How p2w is this game in reality?

It is a fully free to play game as long as you only truly care about the story. 


It gets much harder to maintain f2p if you want to play the endgame. Even then, you shouldn't worry about that for at least another 6 months if you are still into the game. 

That depends, if we are talking about getting primogens and progressing in the history, none at all.

If you are talking about endgame, there's only one that really requires some spending, and even that one with some luck and the right decisions is kinda possible to clear at the highest level.

This game is more about time and effort if you are not spending than "not possible".

“Pay 2 win” is very much there but it’s not actually Pay 2 win. It’s more like, pay 4 convenience or pay 2 skip primo grind. Theres a couple things very late game that may be much more ideal if you’re spending money but there’s lots of f2p players out there with respectable accounts

99% of primo rewards in end game are f2p friendly. 

not that bad, i’m f2p and can clear all endgame except for stygian dire (but no one can clear that bsfr)

There’s no PvP. Genshin is a solo game with a bit of co-op if you want to.

You can clear 99% of the game without spending anything. And even as a free to play player, it’s not that difficult to get good characters and have the best teams or at least get close to it.

You can play the entire game without spending money. The only real "whale" content is an endgame mode called Stygian onslaught Dire difficulty and the only reward for that is "limited time weapon skins" that expire at the end of the patch and need to be re-earned.

The other end game modes you can beat as long as you play long enough and build/collect characters.

You'll get free pulls from playing the game, exploring, events, etc.

It's not really P2W at all. There's basically 1 endgame mode that wants well-invested characters (with basically no rewards), and another endgame that wants wide rosters, but this is literally the endgame. You can play who you like and clear all of the content in the game.

The best thing to do is spend your wishes wisely, and focus on building Teams. If there's a DPS you like get their Support. You *can* slap together "Random Bullshit Go" Teams, but it's better to have something cohesive.

Now, if you *do* spend, I HIGHLY recommend using something like [Lootbar.](https://lootbar.gg/a/Dlg90C) You can save money on Welkins and Top Ups (if you buy). It's basically everything other than the Battlepass.

If you want to he best value, Welkins and Battle Passes are a good deal. The initial Top Ups with 2x the bonus are also good. The 2x resets every year with the Anniversary in September.

If you go deeper than that in spending, just be careful.

F2Ps can at least clear the current 3 end game modes that rewards primos


In overworld exploration, you can just use any units you fancy with no problem


...But it takes time and patience tho

Almost entirely F2p here. Can do IT almost all stars, all stars on abyss, and stygian fearless. But I have been playing since release date. I roll for characters I like only, and if they are meta, that's just a plus. Now, to answer your question, if you manage to get 2 limited character to C6 of the new ones that are releasing, you can hypercarry yourself on everything, but you need to use realistically like 600$ for that i think, i am not really sure on this. So, in a sense very p2w, but at the same time not necessary.

I’ve been playing since release. I have every character I want, plenty of currency to get more, I can consistently complete all endgames and I havent spent a single cent.

I recommend checking out Eakes and MistahFeet to get an in-depth answer. Short answer is you can play it with only free 4 stars, but those two are best for exploring how well a 4 stars can take you both in the story and end-game content.

I also recommend checking out channels like GachaGamer and IWinToLose Gaming to give you a deep dive on any 5 stars that could be beneficial for your account. They will either save you some primos or let you know “hey, this is a character that is going to do 2.1 million off of a Melt” (ie. Mavuika).

It takes some time and planning, but being able to get all the resetting "gacha currency rewards" is possible for F2P L2P players.

It is far from p2w. Yes, you need primogems to gotcha the character and the weapon you want. But this primogems can be earned from events, quests, daily commissions, explorations etc. If you play daily, you will be able to wish for a new character every other month. It is all about prioritization and proper allocation of resources.

the game is plenty f2p. Because you can enjoy the game and the story without needing meta characters

Of course, many players care about meta, because they want to have big damage to clear the endgame content. Which is not required if you only care about the story

Grinding to get primogems is actually simple, just explore the map using the interactive map and get all the chests, puzzles, etc...

Since you're a new player, you have a lot of content.That means a lot of primogems to pull for the characters you like

Not at all especially for newer players. It just take alot more time vs newer gachas. But the result is the same


Modern carries by and large have great verticals as well as their supports and even then you dont need it since the baseline for Abyss for example isnt that high generally. Even if youve never cleared end game abyss thats like 15 wishes a year or something like that so nothing to stress over


IT personally is a case by case on elements and characters, since a certain element lacks the depth vs others elements (Geo has a alot of 5 stars and not alot of 4 stars in comparision).


Genshin just through time and building an account can clear all content that has primogems involved.


Never spent a dime but my sis gave me welkin for a gift and it just saves me from doing quests that I dont fancy lol. Like whatever your goals are playing the game you can do them


On my alt is f2p and its alot easier now once youve done endgame stuff before. The game becomes just less and less of rush and more casual. I just run around slapping people, yeeting and freezing with Barbara, Jean, Kaeya coz its funny as sht

It doesn't really matter for the vast majority of content. It's pretty much only relevant for end-game combat challenge stuff, and even that is doable without spending money, albeit with more grinding.

I wouldn't really consider this game p2w at all, though obviously you will have more powerful characters/teams if you spend money.

99% of the game is fully clearable with a full f2p account, only 1 endgame mode demands you to pull for copies and spend money but even that endgame doesnt gatekeep any of the limited currency behind it so you can just ignore it.

plus it will take you half a year to a year to even reach that point

It is as f2p as you want to be. As well as p2w as you want to be.

You’re not going to encounter an obstacle that you need to spend money in order to get past.

If you care about clearing the final level/difficulty of end game content, spending money could help, but plenty of people do it without spending money. It’s also worth considering that it’s the difference between like 700 vs 800 primos. You can just take the 700 primos and save yourself the headache of doing the highest difficulty.

There is no P2W its PVE game... most likely no-one will ever even see your character 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have been playing since release and the game is balanced in a way that spiral abyss floor 12 is doable after a few patches, stygian lcl 4 after a bit longer and imaginum theater after a long time of dedicated building

This all considering you're pulling for new and good units

The only genuinely "unclearable unless money was spent" thing is stygian lvl 6 and 7 where the reward is weapon skins for the current patch, aka bragging rights

A fresh game has tons of pulls to get from quests to exploration but if you have eventually exhausted that stockpile the game gives about enough pulls on average to guarantee a new character every other patch

It's not VERY p2w but the powercreep is really noticeable atm

There's no PvP

In end game modes you will notice the difference between F2P-whale, but more specifically it's the difference between someone with few characters and someone with lots of characters

The other 99.99% of the game (story, exploration, events) can be done not only without spending money but you could literally not pull at all, it's not meant to be hard

out of 110 characters i got 95 being free 2 play. it takes time (im a day one player) but you can get most characters in the game without spending

pay 2 win players are the 1%. This game can be played without spending any money and yes you can get enough in game currency to get limited 5 star characters.

Totally f2p friendly. Expect +1000 hrs of content

Not at all

It's not p2w at all. You don't have to spend a dime to experience everything the game has to offer. 

Well it is a gacha game with the best units and weapons only available from the gacha.

If you're looking to play through the main story and overworld, you can get any character and if you build them well you won't struggle to clear base content. So in terms of that it's f2p friendly

But if you ever start to care about spiral abyss / stygian d5-6, then well, recently we got many niche bosses, that are difficult without specific characters. Other meta characters and teams can still brute force depending on investment. It's 100% possible to beat while being f2p but with pulling the "right" characters. But old characters WILL struggle, if not impossible, unless you wheelchair them. Also with the recent powercreep, niche bosses and stuff, I'm afraid as soon as the devs bring in new niche enemies, those current meta characters will feel worse too, but in premium teams and good investment on artifacts they shouldn't struggle

But other content like story and exploration is easy

The only thing money really affects is how often you get 5 star units. Nothing about the story is affected, and you can even keep up with the meta if you're very conservative with your pulls. Here are the tiers:

1. Free to play: get a 5 star unit every 2-3 patches
2. Welkin spender ($5/month): get a 5 star unit every patch
3. Crystal top-ups: get as many 5 stars as you're willing to pay for

I've been a Welkin spender basically the whole time because it's much more comfortable to plan my pulls with the accurate leaks from the beta. Plus I'm gainfully employed and it's just not much to spend on a really great game. I've never felt the need to do Crystal top-ups.

If you're playing for the story and the events, you can FTP things effectively so long as you decently build out the characters you do get and put together synergistic teams. Save up your primos for characters you think you'll enjoy and don't stress. There's really no "winning" in this game, either, unless you get preoccupied with pumping out Big Numbers(tm) in the endgame modes for bragging rights. That's where the whales really end up dropping their money. But that part isn't necessary for progression through the main content.

You can do everything besides like one bit of content without spending a dime. And even then there’s nothing preventing you from getting ungodly lucky.
I am a huge advocate tho for welkins. If you’re really enjoying the game its only $3 if you use 3rd party like lootbar and you get ~15 pulls over the course of a month+ 300 genesis crystals which you can save for outfits or also turn into 300 more primos.
Also dont let the haters deter you from using lootbar. Ive been using it every month since June. I would advise tho to not use a VPN that is way easier to detect and ban.

Just spend money on the welkin moon man. It’s 3£ on lootbar a month and gives you so much more primos. Yes you have to log on everyday but for 3£, Nothing in genshin is more value for money and it’s peanuts.

Think about it this way. If you were gonna pop into a corner shop to buy some sweets. Abstain from it just once and put that towards the Welkin. Even a 12 year old can raise 3£ so I really recommend it dude!!

You already won if you keep that attitude. Just enjoy!

There's no real "Win" in this game though. The closest is the Spyral Abyss, which is quite optional.

Ignoring stygian (Higher diffficulties are pretty much whale only content no matter how much you cope), you dont need to spend anything on it.

the end game is pretty harsh on new accounts, espcially IT which requires you to have a GOOD chunk of all the characters. but hopefully by the time you get there. you will be somewhat ready.

It depends on your goal in this game.

I am f2p, hence I have 'mid' goals. That allows me to enjoy 'outdated' characters and not follow meta.

Quite often, I see that people with maximum goals. They want to clear top level content (abyss floor 12, stygian dire, etc). Then the game becomes slightly p2w I think, since you have to keep up with meta.

I've been f2p for the last 5 years, still love it. No part requires payment, and I can still get all meaningful in-game currency from end-game content. Even half of the cosmetics are free and only event locked. That said, an f2p will need to be highly selective about characters or weapons: ive gone half a year or more without a pull and only pull if I love the character or if it'll significantly help my account.

Unless you want to heavily involve in end game content, the normal things like story and exploration can be done with normal characters, so it's not p2w much

I'm a smallish whale player whos been playing since launch. I find I almost never pay for power. I always just pull characters that interest me. My C6s are Zhongli, Shenhe and Xianyun. None of them are what you'd consider to be op units even during their launch banner, but I just think that they are neat.

you can clear 99% being f2p. The rest are just optional endgame content.

unless you're having a dick measuring contest with damge and time clear, you can get by easily f2p the entire game. Only thing you might not clear with enough time is possibly dire stygian.

the answer is no it is not P2W you just want to get premium characters that you can get by careful resource management.

It depends on what you consider a "win". Since this isn’t a competitive game, different people interpret "win" differently.

If you just want to enjoy the story and do some exploration, it’s very F2P friendly. You don’t even need to touch the gacha at all.

If you want to clear all endgame content, it’s doable as F2P, but you need to pull only meta characters. Even then, there is a stage in SO that is basically whale territory and is rarely cleared by F2P players.

If you want to collect all characters, then unfortunately you’ll need to spend money. The game is not designed for F2P players to obtain all available characters.

Unless you get really invested in the optional challenge content modes the game offers, the only pressure you're going to feel to spend is if Hoyo runs two waifus you really want in a row.

The gameplay for most of the game is not high-challenge, so basically any combination of characters will be able to clear it. The base game is more about exploration, puzzle-solving, and storytelling - none of which requires the kind of investment you'd pay money to hasten.

Spending money and investing in characters really only benefits you if you're trying for the high-difficulty stuff - and even there, many players do just fine relying only on the freebies the game gives you.