After its release on December 1, 2020, Zhong Li – the new 5-star character received mixed reactions from the Genshin Impact community. Unlike previous test versions or character trailers, Zhong Li struggles to fulfill his roles in the game whether as a DPS or Support. Dubbed the “God of War” of Liyue – a city symbolizing Chinese culture, MiHoYo has instead presented a controversial character rather than a powerful and useful one as rumored.
This has led the international Genshin Impact community to feel disappointed. This is understandable as the image MiHoYo has crafted for Zhong Li has raised too many expectations. Many waves of protest have surged after Zhong Li’s launch in China and around the world. The latest move from a portion of Chinese gamers is to complicate matters concerning invoice issuance, or even hack the game to express their dissatisfaction.
On various online forums, many gamers have sought to contact employees from MiHoYo to inquire why Zhong Li was designed this way, and whether adjustments will be made in the future. According to the majority of responses received, MiHoYo is taking public feedback into account and is examining this character more closely.
It is inevitable that publisher MiHoYo cannot ignore the strong waves of discontent from the online community regarding their ‘darling’, as well as the declining revenue from Zhong Li’s banner compared to previous banners. In October, Genshin Impact’s revenue reached 10 billion yuan, but with Zhong Li’s banner in November, this figure dropped by half. Compared to the character Klee’s banner, Zhong Li’s revenue has fallen significantly behind.
The first statement from Genshin Impact regarding the controversies surrounding Zhong Li has been posted on the game’s official Fanpage. According to MiHoYo, Zhong Li’s two key skills are the “Jade Shield” and the petrification effect of his burst skill, placing this character in a support role with the most important stat being HP. However, the developers increased Zhong Li’s Geo damage output with each ascension level instead of HP, a detail that has been opposed by many as Zhong Li cannot fulfill support duties based on %HP.
According to MiHoYo’s feedback, the majority of the Genshin Impact gaming community can guess that the publisher will not be able to openly “delete” or heavily buff the character, nor will they make drastic adjustments to skill stats. It seems MiHoYo’s direction is to build a team where Geo elements can react/resonate or support each other with various characters. However, whether this development strategy will yield positive results for Genshin Impact remains to be seen.