"Holy crap!!"
During the 2.2 version preview livestream, these two words flooded the chat.
And when one viewer typed "Godfather," the word "Godfather" quickly replaced the previous flood, dominating the screen.
The reason for this was...
"You heard it right."
Kiana, now with long straight hair, smiled at the camera and addressed all the viewers in the livestream:
"The Supreme Bishop just made it very clear. From now until the release of version 3.0, all players who log into Genshin Impact during this period will be able to claim the Supreme Bishop character for free. There's no other way. This is the Supreme Bishop's order, and we naturally dare not disobey."
Yes, free.
The first completely free limited 5-star character in Genshin Impact has arrived.
Not a single Primogem needed. Just log in on time, and you can directly claim the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine for free.
This was personally announced by the Supreme Bishop himself.
Kiana had just connected with the Supreme Bishop during the livestream, and the Supreme Bishop himself announced that players could obtain him for free.
After saying this, the Supreme Bishop coldly ended the call.
Of course, at this moment, in the hearts of the players, this wasn't coldness—it was personality.
"This is forcing me to go gay!!"
Big Brother Ma slammed the table and shouted.
"No, I'm not going gay. I want to worship the Godfather! Godfather, please accept my bow!!!"
Viewers watching the preview livestream through Big Brother Ma's channel also flooded the chat with "666."
And besides Big Brother Ma, other streamers also started going wild, and of course, the players were no exception.
Yes, this was Ye's method of gaining popularity.
Simple, brutal, but effective, just like Longhua.
Longhua relied on throwing money, while Ye took it a step further by directly giving away a limited 5-star character for free.
In short, he became Genshin Impact's "Dr. Ratio."
This was a method that could only be used once.
And generally speaking, even if used, the effect wouldn't be as explosive as Dr. Ratio's free giveaway. The reason Dr. Ratio's free giveaway caused such a massive reaction was largely due to miHoYo's notorious stinginess.
This had become common knowledge among the player base.
Because of this, Dr. Ratio's free giveaway was able to create such an explosive effect.
If it were any other game company, or if a second free character were introduced, it definitely wouldn't have the same impact as Dr. Ratio.
—But Ye's situation was different.
Unlike Dr. Ratio, Ye had been in the players' sights since before the game's launch. Through various storylines, his popularity among Genshin Impact characters was enough to place him in the top five.
Countless players had been saving their Primogems just to pull for him.
The Supreme Bishop of Fontaine's popularity had always been sky-high.
With such popularity and hype, Ye's free giveaway naturally created an explosive effect no less impactful than Dr. Ratio's.
"Enough said, thank you, Godfather! Now I don't have to save Primogems. I'm going all-in for Kokomi!"
"Thank you, Supreme Bishop! Raiden Shogun, wait for me!"
"No! I'm going to keep saving my Primogems to pull for Godfather's signature weapon!"
"Wait... the Supreme Bishop doesn't have a signature weapon?"
"Huh? No signature weapon?"
"Didn't you listen carefully? He really doesn't have a signature weapon. He doesn't even have Constellations."
"Calm down and turn off the chat. Listen to what Kiana is saying!"
"The Supreme Bishop is a Descender from beyond Teyvat. Unlike the Traveler, the Supreme Bishop doesn't use elemental powers or any weapons. Therefore, his entire mechanics are completely different from other characters."
Kiana explained:
"First, what to do if there's no signature weapon? Simple. When we open the Supreme Bishop's weapon slot, we can choose one of the Knights of the Sacred Order—Astrea, Themis, Fanseti, etc.—to equip to the Supreme Bishop... provided you have these characters."
"The Supreme Bishop is a Puppeteer. His combat revolves around controlling puppets, so the puppets are his weapons."
"When equipped with Astrea, the Supreme Bishop will have a Hydro attribute. When equipped with Themis, he'll have an Anemo attribute. When equipped with Fanseti, he'll have a Pyro attribute... Although Fanseti isn't available yet, the idea is that all the Knights of the Sacred Order are the Supreme Bishop's signature weapons."
"By switching the equipped puppet, the Supreme Bishop can change his elemental attribute. This is somewhat similar to the Traveler, as both are Descenders."
"And depending on the equipped puppet, the Supreme Bishop's skill effects will vary. Players can explore this on their own."
This was a very radical mechanic design. The main reason Ye ultimately decided on this was due to the gaming environment on this Earth.
Simply put, a mechanic or storyline that would be considered toxic in 2020 would be perfectly fine in 2010.
Although this world's Earth is already in 2021, its gaming industry is still underdeveloped, and players are more accepting. In this context, Ye introducing this mechanic as his character's unique feature, while still risky, isn't entirely unfeasible.
After all, Ye's setting is that of a Descender, just like the Traveler. And now, the storyline has revealed that Astrea and the other Knights of the Sacred Order are puppets created by Ye. So, setting Ye's signature weapons as these puppets seems reasonable.
And the free giveaway further reduces players' resistance.
As the saying goes, no matter what, free is always the best.
"Without equipping any puppet, the Supreme Bishop cannot engage in combat, as the Supreme Bishop is completely 'inept' at fighting."
"In other words, to have the Supreme Bishop participate in combat, you must have either Astrea or Themis."
"And it's worth noting that once these two characters are equipped to the Supreme Bishop, they can no longer be used independently. For example, if you add the Supreme Bishop to your team and equip him with Astrea, you cannot also add Astrea to the same team."
"Of course, players who don't yet have Astrea or Themis don't need to worry, as during the Supreme Bishop's banner, Themis will also have a rerun..."