoy the views and move on. I swear some people

Yelan is quite good, even outside of combat. At C0, you get to traverse land quickly with her elemental skill because it doesn't use stamina. At C1, you can almost go non-stop between sprinting and her elemental skill. Her combat abilities and 25% increased gathering during expeditions just are an icing on the cake. She is, in my opinion, too good at too many things. Not that I'm complaining. When people say a 5 star unit of an already existing 4 star, I start to sweat thinking about a 5 star version of Xiangling. What would that even look like?

Oh that throwback to when everyone was joking about Kazuha being Aether. I legit forgot about that overtime and can’t even really see a significant amount of resemblance between them anymore that the reaction makes sense now.

I have a feeling that Hoyoverse intentionally made Yelan's Hydro application just slightly worse than Xinqui's so he would still be the better pick for certain teams ( double Geo Hu Tao for example )

Tbh i think Hoyoverse has done a pretty bangup job of keeping everything relatively same-y, powerwise. Yoimiya, Kokomi, Ayato, Itto, Ayaka and even the Shogun aren’t broken super-DPS like Hu Tao or Ganyu. In fact, none of the characters have really approached that level of power since then, and there’s no sign of Hoyoverse suddenly going “Wow lets release Hu Tao 2.0!” Even the 4* haven’t come close to the power and flexibility of units like Xingqiu or Bennett. Yun Jin, Kuki, Sayu, Thoma, Sara, Gorou and them are all actually pretty niche and balanced around that niche. Frankly, I would enjoy a bit more generalized utility out of any new 4*. They all feel good, just a little… meh. Yelan is a 5* with a similar kit to Xingqiu on the surface, but she doesn’t really play like Xingqiu does - they actually benefit quite a bit just from being played side-by-side instead of 1 or the other, though of course you’ll probably get a lot more mileage out of putting them on separate Abyss teams. So, imo, no.

So far the game's 5 stars that are supposed to power creep 4 stars aren't necessarily better than them, they just have easier-to-use kits or feel better to use. Kazuha is worse than sucrose for reaction-based comps, as the EM buff she provides is significantly more valuable than the 30-40% elemental dmg buff he gives, not to mention she can be a driver for the team and deal more damage with swirls as she is a catalyst user, on top of being able to provide a huge atk buff with TTDS. He's just better at facilitating the swirls more consistently and can CC better than her, but to provide a better buff he'd need at least C2 and freedom sworn for these teams. The same can be said for Yelan who, while she deals a lot more damage than Xingqiu, she provides less utility, as she can't apply hydro as quickly so she can't enable a char like hu tao, and hu tao likes to have the damage reduction and small healing Xing provides as she can't run a healer in her team. Yoimiya received a bad reception when hse was released but similar things can be said for her, she does not lock you out of using healers like hu tao, she easier to to use for her for her max damage as she does not require efficient charged attack cancel animation or stamina management like hu tao or klee both do, and can easily snipe enemies from afar while being a decent driver for off field supports like xing, fischl, and beidou. MHY so far has been trying to provide characters with more utility and ease of use than straight up creating units that deal more damage than existing ones, that might change in the future though, but they've been doing a decent job so far.

I think powercreep has TRULY gone to far when it comes to DPS units. A support unit will probably always be able to fill some kind of role (however niche), but when a DPS gets powercrept the only spot they fill is the bench.

I kinda want to have charecters have more similar burst, but with different elements, like a character that has Xiangling’s fire spin attack, but with electro or hydro, that way, they can help work with Xiangling for vaporize or overcharge team sub dps

I feel like this is saying Kazuha powercreeps sucrose as an anemo. Kazuha buffs more but sucrose is still very important when running reaction based teams that use her as a driver

Even when it comes to team damage, Yelan is not a one to one replacement with Xingqiu Her lower hydro application actually matters! If Yelan is the only hydro applier in the team (very common for hu tao teams to have just one hydro applier), then she doesn't keep up with hu tao's pyro application, which drops the team damage severely. This is due to hu's blossoms stealing a vape which would consequently make pyro the aura This becomes way worse if you play double geo for example or other characters that also cause reactions off field Yelan can't keep up with Albedo + zhongli + hu tao at all Definitely not power creep!

8:00 this scene is so cute

Music is Dragon Dance from sonic lost world, if you were wondering, or if you didn't quite remember the name like me

Honkai has MAJOR powercreep issue, im just glad that Genshin so far has been balanced all around. Like seriously, older Honkai characters have become so obsolete that they are barely used anymore in terms of meta.

Yes. Weapons are a perfect example of the power creep. Yes, this is mainly focused on characters. But with character releases like Hu Tao, Ganyu, Yelan, Eula, Ayaka. Clearly characters are getting more and more powerful as time goes on.

the realm of the mad god reference. i thought i would never see that game again. nice you played it though

I do appreciate that Yelan's kit which has some unique aspects like her dash that doesn't consume stamina and applies Hydro and her periodic AoE charged attack but characters don't have to be convoluted to be good. Yelan's unconditional dmg amp of up to 50% already makes her one of the best characters in the game for me.

In some instances. For characters theres definitely good few examples, razor, diluc, vemti, maybe even qiqi. Inazuman characters are honestly fine with powercreep especially 4 stars. Exceptions being kokomi and kazuha i guess. Most of the 4 stars are sub par compared to the other regions and are too niche to powercreep anything. But then u look at the characters released before (eula, hu tao) that are more obvious signs of powercreep

It is a good thing how Hoyoverse manages to keep releasing balanced characters. However the community´s reception of characters can be very annoying or even toxic. Yelan is so overrated and the way everyone talked about her made me feel like I needed to wish for her, and sadly I did... just to have her in the bench because her gameplay is both awful and boring to me. Also I don´t even like the character and for the teams I play I do not even need her. But the FOMO people creates around some of these characters is too strong (and it is happening with Kazuha too). There´s also the case of Yae Miko, which is a strong and well balanced character, but people talked so bad about her that many people that wanted her (or even pulled her) now have her in the bench doing nothing or skipped her just because people say she´s BAD, AWFUL and Not Recommended. Fortunately for me this time the opinion of others did not affect me and I still love playing her, but yeah the community sucks sometimes.

you should unironically make a series called "why people play" for characters that are used regularly but arent broken, you know? lol, anyways, great video btw

i wish they would make razor more than what he is currently

We can only claim power creep when national team no longer work

The way I see it, Genshin had a lot of power creep at first, but nowadays they're making characters who are on par with prior releases and instead offer new ways to tackle things. As someone who likes horizontal progression and variety a lot, I like where Genshin is headed.

I think one thing that's kind of important to remember, is that Yelan kind of does what bennet does as well. There is a loss to both functions, her hydro application is lower and then her atk% buff is time based so it's not overall as high. However, combining two of the strongest 4 stars effects even with a loss in some areas is really good. It does help she's incredibly fun and imo her design is one of my favourites in the game. But yeah, she's very versatile she fits into any situation that either Xinqiu or bennet would by herself, even if the 2 of them are needed you can get both effects in one character.

An excellent video. I'm a new player to Genshin Impact, with less than a month of play so far. Your thoughts in this video have me wondering if the developers are handling power/feature creep in this manner to keep new players interested now and in the future. With their already pre-built World, that is still only partially revealed, there will be new and returning players coming back every time a new area is revealed. Being able to effectively play the new content with a limited character roster will allow people in the door, keeping them there to potentially spend money can only happen if they go through the door. Dungeons & Dragons Online had their 16 year anniversary this past February, and power/feature creep is a thing there. New players will have a hard time learning to navigate things and will find a pay wall for a lot of content that allows for the needed items for higher difficulties. So far I am enjoying Genshin Impact and especially love that there is a World done we cannot fully see yet. Next question is will max character levels be going up for those yet to be revealed areas because they will make the mobs there more difficult? If so, that may be the real power creep no one wants to see.

I would actually say that there is powercreep in the game, but specifically in the weapons. We are getting weapons with 88% crit damage, which is something we havent gotten before. Characters not so much, weapons are definitely getting powercrept tho

I think that Genshin is a casual game, so it is designed amazingly. No need for new characters unless you want them. That is insane! I mean, it's somewhat revolutionary in f2p for some reason 🤣 Genshin's branding is so great that they don't need to force players to buy anything. They just do, cause they love the game, the charcters, playstyles, designs and so on. I personally think that Genshin is great and if you don't like something, then either stop having a tryhard mindset and start enjoying a slow pace that the games allows or just change a game. No one forces you to play it

6:23 I have not seen that domain in so long

I love how you always show ran or hwayoung when talking about powercreep

I think you should theorycraft and get to know genshin characters much more than the surface level well before making rash comparisons and bad takes. XQ and Yelan do similar damage if at C6, and a ton of teams want to have the extra survivability(like taser). Also, how exactly is chongyun and shenhe powercreep? Chongyun's niche is cyro infusion vs raw damage like shenhe.

The closest thing to power creep in this game are the c6 5 stars but let's be honest, most don't care because that's mainly achieved through absurd spending.

Oh my holy mother of god. The entire time ive been watching your videos your name rang a bell in my little monke head. Up until you mentioned realm of the mad god which i played a metric fckton when i was younger. What a throwback. Iam pretty sure i got you on my locklist in that game to this day and ive 0 clue why. Nice to see you in another community tho

It might be possible that powercreep might not even matter in this game other than spiral abyss. And I personally don't know the stats on who does spiral abyss, but I can't imagine that it is a large percentage.

They should slow down creating new characters because this is expected to run for 4 more years to complete the archons. They should focus on reruns and new end game content or new and more content in general

Untill Yelan is c2 she doesnt supply enough hydro for most of the pyro carries in the way she doesnt steal vapes, compared to Xingqiu. So that's why its so wrong to say, that she's stronger than him in almost every situation. Just wrong. In that situation developers did amazing job making those 2 characters so similliar but yet so different

Love your analysis of this game. Keep it up brother (:

Also, Hey Vars, can you make a series about characters that withstand the test of time? Like "Why people still play" or something? I think that would be really cool. Great content!

yelan’s a five star while xingqiu isn’t. however, the sheer utility and versatility xingqiu provides to his team with slight healing, super armour, and damage reduction vs yelan’s fairly higher dps is more valuable to me. not to mention he has more consistent hydro application. remember, the difference in cost of a five star vs a four star is pretty staggering for f2ps at least. the fact that we’re even having this debate about the merits and demerits of a four and five star character already proves what a great unit xingqiu is. he’s great value for a much lower cost and serves basically the same purpose as yelan. unless you really like her character/find her gameplay fun, i wouldn’t say it’s wise to go for yelan as f2p for meta unless you desperately need another hydro unit.

I think we are years away from power creep having any real detrimental effect on the game. The nuance of team comps in Genshin make it very hard for support characters to become irrelevant. Take the Yelan and Xingqui example. There are at least a few teams where Xingqui is still undeniably the better option (especially if he is c6). Raiden national needs the super armor and dmg reduction from Xingqui in order for Raiden to face tank during her burst. Dodging would not only lower her damage output but would also lower the energy generation for the team, which could ruin your rotation. Mitigation is also the reason Xingqui is still the better choice for a Sucrose driven Taser comp (Kokomi is also an option here). Mitigation is a lower priority than damage in Genshin but there are teams and content where some mitigation allows for more damage. Regardless, hydro is the glue of the majority of meta comps in the game. Having what is functionally a second Xingqui is only a win for the players. The only "hard" content does require two teams after all. Basically all of that also applies to Kazuha and Sucrose. They share a very similar role but go about that role is different enough ways to keep them both viable and relevant. Reaction based DPS characters that already get extra elemental damage bonuses from their own kit will likely benefit more from Sucrose's EM buffing than Kazuha's Elemental damage buff due to diminishing returns (examples: Hu Tao, Yanfei). Meanwhile characters that don't benefit from EM (such as Ayaka) would drastically prefer Kazuha's buffing. Basically my point is that there are enough different moving parts in any team's builds and rotations that phasing out characters entirely is unlikely to happen. The exception to this are early game DPS characters with very simple kits. As the lack of nuance means that raw numbers will be enough to power creep them. I'd also argue that specifically Diluc and Keqing were already power crept from the start of the game. It just took people a patch or so to realize how powerful characters like Xiangling and Beidou could be with the right builds. christ this turned into a thesis

What is the background music at the beginning it sounds so familiar

Didn't expect to her from RotmG on this channel but that's a cool throwback

I'm sorry... But they aren't comparable. He is a Hydro aplicator while ahe is an off field DPS. The only Pyro character she can apply enough Hydro for is Yoimiya. Putting Xingqiu and Yelan together is what makes her so strong because they perfectly compliment eachother. They are also really good with Electro characters, don't leave them out

While I agree with about the power creep in most gacha games I believe Hoyo at least doing it better by not making old characters absolute Looking at Honkai impact even after 4 years old characters still work well in all content What I see Hoyo doing is giving the players more options on how to play the game In my opinion As long as old characters can be used to clear new content " power creep " is fine with me It's when new content make old characters absolute what bother me and most time make me quit the game

the real powercreep is the amber kaeya lisa who are so underwhelming yet getting their constellation is almost impossible unless you wish solely on standard banner or use the star exchange monthly which is ridiculous considering their const is not even that special, I think at one point mihoyo should add their const as story reward and let players use them in their c6 form when they finish mond story

I'm fine that some characters are stronger than others but those that barely even leave the bench or are just not even looked at other than the hardcore, I'd wish got just a little buff or improvement to get themto be looked at more seriously.

Pretty hard to avoid when they started out with such overtuned, bloated kits as bennet and co.

Slightly off topic, i already did not like yelans abilities, specifically her burst and the fact shes hydro. Just seems lazy that they are fine with just making a xingqiu v2 for abyss and not even try to hide it.

What's the name of the game shown briefly in 8:39? I've never seen it before

After checking their stuff I’d say it’s not exactly powercreep as yelan works differently from Xinqiu but more like you said, the damage has increased. Since Xinqiu is so defensive while also working great towards offense he fulfills a different role from Yelans all out attack and I’m pretty certain that’s why they actually work together well. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with new characters fitting into existing situations so long as there’s enough difference in them to give you the option. Is Yelan better than Xinqiu while being the same, no quite assuredly separate while being similar. And her similarity let’s you try her in Xinqius tried and true comps. I think another example would be a replacement Bennett who has say a shield instead of a heal but still grants a straight up attack bonus. Maybe they get it from a couple different sources but said shield has a cleansing affect and grows in power with another stat and say it heals when it breaks or heals while it’s active. Essentially burying Thoma and Xinyan but would give you another playstyle that’s similar to bennet while being quite different from him. Like a power split instead of a creep.

I see Yelan at C2 is a direct side grade to Xingqiu at C6. Xingqiu will always apply more hydro by virtue of rain swords floating around you and touching enemies even apply hydro where as the dice do not. Yelan gives more raw damage but Xingqiu provides more healing. I hope Hoyoverse continues this design philosophy are similar but act as side grades for different purposes. HuTao wants Xingqiu on her team because she stays at low HP. Yoimiya would do better with Yelan because she sits at a distance and wants the damage buff.

i dont think xingqiu and yelan are a good example or even are an example of a powercreep. because if you pull yelan, chances are you wont replace xingqiu but may use him in the second team due to him being a support base for so many of them and even use him WITH yelan because that will solve his energy recharge problems and make him stronger by enabling you to take from those er stats and turn them into extra crit and attk stats. i dont think a good support will really undergo powercreep if another character with a similiar kit will be released because nevertheless they can still preform their role giving you no necessary need to pull for the another said support, open up a possible quick swap synergy with the supports and overall more party custom choices for the two abyss teams. i feel like the units which will be more so powercrept are definitely dps’s since they are onfield characters meaning you can only use one at a time, not supports.

Hey I remember starting this discussion (looks at date) A YEAR AGO!? and people called me all sorts of insults for even insinuating powercreep around Ganyu and Eula's release

Vars: Yelan is better than Xingqiu because she does more damage and his survivability isn't needed. Taser players: And we're supposed to keep our team alive now...how?

Noelle > Itto Chongyun > Shenhe Xingqiu > Yelan Sucrose > Kazuha Razor > Eula Barbara > Kokomi Lisa > Yae Although these arent power creeps, you see the point where Im going.

Yelan C6 however is a somewhat big powercreep imo. Buy hey, only like 1% of playerbase can probably own a C6 yelan. I think it's only a matter of time tho for that level of powercreep make its way into a future character's C3 or C2, much like Raiden's. Raiden is very powerful at C0 dnt get me wrong, but at C2 she is EXTREMELY good.

Tbh, even c0 Yelan WITH (c6) Xingqiu is a very hard hitting team. And: what's the music in the video?

I know it's a special circumstance, but at C4 Yelan buffs HP with her lingering lifeline - and she's really, for me at least, shining in that niche. Yeah she brings damage, but for me her main utility is that she can buff HP and her burst combines with NA. I keep her with my HP scaling units (Kokomi, Kazuha (He runs PJC so it's a symbiotic relationship of him lowering enemies defense to hydro while also squeezing an extra boost for his own personal damage (he's a hybrid build that leans heavily towards crit), and a flex spot. I'm using Kuki right now. But honestly? The content isn''t hard enough that between my Yelans LL, Kazuha's personal damage on top of swirling and weakening enemies to hydro, and Kokomi's burst + Yelans C4 HP boost + Kokomi's burst + her clam (Mine pops for about 30k physical damage) there's a need for a fourth. In fact, the time lose of placing a fourth in rotation can actually just artificially draw a fight out. And ofc at C6, like most units, Yelan becomes a one-unit DPS. I know that we don't see the huge difference, and she doesn't take on the niche role of HP + NA buffer, until a late con, but I do think it's still relevant to talk about. I could never use Xingqiu to get what I get from a C4 Yelan (as equally as even a C6 Yelan can't provide the same things XQ does like resistance to interruption.) I do think Yelan took inspiration from how well XQ's kit ended up performing, like MHY saw the gem they made and realized they could use the same basics to craft a 5*, but I think we're a whiles away from actual power creep.

Yes, but not in the case of yelan and xingqiu because xingqiu cant be dethroned Yelan: ive come to defeat you Xingqiu: how are you supposed to defeat me, you need me

what is the music In background? 😍 I love it tell me the name pls!!!!

Did you watch Iwintolose's dps showdown with yelan and raiden? That really feels like power creep at least at whale lvl.

At the end of the day, Xingqiu is still the more versatile character. Just the fact that Xingqiu has more application makes him better with pyro units than Yelan.

No. The only possible argument might, MIGHT be for Hu Tao vs Klee or Diluc, but even then I could see people arguing otherwise. If anything, I think Genshin has had almost the opposite of power creep, since it seems like for most of 2.X, they've been reigning characters in when it comes to their power level. I mean, Ayaka and Raiden are huge exceptions, and Yelan is definitely excellent, but the rest are at best good picks, and at worst underwhelming. (But not bad/unusable) And that's just 5*s. Inazuma's 4* Roster are among the worst in the game, on a genuinely impressive level. If a character is optimal in more than one sort of team when they're NOT at C6, it's a miracle. Personally, I've had a lack of interest in most of the Inazuman 5*s, and as silly as this may sound, I think it was because of the lack of even a little power creep. Without anything to start pushing at the current ceiling, there's not a ton to shake up the meta, and it's hard to get excited to pull for new things when most of the new things are just side-grades to most of my already-existing teams. And even if they'd be an upgrade, the "upgrade" wouldn't feel impactful enough to be worth the steep 5* price tag.

to me every character is basicly a fancy cosmetic and a custom difficulty slider. You already win with the first characters you get for free automaticly so theres no real pressure wich is fine imo. and most new op units are there to make any new enemy/mechanic(even bosses) be brought down to the level of a basic hilichurl for those who dont want to deal with combat or difficulty, but its nothing more than an option for those that want it. i rather be able to do the content with the characters i choose to play with than be forced to use ones i dont want. hope that doesnt change

Hey Vars can you do a video about Thoma? He really hasn't aged well since release and I would like your opinion on it.

Well, I disagree. I'll be considering Xingchiu C6 and Yelan C0. Xingchiu is generally better that Yelan and Yelan is after Barbara, the least valuable hydro user. Lemme explain. Yelan's hp scaling is kind of a bad thing right now, because that means she has a dead stat for every weapon and she can't use most of the attack buffs. Xingchiu, on the other hand, can be buffed by noblesse and force of the millelith and he can also be buffed by Bennett (only E, as Q doesn't snapshot). Xingchiu has MANY weapon options (even that 3 star weapon of crit damage and crit rate) for many teams that are insanely good on him, making him deal the same damage as Yelan or even more. Even using yelan's Aqua simulacra, Xingchiu could perfectly have Mistplitter, and that's the same thing: same investment, same damage, but Xingchiu provides interruption resiliance, damage reduction and applies more hydro. He also generates more energy than Yelan even without sacrificial sword, because even though Yelan's E is 10 seconds CD, her best teams use one E every rotation, usually lasting 17-20s. About Yelan being the second less valuable hydro character. The reason is she IS a single-target damage dealer, same as Xingchiu, generally worse at C0, less flexible, with less teams and her best teams tend to use Xingchiu as well, dealing more damage than her. Xingchiu has the option to be used un single target but also has the tasser team, which is incredibly good on multi target, whereas Yelan can't be fit there because the team then has no healer or way to survive properly but Beidou's C1 shield and parries. There's no reason to pull for Yelan if you have Xingchiu, you'd rather have Xingchiu, which is very cheap as he's a 4 star and can be used both on single target and multi target and some hydro AoE applier, such as Childe, Ayato, Kokomi or Mona. So even if you don't have Xingchiu, you'll eventually get him, but Yelan is more exclusive while being worse than him. I'm nota saying Yelan's bad in any way, she's strong, but she's considerably worse than Xingchiu and it's not that valuable for an account. So, Yelan is NOT stronger than Xingchiu. Yelan makes some Yoimiya teams better, but as Yoimiya is not the best dps either...

The funny thing is the power creep didn't really happened between XQ and Yelan, but with Yelan C6 compare to other C6 DPS. The good thing is majority of GI players will not experience it but only the mega whale players who do speedruns in abyss.

There is powercreep in this game lol, razor is a great example of this-going from a great option for a DPS in 1.0 to being outclassed by eula and newer 5* DPS characters

what was the background music?

Fun Fact: Turn out Yelan has the same amount of damage compared to Xingqiu due to how much energy Yelan generates even tho her scaling might tell you otherwise (Yelan needs more ER than Xingqiu so she has to sacrifice more damage to ER) so the only difference between these two is their utility (Yelan has dmg buff, Xingqiu has dmg reduction and stagger res)

Xinqiu and Yelan seem more like sidegrades to each other Reminds me of TF2 with its weapons

I see a character that I like, build them up in an efficient way, play with them to Friendship lvl 10 alongside others, then try to not rely on them afterwards. Unless it's the Spiral Abyss reset, but who can blame me for that?

I went for C1 Yelan just for the chance to traverse faster. Didn't get her, but you bet I'm trying again during her rerun.

This video is wrong on so many levels. Genshin doesn't suffer from powercreep. The old characters are still viable. Zhongli, Bennett, Xingqiu, Ganyu, Xiangling etc. Eula better than Razor? Hu Tao better than Diluc? Limited 5* should obviously be stronger. Yelan isn't Xingqiu's powercreep. She's a 5* character and at C0 she's slightly worse than XQ at C6. Kokomi didn't powercreep Barbara. Kokomi is a limited character, she should be stronger.