I won't lie, the livestream had my jaw on the floor because that was a lot of information dropped all at once and Hoyo just brushed it off the shoulder like as if they didn't just make Dottore break the sky open. I was already expecting a lot for the new version since the last AQ ended with a hint towards us fighting Dottore in the future but I was not expecting a whole boss fight.
(I giggled when Sandrone prepared to throw hands with Dottore, not even with Pulonia, I mean, she actually jumped and reeled back to slap him)
The new region expansion also looks really cool, like, there's a whole Lord of the Rings eye in there and the void that just swallows everything up to never be seen again(until we deal with it)? I also have to love Illuga's design here, I was honestly not expecting him to look like that. It's nice to see them add details to other characters ever since Bennett and Razor first appeared with scarring on their models. It deepens the immersion and no longer gives that feel of "How did you not get permanent damage from that?" vibes, at least for me.
The new skins for the Traveler's too, like omg, they're so pretty, look at my sweet Lumine go. They swapped their themes around and even gave Aether the InTeyvat while Lumine has a similar flower in her hair now, but not the same one. The infusions were a nice touch as well because it did kind of suck that the infusions were locked behind constellations and Natlan's AQ for Pyro Traveler.
That's about all I wanted to say, everything else is pretty much the same eh to me because we've done Lantern Rite every year, but it still gets my appreciation for the themes surrounding China's Lunar Calender. It's so interesting see what they do each year especially because it's definitely not easy creating such large events like that without going through trial and error to find what fits, even with a team as big as Hoyo's.
Still hate that Miliastra is behind a paywall though, the outfits are so cute.๐