Genshin Impact dev says it's "noticing the spike in artifact discussions" as many players grow tired of gearing

Genshin Impact update 2.6 — (Image credit: Hoyoverse)

Genshin Impact artifacts have become an increasingly hot topic among players since a February survey directly asked about the game's gear system, and developer Hoyoverse says it's aware of the mounting feedback on artifacts.

A Hoyoverse representative told GamesRadar that following "the recent in-game survey sent out and artifact system discussion around social channels," the studio and its community team have indeed "been noticing the spikes in artifact discussion" ahead of the pending release of Genshin Impact version update 2.6.

Genshin Impact's artifact system has been a bit of a sticking point since the game's release and hasn't really changed apart from the addition of the Artifact Strongbox, a welcome but minor tool that lets players use their bad artifacts as fodder to try for some good ones from specific sets.

However, a perfect storm of news has made artifacts a more central topic of discussion in the past few weeks. Near the end of February, an in-game Genshin Impact survey gave players a rare chance to offer pointed feedback on artifacts, and this sparked some white-hot posts on the game's official subreddit encouraging players to have their say in hopes of driving changes to the system.

More recently, we learned that update 2.6 will introduce two new artifact sets, one tailor-made for Xiao and the other clearly designed for the new character Kamisato Ayato. New artifacts are always exciting, but some Xiao enthusiasts lamented the need to farm a brand-new set of best-in-slot artifacts for their favorite character. Likewise, many Ayato fans pessimistically wondered how long it would take them to obtain a good set of his ideal artifacts given Genshin's unforgiving RNG.

This isn't the first time Genshin Impact has added new artifact sets, but between longtime players fatigued by artifact farming, Ayato fans questioning if they'll be able to optimize their new favorite character, and the glimmer of hope seen in that February survey, the discussion around artifacts has seen a noticeable shift in the past month or so.

We initially reached out to Hoyoverse to see if this feedback had made its way back to the studio, and while it confirmed that it has seen these kinds of discussions, it didn't promise or mention any changes to artifacts. We've followed up to ask about specific points of feedback and potential plans to address them, and we'll update our reporting if we hear back.

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.