Returning player - sadly disappointed

So I was a day one player, typical top 25 arena finisher, and played until early this year and then deleted the app. Was around the time 7th son eddie was released - he was way OP at the time and basically pushed the game so far out of balance I decided it was not worth my time.
This week I decided I’d reinstall the game and see how things were looking. No Night City, no Silent Planet. Hmm. But gauntlet was released and is actually kind of fun. Lots of new eddies and new characters too, cool.
So I jumped back into arena. Wow a bunch of 40 and 60 level players at my low dormant arena rank, I’ll plow through and get back up the board quick. Wait what’s a primordial talisman? Eternal talismans? I’m getting my a$$ handed to me bad - by early game players. I better get me some of these new talismans to compete. Wait- they are not available - no way no how?
So we have a game with hundreds of cool unique characters, 99% of which are completely useless due to overpowered add ons (talismans) that were briefly released and then vaulted.
Am I crazy to say this is the exact opposite way to run a game if you are looking to attract and retain new players?
So, in conclusion my “break” will now be permanent. And looking at the forum it looks like most of the top early players have bailed as well.
Makes me sad, the theme, artwork, and concept of this game rocks. But the implementation of tools for play is utter nonsense.
Peace, Ezz

I just downloaded the game today after several months away... Gauntlet is cool but after reading this, and a few other posts i'm thinking today will be the only day back. We'll see I guess. I was hoping night city would be released also... Of course not. It's been "coming soon" for like 3 years now.

I had also hoped my break would make me want to play again. I tried it when gauntlet was released. Everything was a breeze until I got high enough to hit the teams with primordial. I didn’t even get a turn. I uninstalled again after that. No way to get them. Little chance of getting the new characters. They’ve flooded to pool so bad with souls that the chances are ridiculously low to pull anything new. It’s a shame really. I had high hopes for this game for a long time. I obviously still care a little or I wouldn’t be reading and posting on here.

Free Sparton!

Yeah it's gotten to the point where even if you invest your resources to pull the new characters this month, or get that new talisman set.... in 30/60 days more powerful characters will be released with an even slimmer chance of pulling them from a drop and new talismans will be released making your last set fairly obsolete. The ONLy way to stay on top of this "power creep climb" would be continually spend and spend and spend and spend and never take a break.

And you all overlooked Relics... another factor to get you to spend or be left behind.

I''ve been playing for about a year... the last week, rather than 4-5 times a day checking in, I've been hitting it once, maybe twice a day. It's really amazing how futile it all seems once you step back a bit. No one will EVER get the "best" character or "best" talisman set up. There will most likely NEVER be any new playable content (the automated PvP they are calling the Gauntlet doesn't count).

Its becoming clear that Wargames was right. "The only way to win is not to play."

I still log in to waste 20 minutes here or there. But I've just given up the "quest" overall. It's rather pointless.