izigame.me

This is an fun premise with incredible potential. I'm so desperate to love this game but so many of the choices feel hostile and predatory to players. I played beta and was already exposed to some outrageous grinds. When I came back they wiped all of the original currency that could be used for characters/costumes and complicated it by introducing a bunch of new ones. I paid for a founder's pack and am not allowed to use the new currency until I use all my character tickets. So I can't tell exactly how unfair it is but I've noticed the price for nearly everyone has doubled. You aren't allowed to try unowned characters in training mode/offline anymore which ensures there will no in-person tournaments and means when you drop ten dollars on a character you won't even be sure of the play style you're getting.
You can't complete your daily grinds without already owning characters AND a specific costume variants. So not buying inherently restricts your ability to earn unlocks, I didn't buy Joker day one so I've already missed out on several rewards. I imagine it'll be brutal for people down the line when you only have Shaggy to start with. There's no battle pass EXP from normal play ONLY daily quests. This legitimizes certain play modes over others which is going to pigeonhole players in certain content niches into content they aren't interested in. Those players are likely to burn out the fastest. The daily reward time gating means you're unlikely to be able to "catch up" near the end of the season.
During the beta Halloween event on Reddit it was calculated to take 120hrs of solo grinding without buying in to complete. I participated in a lot of the events and it burnt me out so badly, I couldn't keep up. When I see choices like this making it more restrictive and precise on how/when you grind it makes maintaining a healthy relationship with the game that much harder.
The Rifts mode has the potential to be horrifically Pay to win but the gems and their exp is so complicated that I can't even tell yet. Rifts can't be 100%'d alone, every single one has an challenge to do it co-op which restricts rewards. There is no matchmaking for it, so if you have no friends it's another set of rewards you'll miss.
A lot of the decisions made in this game feel cynical and corporate. It's weird they put all this work into economy when there's so many quality of life features missing from beta. Where's items FFA, leaderboards, post battle reports, ranked, co-op vs AI? The missing controller rebind settings and input buffering? The game is in such a weird state that I can't genuinely tell if the missing features are developmental oversights or tactical decisions to manipulate engagement/monetization.
They've been struggling to communicate their intentions to players thus leaving imagination to fill the gaps. I don't know where Player First Games begins and Warner's management ends. I don't know if removing the ability to switch characters between rounds is to optimize the matchmaking, prevent people switching to mains after a loss, or an insidious plot to boost player engagement with menus. I shouldn't have that much uncertainty in a game I dropped 100 in. I want to love this game and I want it to be awesome. I don't know if Warner Bros wants that too

EDIT: Trying to get further clarification on things led me to the official Discord. Where there is an absurd amount of misinformation and arguing over it. Searching for Dev post history I can't find a whisper since launch. Leaving it in the hands of understaffed volunteers to face-tank all the confusion and frustration. Nobody official is taking questions or openly acknowledging feedback. The mods are clearly trying their best but don't have the resources and support. To help alleviate this I heavily recommend adding a FAQ with clear explanations on things like what's supposed transfer from beta and other reference material. I understand how toxic the community can get but if direct developer interaction isn't going to happen there needs to be an alternative.
On twitter they verified that they are intentionally requiring every player who bought a founder's pack to burn through their character tickets before being allowed to use any free currency they farm. They doubled the cost of practically everything and those pesky tickets keep beta founders from buying in now. It's such a cynical anti-consumer choice that I feel embarrassed for buying in. Maybe the backlash will incite change. But when there's so much wrong with the game and a lot of it feeling intentionally hostile. I struggle to imagine a community sticking around