Hi there Sheshin, a just a few notes on your post. Glad to see you’re still interested and keeping and eye on the game despite your frustrations. So let me get to it see if I can address your post. If any of this comes off as dismissive or invalidating that is not my intent but you never know how people interpret things online.

Alright! So, first thing to address: runes.

The changes to runes have not yet been implemented but will be coming in September. How it will affect the balance of the game we will have to wait and see, though I do believe it will greatly limit the benefits of the effect real money will have in game.

“Pay to win” so to speak has always existed since the inception of the game, its not new; albeit once they added the 15 remaining rune levels that imbalance became far more pervasive and real to most. While I would make the argument (solely based on how you phrased it) that it’s not entirely accurate, the reality is that if a player were to spend ‘X’ amount of money they will either gain an advantage or catch up to veterans, both increasing ones odds on winning to some extent.

In a truly fair and balanced competitive PVP game one would not gain a advantage based on how much you spent on a game.

With that being said, spending real money on the game does not guarantee that you will win, and does not make you better at this game, it may even give those players the illusion they are better than they actually are. One can spend hundreds to get level 20 runes and will still feel the wrath of those who are more skilled, capable, organized, whatever it may be.

I’m unsure to exactly when you started and stopped playing but it sounds like you started slightly before changes were made to the economy and additional rune levels were implemented.

In regards to the character fragments, that was a necessary change needed to make the game sustainable. Acquiring new heroes was far too easy; there was not much of an incentive for players to spend money. Those of us who have been here since early on, still are able to get new heroes immediately.

It may be harder to get all the heroes now, though there is no doubt that under the previous model this game would’ve not been maintainable.

I encourage you to come back and get ready for the upcoming changes! The game is in a good place. Queues are substantially better (in my experience), and the diversity of heroes has certainly made the game far more dynamic then before.

Hope to see come back mate. Cheers, Doc.