Summary

• Genshin Impact's 4.7 update increases Resin cap from 160 to 200, attempting to address time-gating issues.
• Evaluating Resin efficiency is more important than simply raising the cap; Condensed Resin helps but has limits.
• The game's Resin economy may need a complete overhaul to cater to all player types and improve the overall experience.

The Genshin Impact 4.7 update is, presumably, one of the last the popular action-RPG will push out prior to the introduction of its next major region, Natlan. In general, the game cycles through one nation per year since its release, with most new version X.0 updates coming within a few months of the game's launch anniversary. With something so big in the pipeline, it makes sense for players to temper expectations for the next handful of updates and events.

However, Genshin Impact 4.7 will feature what many believe to be a major a long-maligned system. Genshin Impact is an open world gacha action-RPG with an energy system - Resin - that dictates how players spend their time in-game. Resin is the "cap" on how fast players can progress their s - it's required to pursue artifact drops, materials for character ascensions, and more. The maximum amount of Resin will be changing from 160 to 200 as of 4.7 - but that won't solve Genshin Impact's biggest problem when it comes to its time-gated resource acquisition.

Genshin Impact's Resin Cap Amount Isn't The Problem

It's How Much Time There Is To Spend It

The best way to look at Genshin Impact's Resin economy isn't necessarily in its total amount. It's best to evaluate Resin efficiency for the player; that is, how easy it is to maximize Resin usage relative to factors like time invested, resources acquired, and familiarity with the game's systems. In that sense, it doesn't matter how high the cap realistically gets, as it will still be constrained by other elements that HoYoverse can't alter with just a cap change - having 160 or 200 Resin, for instance, won't matter if a player is away for two days.

Of course, there is a way to help alleviate Resin inefficiency (the idea that every second spent with maximized Resin is a "waste") with Condensed Resin, but that's a capped inventory item as well. At a certain point, Resin just isn't efficiently stored anymore. Five Condensed Resin essentially works out to 200 "extra" Resin, which, as of Genshin Impact Version 4.7, will mirror the cap amount players have for their normal Resin.

Look at it this way: Resin cap increases are only valuable if a player is available to make good on them. For many who have to take extended breaks from the game through no desire of their own, these systems actively hinder their ability to catch back up on what they've missed - whether it be a new boss or new artifacts to acquire for a character they might be interested in wishing for.

How To Fix Genshin Impact's Resin Problems

Energy Resources Can Be Better Managed

Since simply increasing the cap is a short-term solution to a long-term problem (especially for Genshin Impact), HoYoverse should investigate better fixes for a system that actively hinders players from engaging with adventures in Teyvat - especially those returning to the game. The first and most obvious solution is borrowed from a game HoYoverse should be intimately familiar with. Honkai: Star Rail pre-solved this kind of issue early into its life cycle, allowing players to "bank" its energy resource ively to a whopping 2400 extra.

While it takes quite a long time to accumulate - 30 days - it provides a buffer for players who have fallen out of playing. While it's not a valuable option for people who are able to daily and accomplish tasks while grinding for end-game materials and equipment, it's something. It's a drastically different amount to what Genshin Impact offers for lapsing between events or even update patches, and Honkai: Star Rail allows it ively - Genshin requires the actual crafting of Condensed Resin to fix it.

Another solution, albeit one that's significantly more work for the developer, is to completely overhaul the Resin economy in Genshin Impact. This makes sense given the scale of the game and its roster of characters - the Resin refresh rate and its cap wasn't nearly as difficult to work with at launch, but the sheer number of options for both team building and artifact loadouts - and the grind for them - makes it far more daunting to farm. Given the amount of content available, it would make sense to reduce, or even halve, some of the Resin requirements for artifact domains or boss fights.

This would also have the side effect of increasing the amount of time it takes for a player to burn through their Resin for dailies, so its possible this option doesn't work for everyone. For some, using 160 Resin is a quick 10-minute daily option that is easy to keep up with, and having to do more to effectively spend their Resin might have the same effect on that demographic as the current system does on players who can't invest as much time in the game - and if HoYoverse is choosing between those two audiences, it makes sense the more consistently invested players are catered to.

The worst takeaway from the discussion of Genshin Impact's biggest problem (at least currently) is to suggest that the game simply needs to tone down the amount of content it releases to give busy players more breathing room.

Finally, the best option - but also, perhaps, the most unlikely - would be to address how quickly Resin regenerates on top of increasing the cap. It currently regenerates at 1 Resin per 8 minutes, which is a stingy amount - increasing that number to 1 Resin per 4 minutes, even, would mean it only fully regenerates once every 10.5 hours or so. That would necessitate two daily s for truly invested players looking to maximize their Resin spending, while giving basically double the amount of time per day for lapsed players to catch up with past content additions.

Keeping Up With Genshin Impact Needs To Be Addressed

More Content Isn't Bad, But Requires Careful Consideration

The worst takeaway from the discussion of Genshin Impact's biggest problem (at least currently) is to suggest that the game simply needs to tone down the amount of content it releases to give busy players more breathing room. Content droughts in live service games are brutal for player morale, and Genshin Impact has done an excellent job across the years to avoid this problem. By no means should Resin be made simpler to deal with by way of having less to do with it.

What Genshin Impact's Resin issue is a symptom of, however, is the larger problem - that Genshin Impact has simply ballooned to such a scale that only the most invested, dedicated players can keep up with all of its updates, events, and character & weapon releases. The Resin system is an archaic failsafe to ensure people stay invested in daily s and are enticed to spend money on banners or battle es. Truthfully, that isn't needed.

The incredible amount of hours needed just to farm the right artifact substats and materials already means that those invested players would still need to every day to be efficient. While outright removing Resin as a resource would certainly be asking too much, it's not unreasonable to think that even doubling the cap would have a net positive effect on the amount players spend on Genshin Impact, both monetarily and with their time.

At the very least, the game has very little to lose in trying some of these more ambitious solutions out. Genshin Impact is one of the most successful and highest-earning live service games on the market today - it, more than any of its competitors, should be looking for ways to improve the player experience, as it has the luxury of doing so.