Summoners War: Chronicles

Let me start by saying this has, without a doubt, been the most frustrating and disappointing year for this game to date. The downward spiral has been relentless—fueled by increasingly questionable design choices and a clear, disturbing shift in priorities. It’s now painfully obvious that monetization has taken precedence over the player experience. Pay-to-win mechanics are more aggressive than ever: systems, cosmetics, and even skins now provide stat advantages. Then there’s the constellation system, which is a blatant whale trap. It pressures players to either spend excessively or limit their entire progression to a few overpowered units just to stay marginally relevant.

The anniversary event was yet another low point. While I personally found a few moments passable, the overwhelming community response was negative—and rightfully so. It was nothing more than a time-consuming grindfest masquerading as a celebration. Instead of rewarding the player base for their loyalty, it felt like we were being punished. A celebration should uplift the community, not drain it.

Then came the collab event—“Oh My Goddess”? More like “Oh My Mediocre.” The scrolls were laughably limited, and the units introduced were so absurdly overtuned that they immediately threw the meta into chaos. The entire event felt slapped together, rushed, and ultimately served as just another excuse to pump out broken units. Balance? Nowhere in sight. The power creep is beyond manageable at this point.

Speaking of disappointing releases, the new Mythic unit was another miss. The unit itself is underwhelming, and the gear that came with it? Bland and borderline useless. And while more artifacts continue to flood into the game, each one requiring a +15 grind just to unlock a minor bonus, the actual means to farm or upgrade them remain as stingy as ever. It’s just more endless grind, with fewer and fewer meaningful rewards.

And then there’s the Crit Resist rune overhaul—poorly communicated and followed by almost no compensation. It was a slap in the face. Arena has devolved into a mindless, repetitive mess. It hasn’t felt fresh in ages and now just mirrors Siege in its monotony and lack of engagement.

But what truly broke things was the overhaul to the Accuracy and Resistance (ACC/RES) system. Instead of functioning like it always has—where these stats determine whether a debuff lands—it now affects damage taken and dealt. This change is not just unnecessary; it’s destructive. It undermines a few years of established mechanics and makes combat unpredictable, unintuitive, and honestly, miserable. It’s a fundamental rewrite of core gameplay, and not for the better.

We’re three years into this game, and there’s still no proper compensation or acknowledgment when core systems are turned upside down. First Crit Resist, now this? Every major patch feels like the devs are just winging it—throwing out sweeping changes without testing or foresight—and we, the players, are left picking up the pieces while burning through resources we’ll never get back.

And let’s talk about dev response—specifically how fast you reacted when a popular content creator complained about Jin’s stat distribution. That was fixed almost instantly, and those who built her got a practically free summoner out of it. Meanwhile, when hundreds of regular players voice concerns on your forums or Discord, there’s nothing but silence. It’s clear whose voices you prioritize—and it’s not the community keeping the game alive day in and day out.

Balance? It’s nonexistent. Units with win rates over 50% go untouched, as if the devs are too afraid to nerf anything. Meanwhile, DPS Main Characters (MCs) are nearly extinct in this meta. Unless you funnel an unreasonable amount of resources into them, they’re useless. And even then, their damage is laughable. The unique passives that once gave them relevance have been left in the dust by newer mechanics. They're outdated and overshadowed.

And these new units? Some of the most blatantly broken releases I’ve ever seen. Crit Damage builds are essentially dead—too many conditions, too many caveats. Meanwhile, these new units scale off flat ATK or similar mechanics and hit absurdly hard with barely any setup. There’s no real strategy, no real counterplay—just raw stat checks steamrolling everything. The power creep is unreal.

Then there’s Kina. Honestly, where do I even start? She’s the clearest example of how bad things have gotten. There’s zero skill required to draft her—just pick Kina, toss in a few decent units, and you’re already at an advantage. She’s miles ahead of every other summoner. While her utility may not be the most versatile, her pure stat dominance does all the work. Add constellations into the mix and it’s game over. Just look at PvP rankings across every mode—Kina is number one across the board. That’s not a coincidence; that’s a problem.

At this point, it genuinely feels like the game is being reshaped with little to no regard for those of us who have invested years of time, energy, and money. Each patch brings more grind, more power creep, more untested systems, and more imbalance. The divide between casuals, veterans, and whales is spiraling out of control. The enjoyment is gone. The trust is gone.

It’s getting harder to play, harder to enjoy—and hardest of all, harder to believe this game still has the players’ best interests at heart.