HoYoVerse has just announced the next Genshin Impact character event wish, which will include the new Electro hero, who will be with us for the Christmas season. The “Cornucopia of Contention” banner, which features a huge increase in the new 5-star character “Strength in Serenity” Varesa’s drop rate, will be available from December 23. In addition to that, players will find the 4-star characters Iansan (Electro)—“Tempered in Molten Stone,” Chevreuse (Pyro)—“Executor of Justice,” and Gaming (Pyro)—“Leonine Vanguard,” as those giveaway chances are good too. Developers are sending the usual pre-banner hype cycles, but what is the community feedback? That is where it always gets messy, just as usual.

In a nutshell, Varesa is the event’s main prize. The promo material describes a Laid-Back Warrior. The character belongs to the Electro element. The banner gets going on December 23. That’s the main point of the news. However, looking at the replies to the announcement tweet feels like coming into a cinema in the middle of a quarrel. The die-hard fans are there, the skeptics, the people who are already saving for someone else besides Varesa, and finally the indiscriminate WuWa propangandists. It’s a one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

First of all, there are the thrilled ones. ‘Varesa is the best Christmas gift this year! 🥰’ one player known as VividBurger buttered up. Another one, Jogi, put it plainly: ‘I want her so bad.’ That is a case of pure gacha craving. Then there is Kurisu taking a very firm position: ‘You will give me your Chevreuse.’ It does not sound like a request but rather like an order. The hype is for sure very real for some.

Conversely, there is… the flip side. Still, there are the skeptics out there. Maikeru07, for instance, offered a very serious side-eye doubt regarding the boosted rates: ‘boosted rate drop lol sure.’ Which is perfectly legit. Everyone has faced the desire sensor at some point. The example of another player, vespera, can be seen, who has already abandoned Varesa and posted a meme with a caption: ‘we are saving for columbina’. The grind for future characters never stops, even when a new one is right there.

And then, the… discourse. Oh dear, the discourse. ARCHON21925222 was one user who lamented: ‘Anyone who hates her design is childish, woke, and is on the loosing side.’ That is quite a claim! This prompted a mini-thread of replies, with another writing back: ‘They do what they fucking want nigga.’ It’s passionate, if nothing else. Designing seems to be a point of discord, but with a major part of the chatter being about her utility and whom she is combined with.

A more down-to-earth complaint was made by yaoymiko, who expressed: ‘please stop locking iansan to varesa, or at least implement ZZZ’s 4-star selector to make it easier to get 4-star copies.’ That really hurts players who want a specific 4-star but have no interest in the featured 5-star. It’s a classic Genshin gacha dilemma.

So the new characters are Varesa and Iansan, Chevreuse, and Gaming in the spotlight. It’s a really strong 4-star lineup, especially for players who missed Chevresu the first time. However, the discussion in the replies was spiraling more and more into different topics. Someone was inquiring about the rewards for the PlayStation award. Another one was giving new player tips on how to heal characters, which, amidst the chaos, is just wholesome. ‘You can use a healer. u get barbara for free,’ said Ritesh Kumar, doing the Archons’ work.

There was even a small strange debate about another game, Wuthering Waves, where a user named Prabhakar Shanmugam seemed to be trying to provoke the chat, resulting in responses such as ‘WuWa propaganda aint gon do nth unc’ and ‘Piss off nggr.’ The tribalism that exists between gacha games is something else, mate. It’s like console wars but this time with anime characters.

And of course, the leaks and rumors are still there. One user, omkarj, was asking ‘If sandrone is electro is there a point to pull for varesa,’ referring to a rumored future character. To which another user, Reflux Knaaren, had to put it straight: ‘It’s a fake leak, dude.’ The cycle of leak-hype and subsequent events is a core part of the HoYoVerse community, much like the ongoing discussions on platforms like Xbox.