Ok, so rather than vent all willy-nilly like an angsty teenager with a big ol' wall-o-text, let's see if I can be rational with my complaints *no promises though, as I'm a very unsatisfied and angry customer at the moment.*
While I can't say I've played from the VERY beginning, I have played for close to 2 years. In the beginning, it was kinda fun, it had nice graphics and animations for the battles. However from the get-go, I did immediately think it odd that the player had almost nothing to do with the fighting. For my very first battle, I was ready to start slashing and spell casting or whatever type of fighting it was gonna be. But instead I was disappointed to find that there was no gameplay in the traditional sense of the word, as what you would think about when you think about other PC, PS, Xbox, etc. type of gaming. Instead, you just pick some dudes, wind 'em up and watch them go. I suppose some would argue that the selection of appropriate heroes before a fight is where the "gameplay" is... but that's where I'd disagree with you. "Picking" things is not equivalent to "playing" things, as far as the English language is concerned. But you know what does resemble this type of "game"? Horse racing. It was just like going to the track. But still, I liked collecting the little characters and leveling them up, so I kept playing.
I'm from Kentucky, home of the Kentucky Derby, so I'm quite familiar to how betting on races works. You look at the stats of the jockeys and the notes on the lineage of the horses when weighing in on which horse to bet on. Then you place your bets and after that, well... you just pray. You have no direct control over the outcome of the race. Sound familiar? In this "game" in any sort of PvP situation, you do exactly the same thing. You size up your opponent's team, and choose what you think will win against them, and hey, maybe you get lucky, maybe you don't. But within the top 10 slots of Arena and GA, choosing your heroes, to me, seems to have little to no effect on the outcome. Everyone is playing with about the same level of 'horses' and so it just comes down to luck. Luck, luck, luck, luck, luck. Once you reach the top, you better get on your knees and pray to the RNG gods to be on your side, because you're screwed without them. While you're down there you can also suck on Ucool's di..... <ahem> <must stay calm> Right. Well anyway, you may be thinking "well you probably have shitty characters that aren't R2 or not 5-starred", but that's not true either. I'm rank number 2 in total hero power on my server, VIP level 14, and have every single hero, with only maybe 5 or 6 that aren't 5 starred at the moment. Trust me, I'm packing heat.
Anyway, moving on. Next, there's that roulette wheel that happens occasionally during events, like for Christmas and just recently, Halloween. It's roulette... a game straight out of a casino... what more do I need to say? And yes, I do know that this is not the only game in history to have ever featured a roulette-style mini-game, BUT... the fact that this game allows you to indirectly pay money to keep gambling just seems... shady. I think Super Mario 3 had a slot machine in it, but kids aren't gonna be pumping real money into it to keep going at it, know what I'm sayin?
And finally, there's the bets on the GT and Championship. It's right there in the name, BET. It's gambling. If you can use diamonds to do it, then real money is interchangeable, which means you're spending real money for betting, and that my friends, is gambling.
So what you say? You knew all that already you say? Well, you have every right to play the game as you see fit, and if you've got the money to spend on it then by all means do so. I won't stop you. But I CANNOT condone the fact that this game is pretty much just a "Casino in Game's Clothing" and wasn't labeled as such when I started playing. My feeling is that I have been lured into using-- and subsequently spending entirely too much money on-- an app that I believe is not a "game" at all as it claims to be... something I can practice and get better at it... like Tekken, Call of Duty, Starcraft and whatnot. No, rather I've just been at a casino this whole time losing money, and been told that I'm "winning", when what they mean is, "congrats, you have more money than your opponents."
In summary, this "game" is entirely too luck-based to be actually considered a game, as you cannot practice playing in any way that would make you a better player. At most, you can only analyze battle data and try to improve your odds, which is pretty much just going to the track and placing bets. This game is a gambling sim, and should be advertised as such, not simply "contains in-app purchases", but actually writing in, "contains proxy gambling". If I had known that from the start, I would never have picked up this app, but now they have me by the balls, as I feel too invested in the game to quit, even though I know I should have a long, long time ago.
Thanks to any who bothered to read all that. I'd ask that you spread the word, and I'd ask that Ucool be much more reasonable with their prices... what's this I hear about charging $100 bucks to change servers? You gotta be kidding me. What, you're not making enough off of those "gem consumption events"? Seriously... don't patronize us and just call it the "Give us all your money you dopes!" event.