My First Impression as a Semi-competitive Player

Hello all. I have experience as a high ladder Bazaar player, and this game looked like a cozy entrant to the autobattler genre. It is awesome! I love choosing 8 tribe packs to start with, the 4 random starting perks, the forced 6 slots keeping the game simple-ish, the events... all of it is so cool. I quickly got Masters and had a good time, but I won't be shooting for a top spot in this game.

The main reason is the early/mid game bow meta past Diamond-ish. It is just not fun for me. It is so aggressive. It has been the biggest chunk of the meta, too. There's a lot more to talk about here, and plenty of nuance I'm ignoring for brevity, but that's my simplified look at it.

The other reason is the new Endless encounter that takes 15 rating and grants 30 several days later. I don't want to be on the same ladder/ranking system as Endless people, whether you consider that an advantage or disadvantage. Neither do I want to ever feel obligated to make short term sacrifices in my build in normal runs to accommodate Endless opportunities.

I do still love this game, and I highly recommend it if you're into auto battlers at all (better than Backpack Battles in my mind, call me crazy). I just won't be trying to reach GM/high ladder. I will play... *gasp* for fun! Nothin wrong with that.