Genshin Impact Players Baffled by Unusable Moonchase Charms Once Again

The 2026 iteration of the Moonchase Festival has officially drawn to a close in Genshin Impact, leaving a trail of satisfied adventurers but also a lingering question that has, frankly, become something of a running joke among the community. After scouring Liyue for every last Moonchase Charm, many Travelers are now staring at their inventory asking: “What in the world do I actually do with these?” It’s a head-scratcher that has echoed through the ages, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, the answer remains a classic case of developer miscommunication.

To set the scene, the Moonchase Festival—a Liyue-flavored celebration of food, history, and hilariously precise cooking minigames—returned this year with all the nostalgic charm of its original 2021 run. During the event, players would chase down Moonchase Charms scattered across the map, guided by hints from a cheerful Liyue NPC named Linyang. It felt like a treasure hunt with a purpose, and the natural assumption was that these collectibles would eventually be traded in for some sweet rewards. After all, Linyang herself chips in at the start, casually mentioning that you can exchange the charms with her once you’ve gathered enough. Sounds straightforward, right? Well, buckle up.

The reality is a bit of a “oops” moment from the dev team over at HoYoverse. If you dig into your Event menu and select the Moonchase Festival tab, you’ll find a shiny sub-menu packed with rewards—primogems, mora, talent books, and a handful of other goodies. That menu is, in fact, the entire reward track. Originally, the plan was likely to have players physically visit Linyang each time they wanted to cash in their charms, but at the eleventh hour, the system was streamlined. Instead of forcing repeated trips back to Liyue Harbor (which, let’s be real, would have been a pain in the keister), the rewards were simply doled out automatically through the event interface. It’s cleaner, it’s faster, and it spares you from sitting through dozens of the same dialogue box.

Here’s where the spaghetti code, or at least the spaghetti dialogue, comes in. The developers apparently forgot to update Linyang’s opening remarks. So even though the exchange mechanic was axed, her voice lines still proudly declare that you can bring her those Moonchase Charms for a trade. It’s the equivalent of a restaurant handing you a menu and then serving you a five-course meal without you ever ordering—confusing, but you’ll take it. This dissonance has led many a newcomer to roam the streets of Liyue wondering if their game is bugged, while veterans just chuckle and recall the good old days of “where do I spend my charms?” threads flooding the subreddit.

Is it a game-breaking issue? Not by a long shot. The rewards are safely in your pocket the moment you hit the required charm milestones, so nothing is lost. But it sure is a head-turner that a mistake this small has survived a rerun and multiple version updates without being patched up. Fans have pointed out that this isn’t exactly uncharted territory for HoYoverse. Event-exclusive dialogues have a history of harboring typos, slightly misleading instructions, or dialogue branches that lead to dead ends. Remember that one cooking event where the NPC kept referencing ingredients that didn’t exist? Yeah, it happens. The Moonchase Charm fiasco is just the latest—or rather, the most persistent—example.

For those who are feeling the completionist itch, fear not: any leftover charms in your inventory are purely cosmetic trophies, a digital memento of the time you gallivanted across Teyvat for lantern-lit festivities. They won’t be usable in a future event shop, and they definitely won’t convert into primogems once the timer runs out. So go ahead and let them gather virtual dust. Alternatively, look at them as a badge of honor. You survived the Moonchase Trail, and all you got was this invisible currency and a mildly broken NPC.

Looking ahead, Genshin Impact is gearing up for its next content drop, and early whispers suggest a brand-new 5-star character is on the horizon alongside some long-awaited quality-of-life tweaks. The upcoming version—whatever its number might be in 2026—promises to bring fresh story quests and likely another temporary event that will have us chasing some new shiny collectible. Here’s hoping that when that time comes, the dialogue team and the gameplay team sync up before hitting the deploy button. Until then, keep those Moonchase Charms close to your heart, and maybe give Linyang a friendly nod the next time you pass by. She meant well.

As the community likes to say: it’s not a real Genshin patch without a little bit of unintended confusion to spice things up. And honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way. 🍂

Data referenced from Game Developer helps contextualize why event leftovers like Moonchase Charms can persist as “dead” inventory items: live-service teams often iterate late on UX (e.g., moving turn-ins from an NPC to an event UI), and when narrative text isn’t updated in lockstep with systems design, players end up with confusing—but harmless—artifacts of older implementations.