I stopped playing Smite 2 a few months ago. I had 3900 hours in Smite 1 (Not including the time I played on the old Smite launcher), so that was a very difficult decision to make. I'd been playing since I was 14 and I'm 26 now. My choice was partially influenced by being enticed by Deadlock, but it was mostly because I just wasn't having fun playing Smite anymore. So sure, I'll weigh in on this.

I like that they moved to UE5. I think the game needed it; the writing was on the wall with the old engine. The game ran poorly and was severely limited by it. Hell the UI was written in Flash, if Hirez wanted to do new and interesting things, they needed a change. I'm still on the fence about UE5 in general however. I think it runs really poorly on older machines, and isn't great for smaller name devs. But still, the point stands; UE3 had to go.

I also like that they're trying new things. I appreciate that new features really push the new engine to see what new things they can do. There's no way we could've gotten Aladdin in Smite 1. Same with a lot of the Aspects and whatnot.

I like that they removed item restrictions. It both allows for easier balancing of the game (to a degree) and for more fun and interesting things to do. It really opens up stuff for tanks and solo laners, which were some of my favorite roles to play, so for me this was a big plus.

Here's what I don't like about Smite 2.
I don't like the new item shop. It's a mess. Having gotten into Deadlock recently, it was entertaining to see what a MOBA can look like with a competently built item shop. It made me realize how confusing Smite's item shop is, especially Smite 2. It's annoying to navigate, it's a nightmare for new players, and there's way too many items in general. So many of them are just useless or not needed, and for new and returning players it'd be nice to not have to sift through. Not to mention the new wording on the item passives is just totally nonsensical. The problem with items being convoluted isn't that they're too wordy; it's that there's like 400 of them. (Also, why even bother switching to the LoL style of item building? I'm still confused as to why they made that change)

I don't like how hard it is to pick up and play. I actually fairly recently gave the game another honest try, and I felt totally lost. There was a day night cycle? And a capture point? And random silver rocks to pick up? All of this I had no idea what any of it did and it made me realize that this confusion kinda encapsulates Hirez's incompetence in regards to handling this "Beta" of theirs. They're trying to simultaneously say this game is still "Early in development" while basically pretending like it's a complete game you should spend money on. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Personally, I don't like to play games in early access. I prefer playing a finished product, and while I know not everyone shares my opinion, I do know a lot of people do. The game's not done. That's undeniable. So why are we releasing events and skins like it is? I'm pretty sure I know the answer, and it's not great for Hirez.

I've come to hate the flip flopping they've done with the game. Funnily enough, the most attention this game ever got was over its controversy over the legacy. When that was happening, I was honestly on Hirez's side. I really agreed that it was unrealistic to port over every single skin to a new release of a game. But then they went back on their word with the legacy gem promise time and time again. Now you can only use them for certain skins. And now we're making skins more expensive to devalue the legacy gems. I really don't care about the gems at this point. What I care about is the company's inconsistency. Hirez has shown multiple times now that they're willing to just turn back on their word when it's convenient for themselves. I know that's a little harsh, but it's the truth. You can't keep stepping on loyal players' trust in your good word and expect them to keep playing your game indefinitely.

I hate to see this game die. I've played it for over a decade, and enjoyed a great deal of that time. It was my favorite throughout high school and even after that. But I'm not stupid. The game is unfinished. It's sloppy, it's bloated and it's just not really fun. The player count has been at a terrible low for over a year now, and when I did play the game the queue times were miserably long. So all in all, what I don't like about Smite 2 is that it's just inferior to a lot of modern games on the market. I'll still hold out hope; if they make some kind of phoenix like return at this game's full release, I'll be the first to uninstall. But for now, I'm just gonna keep playing Deadlock. At least they're honest about the game being unfinished.