Ever since the character of ZhongLi was released for sale in the gacha game Genshin Impact, it has gathered complaints about how useless the character is compared to the price to acquire him. (Here is a summary of the Chinese player base complaints.)
But underlying the issues are broader game development issues which every game company should pay close attention to.
TLDR version - It's about devs needing to look at the systems they created. And deciding if products should adapt to those systems; or if their systems should be changed to support their game design goals and products.
Game Design versus Systems
Based on the dev response to the Zhongli Issue, it seems clear to me that the design of ZhongLi was probably designed well ahead of time and based on good "game design needs" such as gameplay variety and lore friendliness and interestingness.
This is theoretically good, except Genshin Impact systems really don't allow for variety at all -- and once you can't access that variety, all other features become irrelevant.
Not too long into the game (around their advancement to World Level 3) players typically have a larger roster with additional characters from Wishes (the lottery from where players can get more characters and weapons to play). But at that time they also start to encounter a materials shortage that forces them to focus on a very small number of characters if they want to have those characters actually practical to use.
And since development costs more and more, simply stopping until several character are up to speed is not really practical especially as content is locked behind World Level progress.
Early on in version 1.0, even large-spenders ("whales") were complaining that there was no point in buying more characters when they don't have materials to develop and play them, a shortage that lasts for a long time all the way to the limit of character development. Players who might be happy to collect certain characters without necessarily looking at their effectiveness can't even enjoy playing them.
In short, the systems they have in place do not actually support their game design goals.
Systems versus Play Patterns
Meanwhile, players have practical needs centered around the content where they are having the most difficulty -- primarily timed challenges. And when all other content can be cleared with the same party composition as the content that has them stuck, then that becomes the practical focus of what they look for in a product.
(Sure, some people will pay just to have a certain waifu/husbando/loli in their team. But even so I think there are limits. How much will people pay a lot for the prestige of having a certain character? How many times will they do so?)
Practical-minded players want products that are solutions to their problems/challenges. And when that product is expensive, they will look even more closely at whether they are getting value for their money.
Game Design versus Systems versus Play Patterns
So now we have three-way mismatch between what's good for the game, what systems are in the game, and what players want to buy.
This is bad.
When systems properly support game design goals, player needs will align with those game design goals. And then product design that is based on game design goals will actually be solutions people want to buy.
What Needs to Happen
For Mihoyo, the challenge now is to more carefully analyze Play Patterns. From there, they can then make a decision on whether game Systems need to be adapted to their design and Products, or whether they want their Products to succeed by being adapted to the Systems they created.
The developers also need to look at what is over-performing and under-performing, make changes, and have an honest communication with players on necessary adjustments. e.g., Were there overpowered mistake characters released in the past (e.g., Venti)? Characters that players look to as the benchmark but the developers look as a mistake that won't happen again in the future?
The key here is honest communication to set appropriate expectations.
For players, the challenge is to stop the drama and try to have a reasonable conversation with Mihoyo. If you are screaming like a madman and making threats, who wants to listen to you, much less take you seriously? "Seek first to understand, then be understood."
Don't bite the devs every time they reach out to connect with you.
I think overall game developers are actually afraid to communicate with the player base because there's often an unreasonable backlash. It's a lot of work to shape channels into respectful two-way communication.
In my opinion, SWTOR (Star Wars The Old Republic) has done very well in this aspect I think and they are still building on it (adding more staff, notably), but it took them a long time.
In contrast, ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) has done an astoundingly disastrous job of continuing to break the game with patches, yet never once offering even an apology for continued gross incompetence.
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