Presumably worn down by the cries of disappointed players, the Genshin Impact team announced a legitimately massive quality-of-life update coming in patch 5.5, which is about three weeks away at the time of writing: custom artifacts crafted by spending Sanctifying Elixir will be "guaranteed" to roll your specified substats at least twice, preventing flat-out garbage pieces.
This change was the footnote (and frankly, also the star) of the Genshin team's latest developer discussion. "Since the launch of 'Sanctifying Elixir,' we have closely monitored all feedback about the resource," HoYoverse writes. "To provide a better level-up experience for you, we will optimize the mechanics of 'Sanctifying Elixir' from Version 5.5 onwards."
