Can we go back to old drip marketing posting schedule?

I've always tried to predict next upcomming characters that gets skins or released in upcomming patches based on what we currently know, following hints from game, "About..." voicelines, hints from livestreams (like silhouettes reveal) and patterns, it's just a part of fun for me. And what do you know, when I said to my friends that I predict Varka and Lohen to be next version based on upcomming dormant port (like Liben confirmed) and Varka's letter at the end of act VIII, they went to check leaks themselves and were pretty bad at "hinting without spoiling" if it's varka or not (it's on them tbh). I don't sit on twitter, tik tok, genshin leaks subreddits, or any other social media mainly because I don't care that much, but also don't want to get spoiled.

But it didn't took long before I got flashbanged on youtube of all places by "Varka's gameplay" on the main page, because beta testers have access to him as soon as the version before drops and that's when leaks always starts. I always block accounts that do that, but there's always a hundred more in it's place.

I don't even blame the leakers, drip marketing used to be before the beta tests even starts. They used to be exciting and started as a way to announce characters before leakers do, so it won't undermine experience for players like me. Used to drop monday before version before release, then sometimes friday-sunday after version releases, then monday week after initial scheduled day and now friday, week and a half later than it's used to be, when leaks are spreading like rapid fire and it's ridiculous.

I didn't get spoiled on Lohen if he really gets released and his design, so the 2nd character might still be a surprise.

What do you guys think? Do you care about getting spoiled or drip marketing for that matter? Did anyone NOT know he was upcomming and got surprised at today's drip?

Commentaires

YannFrost2026-01-23 07:35

Kinda your fault for not avoiding leaks. You need to block all those videos.

Unless a leak got so viral that even animators are animating leaks, (Like Columbina eyes) you are pretty safe. You just need practice diligence.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 07:47

I block those constantly, but when new arrives for me to block, shit's already set in stone. And reddit's "doomposting of Varka's numbers" didn't help as well. The last time I had this problem with varesa when I tried to avoid her design. It's not even a "just don't look for leaks, duh" problem, wait long enough and leaks will find you themselves.

DeagleTC2026-01-23 07:41

the dont recommend channel feature of youtube does actually work btw

TheArcher05272026-01-23 07:52

It does, my site look cleaner by the day. I'm clearing it since natlan dropped. But one thumbnail or word is enough, after a while one slips, +1 blocked channel, but it's already done.

Clades_Candor2026-01-23 07:55

Just disable ur watch history and u will never get any recommendations.

Zephyr_ta2026-01-23 07:42

I genuinely fail to see the reason of releasing drip marketing after a week when everyone and their mother is already posting leaks

CutesyWillow2026-01-23 07:46

I guess to keep the hype for Columbina, which is stupid since everyone is talking about the leaks lmao

SvensonIV2026-01-23 07:55

Everyone? You only see a fraction of the playerbase interacting with content of the game outside of it. The vast majority of players will spend their primos on the current banner not knowing who the next character is going to be and what they will do.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 08:05

Bless them, this is the way.

strawberry_ooyoo2026-01-23 08:29

The way to end up with no guarantee for a character you want

IWatchTheAbyss2026-01-23 09:07

yeah ultimately i think interacting with the leaks is a necessary evil to combat the way the fomo this genre does

ravearamashi2026-01-23 11:24

Especially when it comes to rerun. Sure they’re hit and miss early on during beta but by second half of the current patch it’s pretty much accurate and some people wants to know if the characters they want are rerunning next.

Ordep2222026-01-23 10:38

The way for hoyo to get more money

Alex24222026-01-23 14:35

Well, in that case they don't see Hoyo's drip marketing either.

aiyafem2026-01-23 07:59

Bruh wdym everyone. You mean minorities on Twitter/reddit?

babangelsin2026-01-23 08:00

You don't want to use "minorities" plural, as it specifically refers to minority ethnic groups

Just say "a minority"

ForeverOasis2026-01-23 09:10

The og comment comes off crazy lmao

WhyHowForWhat2026-01-23 09:21

So what [cambridge dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/minority) says about how to use "minorities" for ethnich and religious group is lies I see.

MeteorFalcon2026-01-23 08:23

Wasnt Columbina also dripped late?

Soft-Psychology80182026-01-23 09:05

Everyone has been dripped late yes even columbina that how they have been rolling lately

TheArcher05272026-01-23 07:49

I know, right? I get it that they don't want the drip to affect sales of certain banners, but c'mon.

Skykeeper222026-01-23 08:48

I think it’s good this way in case it’s a character that made a surprise appearance in the latest quest.

h2odragon002026-01-23 11:26

HYV can reach 99% of their playerbase.

Leaks are only available to those that look for it. Become too mainstream and you can be taken out. Leak channels are only up for a while then gets nuked. Unless they keep it low and go under the radar.

Also, drip marketing xan hurt the sales more since we only get confirmation on patch day while drip marketing before are out 2 days before patch day.

Most people pull as soon as the patch it out while leaks take a while to come online unless you trust the kits without the leakers beta servers coming online.

Zenima2026-01-23 13:06

I wish leaks were only available to those who look for it.

h2odragon002026-01-23 13:43

Depends on where the leaks come from.

Twitter is a lost cause.

For YT, it depends on a lot of factors.

Leaks can break containment it the character is popular enough (i.e. Varka, Columbina). It can also be because your feed is primarily Genshin character kits. A feed that is more focus on Genshin animations would get significantly less leaks.

Freestyle802026-01-23 11:47

i dont understand why people are so obsessed with leaks esp here people seems to be bitching about getting spoiled

shride-2026-01-23 15:18

they wait a few days after a patch to release the drip marketing in order to let most people pull for the on banner character before giving them a new one to be excited about

since the beta (and by extension leaks) start the same day as the patch its obvious that there would be a couple of days in between

and since most people dont look at leaks (and the ones who do are mostly meta focused as opposed to those that get easly excited about the new character) its more profitabile to give the "regular" players the opportunity to waste their pulls before finding out about the new character than it is to excite people about the patch that wont be comming for a while as opposed to the one just releasing

_Mysto_2026-01-23 07:44

Mark leaks with the spoiler tag.

TrialByFyah2026-01-23 07:45

I don't understand why it matters. The character is revealed either way, and in my opinion datamined gameplay, kit, and stats is significantly cooler and more informative than a picture posted on social media that doesn't tell anyone anything other than a small % chance of a lore drop for an unrelated character. To me it doesn't matter whether its Hoyoeverse themselves or some leaker that gets the information to me. I get it regardless.

Clades_Candor2026-01-23 07:50

[deleted]

Mystic_Saiyan2026-01-23 08:22

Plus honestly, the real hype comes from seeing the character's dynamic/personalities if you ask me..

A couple flashy moves and attacks are cool for example but what is that without knowing the character behind them?

Especially since the character trailers/teasers are the best part of drip marketing rather being told who it is with their art showcased

TheArcher05272026-01-23 08:17

Drip is as special as you want it to be. And for me it bares less to no meaning when leaks were first, but that's a part of the problem. I'm doing my best actively avoiding leaks. Varka being next version is exciting news to me, but I prefer it being presented on a silver platter, not spoilers and thumbnails.

But that's just my take and every take matters.

Hennobob5542026-01-23 08:42

As someone who actively watches all the leaks and gameplay footage as soon as it comes out, I agree that the Drip Marketing is special.

HSR is the only one of the three (Genshin, HSR, ZZZ) that still consistently puts out the drip before the betas (much earlier than others too, being the week leading up to the version livestream for the patch before), and yet the drip marketing still gets plenty of discussion and hype around it, and this is even still with HSR having by far the most leaks about content of the three, so those who follow them (I.e. myself) normally knowing who is going to be revealed anyways.

This is even more prevalent for ZZZ which, while notably less consistent than HSR (especially surrounding the void hunters), usually does still have the drip happen before the beta starts. This is because the leaks on ZZZ are *very* tight and so we are so often completely caught by surprise by who is revealed by the drip. Iirc Silver Anby and Lucia + Yidhari both essentially came completely out of nowhere in terms of available leak info when their drip marketing happened.

TLDR: Even with leaks and prior knowledge there is a lot of hype and speculation around the drip marketing, so I completely agree with you on that it is still very special and really should happen before the beta starts for Genshin like it used to.

anarchy7532026-01-23 12:34

How is it spoilers? The company added him to the game 6 months ago, you can see his vision meaning he's probably playable, and then on top of that it's been weeks since they showed him in the upcoming character lineup.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 07:55

TL:DR Hoyo needs to stop delaying their drip marketing. Avoiding leaks where one trigger word is enough to ruin your fun of guessing is exhausting. And the drip used to flashbang users before leakers had any chance. And I'm salty about it.

luihgi2026-01-23 09:24

idk what they're smoking sometimes

Icy-Childhood-45872026-01-23 08:00

Who needs enemies when you got friends like that😭.

Anyways, so I don't know if this tip will help you or not but if you choose to "turn off watch history" of youtube you will not longer get homescreen recommendations thereby avoiding spoilers. Though this might also reset your recommendations and you might not get any related videos in homescreen for some times.

Either that or you can download youtube studio and **blacklist** certain keywords like: leaks, genshinleaks, genshinimpactleaks, etc. this will block every video that has the keywords in the video tag. After multiple iteration you might get the perfect spoiler free youtube experience. It's a more personalized method but it will take time to getting all the keywords that creators use to get their video as top recommended.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 08:22

The backstab is real ToT

Also didn't know about such functions, that's quite informative!

aiyafem2026-01-23 08:00

Nah, it's already leaked way even before the patch is out. It doesn't matter anymore

TheArcher05272026-01-23 08:19

Guess I could only get this far without getting spoiled.

neuvvv2026-01-23 08:02

those were the days when character dripped before beta starts, kinda forgot who was the last

Asbium2026-01-23 08:11

Before Mavuika

Ashytie2026-01-23 08:03

Yeah, totally get what u feel.

In youtube the normal videos is fine and avoidable with the "don't recommend channel" , but the shorts man. HOW TF DO I AVOID IT.

I was normal scrolling shorts few days back and BOOM. Varka ultimate showcase literally 1 seconds in the shorts. Scrolling away or pausing it to unrecommend literally isn't fast enough. Those channels just won't stop coming.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:02

Oof, ngl that would ruin me. Despite ruining the surprise of his release next patch, I still managed to not see his animations, so sorry it has happened to you tho.

KoroGamer2026-01-23 09:17

The exact same thing happened to me too. I was scrolling yt shorts and got unprompted act 8 spoilers the day Luna 4 dropped like bruh why tf is this showing up on my feed

MilesGamerz2026-01-23 11:19

The way to avoid it is to don't watch any genshin content at all, sadly

htp-di-nsw2026-01-23 08:09

I do not understand why anyone *wouldn't* want to know what characters were coming. I have followed banner leaks for as long as I knew they existed. If I am ever surprised by a banner, I consider that a failure.

I also, honestly, don't find surprise to be inherently positive. I don't get why a certain subset of people chase it. Spoilers never bother me or diminish my enjoyment of media. I don't look for story spoilers, but they wouldn't be a problem if I did see them.

TMXsB2026-01-23 09:04

its not like i dont want to know, drip used to be the Monday before a patch, so you could still decide if you will pull the character on banner or not, or you can wait and check the kit and gameplay of the non-released character (if you want), but now the drip is functionally useless since the beta starts way before the drip these days.

htp-di-nsw2026-01-23 09:14

I don't really understand what you're saying here. If you want to know, it's as simple as subscribing to the leak subreddit. Done. Who cares about the drip marketing one way or the other?

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:59

Leaks are a killjoy and from my experience on reddit often comes with doomposting of the character you like that ends up being meta. Example? Most likely the guy above.

Ifalna_Shayoko2026-01-23 10:34

>I do not understand why anyone *wouldn't* want to know what characters were coming.

Depends on the story direction. Appearances can be a spoiler and knowing that a char will be playable also equals to knowing that nothing actually bad will happen to said character.

It's the reason why Bina's portal-flight fell completely flat, in an emotional department.

Monte-Cristo20202026-01-23 08:09

leaks are peak wdym

issm2026-01-23 08:10

More like their old way of doing things was baffling.

Marketing is ultimately about making more money.

Releasing a character promo for the next banner before this banner even goes on sale gives people a chance to decide they like the next character more, and skip the current banner.

Obviously, if people look at leaks, they're shit out of luck, but for the people who aren't super tuned in to Genshin on social media, with the current way of doing things, Mihoyo has a better chance to monetize people who spend all of their pulls on the current patch and don't have any pulls left over for their favorite character who releases next patch.

Rush1662026-01-23 08:12

Leaks are illegal, you know that right? Why would Hoyo adapt to this situation?

Frozenmagicaster2026-01-23 08:34

Well it was like that beforehand

apparently leaks is why they started doing drip marketing in the first place

they changed drip to be 2 weeks after beta for no reason

Ariaflux2026-01-23 08:15

Drip marketing was only started to combat the leaks spoiling hype, but I guess their statistics showed that drip marketing before patch is creating some issues for them. I don't think anyone who isn't on the development team will actually know their reasoning but I believe they are stuck between a rock and a hard place and choose to do the least consequential method of releasing drip marketing few days after patch.

They might also be testing various iterations and trying to see which is the best, or the timing could be dependent on banner revenue expectation, like an important banner could mean a more delayed drip release.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:23

I hope they stick to weekend after patch starts, so people that wanted to spend savings on character banner will do so in day one and then won't have enough time to get spoiled (in best case scenario) before the drip is out. Their pockets should be happy with that, but current situation with Varka's drip is way too late and it's not beneficial to anyone in the playerbase.

Ok_Childhood_22462026-01-23 12:09

Drip marketing was only started to combat the leaks spoiling hype - there was drip marketing before the game even released, like for barabara, dainsleif and the travelers. It started because genshin marketing team decided to do it, not because of leak conspiracy theories, why it was not there during 1.X, who knows

Ariaflux2026-01-23 12:55

No? There was pre-release marketing, but since game launched there was no preview of upcoming characters until Inazuma. Of course officially they didn't come out to say that it was to combat leaks but everyone back then agreed that was the most likely reason.

I don't know why you consider it a conspiracy theory when devs publicly denounced leaks before so thinking they would do something to combat leaks is not some extreme conjunction at all.

shride-2026-01-23 15:23

I think its pretty clear that releasing the drip marketing before a patch gets some people excited about the new character before they pull for the one currently on banner as opposed to them using up their pulls and later being forced to spend money for the newer one they may be more excited for

and maybe the fact that giving info on the next patch will decrease the hype for the one just releasing which they probably also dont want

Long-Sky-34812026-01-23 08:16

If all leaks were to be aggressively dmca’d the world would be a better place

Frozenmagicaster2026-01-23 08:34

and then we don't know who is ahead to plan our money so end up spending - *win for the billion dollar gambling company and loss for everyone else*

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:16

Silhouettes reveal in livestreams very help in that regard. I don't want to diminish others' way of planning ahead, but that's how I cope with it. Now I see a silhouette of Nichole. Do I know when she comes? No. Do I know that she'll be playable? Yes. Is that all I need? Absolutely.

And as a heads up, I don't spend much, welkin only, sometimes the BP. But I saved enough for characters I wanted thus far, so durin, columbina, ineffa and I will have enough for varka, nichole, maybe sandrone if she'll become playable. But since I pull for characters I want myself, I wouldn't regret pulling despite not knowing who comes next imo.

Adorable-Comfort-2802026-01-23 13:55

It’s not just about new characters tho it’s also about reruns. If next patch they’re gonna run an insane weapon banner/a character or multiple I’ve been saving for, I’m not gonna blow my primos on Ineffa now.

noel13772026-01-23 08:43

not great for f2ps

TMyriadJ2026-01-23 09:46

That's why Endfield's treatment of leakers is based.

MallowMiaou2026-01-23 08:19

I swear every patch they push the drip further

Gentlemanor2026-01-23 08:49

If they keep this up, we will get the drip marketing of future characters when their debut patch is already out

Bussy_Wrecker2026-01-23 08:28

Ngl I will delude myself a little longer till v3 stats drop

CoconutxKitten2026-01-23 08:46

Varka could hit 1k damage & I’ll still pull because Varka

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:09

Based, same

katbelleinthedark2026-01-23 08:33

I have no stakes in this as my favourite thing about any game/book/film/comic book/franchise in general are leaks.

I just keep what I read to myself.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:16

I respect that

siriuslupin652026-01-23 08:43

I never click on the youtube "Home" button for this specific issue. I only browse youtube on my subscriptions only new videos. Same for twitter, I only browse my following list and never the "for you" section. After I started doing that I havent been spoiled at all

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:24

Might as well try that ngl

Caioreis3502026-01-23 13:34

When Luna 4 pre download dropped, I opened ytb on my phone and it opened ytb shorts on default. The very first video it showed was the leaked model of the moon sisters. I was FURIOUS

proxy19c2026-01-23 08:51

Why would I care what kind of gameplay some characters in the future have? Genuinely doesn't matter, it can be easily changed even once beta ends. Besides it's not that hard to predict who will become playable and who won't. Aside from archons and dragons and well, moon goddess, other characters usually have Visions, playable characters are also usually way more detailed than others. If you were to predict who and when will become playable it's also not that hard especially now that we're 4 versions in the 6.0-7.0 release cycle.

Spoilers idk, I don't really like getting recommended with some video from those 3D animators making an extremely obvious title describing what happened and a thumbnail showing the story moment from a cutscene, yeah this is just scummy, sure I could easily predict Capitano dying or whatnot my bro was a walking death flag, but I of course didn't know about Ronova or the agreement she and old lyro archon had, I didn't even know she was somehow involved in this, but literally an hour after the update I'm getting a NOTIFICATION from YouTube recommending me a video from some 3D artist basically showing all that in a thumbnail and a title, bravo 👏

There are levels to spoiling. I can understand typical anime tropes that hoyo uses, I won't really care if someone says something, even if they're correct about their statement what really matters is how you get to it. There's a certain difference between saying "Signora will die" and "Signora will be executed by Raiden Shogun during a fight between Traveler in front of Raiden Shogun, while the rebellion squad would be waiting outside with Kazuha coming in clutch". Yeah, that would be a little annoying, however some random statement won't really matter to me personally.

Same with Nod-Krai, it was realistically not that hard to >!predict that Sandrone would do something crazy that would end up "killing" her with all the foreshadowing, and she also doesn't have a Vision!<, but what truly mattered is how she ended up there and most importantly why.

Lots of people have seen that fake PlayStation image showing something about Tsaritsa appearing, but even if hypothetically it wasn't fake, it would've probably been some black screen with a voice behind it, just like how we've heard Nahida talking to us way before actually meeting her during one of those summer events. We've heard Alice talk to us, some other witches too. Yet, somehow, people claim it's a spoiler, which to me is crazy considering we all know that Tsaritsa exists, what even are you getting spoiled with here? People will probably disagree, but I don't see it as bad as someone with a huge audience re-uploading crucial cutscene moments to YouTube.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:39

No, I agree with your takes. I mean I don't think the same, but it's something I can nod with approval to. But the problem for me with tsaritsa "spoiler" is the same as the previous patches of nod krai. Tsaritsa wasn't mention anywhere in the livestream, but same with >!moon goddesses!< in Luna IV, >!Dottore's arrival!< in Luna III and >!Rerir's appearance!< in Luna I. We may know that they exist, but keeping them in secret until you get to play the quest subverts your expectations. >!Sandrone was killed!< part was still surprising to some, even if she was a >!walking death flag!<, us >!going to moon!< was also very surprising, even if >!columbina was talking about it all the time!< but tsaritsa showing up would work because we're still expecting her way later, so it would work as a great plot twist. That's why it would suck if it turned out true. For me.

proxy19c2026-01-23 09:50

The situation with the Tsaritsa is probably fake tbh, the font felt really off on that screenshot, so I just doubted it from the start. Besides, people with PlayStation in comments have verified that there's no such text (mentioning Tsaritsa). Sooo, yeah, some people just gotta pay a little more attention to detail. If you got spoiled, might as well try verify if it's fake or real 😄

Xitaull_Ciphivisk2026-01-23 08:56

I agree with you.

Leaks as a whole are a pain because oftentimes I end up seeing story leaks alongside character ones (had to leave the Sandrone mains sub because of this issue - literally non stop story spoilers every day for weeks). Story leaks imo are completely inexcusable, there's just no reason for them.

As for character ones, I'm only fine with them AFTER the drip marketing comes out. Drip marketing is always hype and it confirms for everyone that "Hey, this character is next!" so there's no more doubt. Only then am I okay with seeing leaks for them, because it pays to be informed on who's coming out next and when. It's just a matter of finding that balance between keeping the experience fun and exciting while also staying knowledgeable. It isn't fun anymore when you're scrolling through Youtube and suddenly you see a new character's ultimate animation plastered on the thumbnail by some random channel you've never seen before.

Another thing that really bothers me is that I also frequently see leaks accompanied with doomposting about character kits. Basically every character in this game that I see leaks about include people complaining that their numbers are low, their kit is clunky, that they're tied to a specific character, yadda yadda so on, so forth. Almost every time. It really sucks when my first impression of a character is that they're bad because someone online who apparently knows everything about them already said so. It was especially bad in ZZZ with Banyue, one of my favorite characters. It was constant doomposting for weeks before his release. It doesn't matter if he's actually fine or not, because the sentiment is already there and the hype is already drained. It sucks.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:47

1000% agree. When I know I will pull the character I look up materials needed, as I still like to prebuild them, so honeyhunterworld site is my go to. I also check what new artifacts will do when they've been introduced in the livestream, as they used to include their descriptions as well. If I'm very interested in dripped character, I will sometimes read their kit (happened with furina), but always avoid seeing animations until they're shown in the livestream. That's just how petty I am.

But story leaks are on a whole another level.

RandomEOS2026-01-23 08:57

well, never look for genshin in west community helps me avoid almost 80% of the leaks

RandomEOS2026-01-23 08:59

and imagine blame hoyo for that, bruh, imagine you got theft and people blame you not the thieves

billie_eyelashh2026-01-23 09:54

They’re not blaming hoyo for the leaks, this is more about suggesting that drip marketing be released earlier, like back in the day.

TMXsB2026-01-23 08:58

they really should go back to the old format, i think it changed ever since Mavuika.
what even is the reason of drip marketing if everyone already knows who the next character will be.

i know most of the playerbase are casuals and dont really keep up with leaks and stuff, hell i dont even keep up with the leaks and activly avoid them but they still keep popping up for me somewhere, i dont go on reddit or twitter much but they still find me on youtube.

ZZZ drips their character the day of or the day before the beta, usually a bit before the actual beta starts so its always a surprise who the character and even if we know who will be next we never know their element and even if we somehow do we dont know their role.

Important-Squash53972026-01-23 09:03

Let's just hope with the drip marketing out hoyo would actually fix and buff varkas kit. It's a hot mess, the kit numbers are f up, the cons don't gel with the kit, it's overall one of the worse kit fumbles since dehya

Physical-Budget-92392026-01-23 09:04

this new drip marketing schedule is so awful, can we please go back to the old days

Ezzaroth_VII2026-01-23 09:08

Do you only get excited when it's official? Weird kink

TheArcher05272026-01-23 09:54

Ay, don't kink shame me :(

jinxedandcursed2026-01-23 09:14

I think the delayed drip marketing schedule is just bad. I look specifically at character leaks and nothing else, just for confirmation of who's there and initial animations and mats, but it was nice to see the drip marketing before the patch they're in just because it was a good way to be hyped about the patch after next. Hopefully the numbers on the dev's side shows that they don't get more money out of characters by doing it this way and at least revert it to the Monday after. If it somehow generates more money for them, I'm afraid they'll keep delaying drip marketing at this rate. I used to be more excited for drip marketing back then than I am now.

Drazo2007-2026-01-23 09:15

Imagine getting leaked the entire 6.0 nod-krai map via Instagram Thread sponsor. Yeah happened to me, multiple times also. I honestly hate all the unmarked leaks, not everyone wants to see how a certain character plays! We wait for live streams for a reason!

TheUltimateWarplord2026-01-23 09:18

Yeah, I understand the issue.

I might be one of the few that actually kinda seeks out leaks to be able to plan my pulls ahead. I have a goal of collecting every single Pyro characters and get them on their relese banners(aka no pulling for them on any reruns besides for getting cons). My problem now is >!that I love the idea of Varka wielding two claymores, and !<me being a Greatsword main in Monster Hunter games, which makes it hard to resist pulling for him>!, considering that Nicole is most likely gonna be released after him!<. XD

UrticateMaster2026-01-23 09:21

Why do people care so much about drip marketing? Doesn’t everybody know about 6.4 Varka since like at least a month ago? Maybe two?

BluHor1zon2026-01-23 09:25

I just dont think they care if it is leaked or not, they have probably scheduled it and they stick to their marketing plan regardless of how much has it leaked online.

Not everyone sees (or want to see) leaks. I personally just actively avoid or ignore every bit of Varka leak (at most maybe an image of it) that comes my way on the frontpage of reddit. Im only looking forward to the release since everything in beta leading up to it is unfinalized anyway.

Myriad102026-01-23 09:26

It's likely to prevent spoilers for people who're still playing the AQ. I mean tbf he's likely not dead ofc

Bean_there22026-01-23 09:32

They started ro postpone the drip marketing when they teased Mavuika and citlali. People thought Hoyo didn't want to overshadow Chasca, turns out they simple pushed the drip marketing behind. Creates more FOMO, since with the earlier schedule, you had the information for 3 banners (the current, where the newest character is teased, the new one, which already had the livestream, and then the 3rd one, with the newest teased character)

life_ls_pain2026-01-23 09:51

Honestly idm looking at leaks, i dont go out of my way to find them but if some leaks video makes it to my homepage i'll watch it. What i do mind tho is the fact they post drip marketing so late.. like okay cool new character it's not like i didnt already see their whole gameplay and stuff cause of leaks...

TheArcher05272026-01-23 16:06

Just to be clear, I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing leakers for leaking, even if I'm often salty about it. I'm not against anyone checking leaks for themselves, I don't mind other people getting leaks when they were looking for them. I only mind myself getting flashbanged by leaks when I'm trying really hard to not see any and not have any in my feed when I'm actively trying to prevent it. It shouldn't be this hard to stay out of leaks, but yet again, hoyo shouldn't push the drip so far into character being already tested in beta and widely spread.

RunImmediate60622026-01-23 09:54

I don't know if you're on your phone or PC when you're on YouTube, but if you're on PC, download the BlockTube extension.

I've blocked every single GenshinTuber except a couple that i watch with no history of talking about leaks.
And a friend of mine are in and periodically search up Genshin Leaks on youtube just to block everyone.

Now, some still comes through, but alot less than it normally would.

Reddit on the other hand. Especially this sub... yeah.. leak watchers doesn't know how to shut the hell up. It's a plague at this point.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 10:35

I'll save this comment, just for good measure.

PastaFreak262026-01-23 10:06

Sounds like a massive OP problem.

moopym2026-01-23 10:17

Disagree, I remember scara's drip marketing coming out with his new design before his quest and it was like "aren't you dead? Why are you blue??" So I feel like it's better to have it later so people that don't look at leaks don't get spoiled by the official account

TheArcher05272026-01-23 10:38

Depends on the character I'd say. Like if it was >!sandrone!< right after Luna IV, it would be fucked up. But varka had all the green lights to be playable. It's the "when" that is a surprise to await and be hyped about.

moopym2026-01-23 11:40

True but it's better for them to have a schedule of 1 week and a half after the update so 1. everyone has a chance to play the update and 2. Consistent schedules mean people are waiting and building hype, again people who look at leaks don't really count cus that's their own choice to spoil themselves

TheArcher05272026-01-23 11:48

Sucks for people that don't choose to get spoiled seing shit like "man, at this rate varka will become a standard character with numbers this bad" a week before his announcement on subs and posts unrelated to leaks.

moopym2026-01-23 11:54

I just mute and block those people those people tbh, I'd much rather hear it from an official source (ptsd from dehya's livestream reveal being unable to kill a slime 😭) but if a I see it I just scroll past and don't linger on it

drekaelric2026-01-23 10:23

Me seeing the drip: \*Pretends to be shocked\*

TheArcher05272026-01-23 10:38

Sad reality I had this morning.

Pancake_Pozy3332026-01-23 10:37

So first it was 2 days before a patch
Then around 5 days after
Now over a week later??
Whats next after the mf character comes out?

shskatchegg2026-01-23 11:24

I actively seek leaks and I wouldn't change that but I do miss when drip marketing dropped before the patch so beta hadn't started either and I hadn't already seen splash art + animations. It was much more exciting that way.

IVKILL2026-01-23 11:55

I have two points about it.

Drip always should be with start of the beta, maybe sooner.

The other thing is, characters leaks are one of the best things that we have. Talking with my experience, not knowing if the character will be strong as mavuika or dehya and not knowing what his gameplay, is to hard, like, what if a save wishes for him and skip characters from past versions, for a character that I dislike completely the gameplay or numbers.

anarchy7532026-01-23 12:31

Genuinely I cannot understand why people give the slightest shit about a specific picture of a character being posted.

*He has been in the game for 6 months.*

You know what he looks like, you can go look at him in the game. What the hell does drip marketing do?

TheArcher05272026-01-23 12:37

It reveals when he's comming. Idk about you, but for me the "when" is the exciting part that is worth gettibg hyped around. And no, leaks doesn't provide me nearly the same amount of excitement, not even close. Even more, it ruins the hype I would have from drip marketing, which I loved and followed since 2.0

CascaDEER2026-01-23 14:57

Was it when Mavuika was to be dripped that they had to delay that one because of some disaster? So its either that they now try to keep the delayed consistency, or the early drip marketing made people reconsider pulling the current character in favour of the upcoming one

TheArcher05272026-01-23 15:55

I'd say the 2nd part is why they left it like that and are less consistent with it lately, as if they were experimenting with the delays. But throwing it half a patch away from livestream that will show their kit is kinda ridiculous if you ask me.

bbatardo2026-01-23 15:05

Genuine question, what's the difference between finding out via leaks or drip marketing? Doesn't change anything. I'd only be mad at leaks if it wasn't reliable but it is.

TheArcher05272026-01-23 15:49

Part of my personal experience with genshin is guessing which characters will arrive next. Same goes for which characters will get skins this time or how the story will unfold. Official media answering that is the culmination of my small guessing game. We got hints from Liben that we're going to Dormant port soon, then Varka confirmed in his letter scene that he's comming back to Mondstads soon. He also mentioned another knight of favonious named Lohen in the other quest and as it happens, Mondstadt event and lantern rite often came in pairs. I connected the dots, analised potential banners, who had one, who's left from already revealed ones and came to a hypothesis that dormant port could be in the next patch, along with mondstadt event and Varka + Lohen on next version's banners. Then there's some stupid text online from unwanted unofficial source straight up saying the answer.

So what if I anticipated that outcome? That's FOR ME as if I was reading a book, tried to predict the ending, then flipped 200 pages to see if I was right. Where's the fun in that? What if I was wrong and got spoiled on something I wasn't even supposed to predict? Leaks takes away the joy I have from this part of my experience with the game. And that's a huge chunk of joy, especialy in times when you've done everything and are at the verge of a burnout (had this problem in 2nd part of most of the previous regions).

I know you see things a little different. All I say is, leakers should keep their leaks in their circle and never treat it as common knowledge. I was fully into leaks in 1.1-1.5 era, then I noticed that leaks took a lot of fun I had with genshin and turned it into something mandatory, like a job I had to schedule, an experience I had to pre plan. I've come to realisation that it's way more exciting when you give yourself more room for surprises.

And as for literal difference, like I said in the other comment, it's not about the information, but more about presentation. I'm excited about Varka's release, I really am. But I'd prefer his announcement to be special, presented on a silver platter, not through doomposting randos on the internet saying how shit he's gonna be (happens with EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER EVER) or through thumbnails and memes.

Welp, but it's not that deep, right? Thanks for asking politely, took the opportunity to rant a bit, because it's bothering me since sumeru released. Was nice to take it out, take care and stay hydrated <3

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