I really liked this game and i have been playing for more than three years.
The combination of collecting stuff, different game modes, building teams and challenging 3-match was great.
I never minded the grinding for resources for the collectors part or going against meta-builds. But it was always a level playing field - parts were P2W with sigils and buffs where everyone could decide how much to invest, others were nearly balanced - guildwars, pvp, personal delves.
A couple of points from one or two kingdoms or higher delves did not matter much.
With epic tasks additional stat points were introduced that only a small amount of guilds can reach. Even worse since less organized or laid back guilds have chaotic task investment now even basic tasks are harder to achieve and additional deeds power up higher level guilds kingdom bonuses as well.
Don’t get me wrong, more active guilds have rightly always had more resources, but now they are suddenly much stronger as well.
The last real competitive part of the game - guildwars - where no one could buy a win has lost it’s appeal for semi-casual guilds that face teams with 25 extra stat points.
When skill no longer matters versus week long grinding=gold=epic tasks i am not having the fun i used to.
Mixed guilds like mine (around rank 150, GW bracket 14) are crumbling, good players leave for top guilds that finish everything, others are frustrated about the delta in troop stats.
Would be nice if skill is rewarded again and players with real lifes also have a chance to compete on a somewhat level playing field.