OK, I have having such a melodramatic title but the game has really gone from being fun to being work and recent trends don't make me think it is going to get better anytime soon.
First things first. I dislike the races (but I still do them to help my mates and usually finish in the 3rd to 6th position on the team for doing tasks and spending gems). So imagine my dismay this morning when I logged in and saw that we were in the same race group as Resurrection of AMAB. Oh great, my 900-1000th ranked team is in the same group as one of the all-time greats. So much for getting the top monster. But at around 9 AM Pacific Time, even AMAB is in 2nd place to a team which had already done 3 laps in the first hour or 2. So I log in tonight and AMAB hasn't moved. I check their team stats and there are 2/30 members left in the team. So I'm guessing even one of the all-time teams has been shattered with its members trying to get a 3* monster on the cheap. If it happens to them, what does that mean for a normal no-name team?
So basically there's no loyalty any more. Why build a team and make friends? This is now an anti-social game (Mercenary Legends) now where you bail on your teammates to win a prize.
Also, battles with relics really stink. And not the relics themselves (although I'm neutral on them) but having relics in a battle. 6 monsters with 2 each-- that's potentially 12 animations that I have to watch before monsters start fighting. Gotta decrease the enemy's hit points by 1000, some monster needs to increase his power by 300, speed down by 35 on that guy, etc. It takes almost a minute before the first attack is made. I'm playing most battles on FFWD just to try and get them to finish.
It also doesn't help that I think during the rune event I've had about 12 downgrades, 4 upgrades, and 6 break evens. I've turned a lot of 4's into 3's and 6's into 4's.
There's no more wiki. That makes it even harder about what new monsters to buy and level up. Why should I spend money or gems on something where I don't know the ratings or skills? This used to be a great game with battles requiring tactics (maybe I can neutralize his fire monster with my water), but now the battles are so slooooow that it is painful to do so. And the strategy goes out the window too if I don't know if a monster is worth buying or not (I'd do my research and then see if my opinion aligned with Max or Armor's thoughts down in the comments section). SP needs to take over the wiki or create their own.
I've gone from spending $100/month to f2p and I'm seriously wondering why I still invest the time. Devs, can you PLEASE do something to fix the slow battle problem? And talk to those in charge to stop having so many team-busting races. And resurrect the wiki. You had the goose that laid the golden egg...