I don't feel like I get to "play" this game anymore

There's a sandbox mode coming if I remember correctly. There's almost certainly a lot of nuance and context that I've either missed or forgotten, and it's almost certainly going to be waaaaay monetised, but it's something.

Oh, I didn't know that! That actually just made my day! Thanks for the heads up!

vybt3pm5lrr6 wrote:

and just felt a weight of looking at all the things I needed to do,

That's well described.  When you're jaded with the game, and you're not logging on so much; this is a very common feeling when you do log on, you're inundated with pop-ups, you end up spending the 10 minutes you put aside to do important stuff having to open bronziums, use energies, click on littler red circles.

It's a vicious circle.  The less you feel like playing, the less you log on.  The less you log on, the more overwhelmed you get when you do log on.  The more overwhelmed you get, the less you feel like playing.

vybt3pm5lrr6 wrote:

But both of these only come around every once in a while,

There's almost one of either every other day.  

vybt3pm5lrr6 wrote:

they do nothing to let you play with any non-meta characters.

If you go to a very small guild, you'll have plenty to do with non-meta characters.  TW, Raids, TBs....

vybt3pm5lrr6 wrote:

Conquest aaalmost lets you do this, but you are so locked in to farming feats, then farming datacron material

But you can, if you're spending the energy.  I enjoy using as many teams as I have on that first day, it's quite fun.....but time consuming.  I dislike using 'stamina'.  This isn't really an issue, because as you say we need to farm datacrons for feats anyway.  You can have some fun with Conquest.

OutrunWhistle wrote:

There's a sandbox mode coming

Yeah, this might be a think you like!

Training Mode has officially arrived! ((In a future update))

We understand Squad Arena has long been a place for testing new characters and Datacrons in order to understand how things work, and we want to make sure you still have the ability to learn and practice. To address this, we will be replacing Squad Arena with the new Training Mode. This new mode will be accessible in the Squad Management section of your inventory, allowing you to battle against any squad you can build from your own roster.

At its release, it will follow these standard battle rules:

1. Only characters you own can be used
2. Only 1 Galactic Legend per side
3. You will be able to use the same characters on both Offense and Defense.
4. The current state of the units (gear, relic, abilities, and mods) is used on both Offense and Defense.

Omicrons will not be present, similar to current Squad Arena, and Datacrons will be usable on Offense but not on Defense at this time. Additionally, these battles will not progress any quests, feats, or account stats.

From one of CG's recent posts. Sounds exciting! When I mentioned monetisation, it seems I was referring to the planned Era Arena (Colisseum PVP), not this. Still, it's limited by your current roster, but will be insanely helpful testing my GAC defences. 

Ok, so quit. You shouldn't play a game you're not enjoying. There's a million other games out there. 

You're allowed to not enjoy aspects without deciding to drop the game. I detest certain aspects, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't play. I also share the sentiment of finding that there's not a lot to do "creatively" as such, but I'm not going to uninstall the game and forget about it 2 minutes later.

Zanir - I know I won't change anything for you with a simple post on a forum, but I hope you are ok. I've seen a number of your posts in the past, and it's always slightly negative, sarcastic, or just aggressive. I realize you didn't like Galactic Challenges - some of them could be difficult so I understand - but for a lot of us it gave a chance for variability in the game that has since been lost. We all have something in this game that made it unique and kept us in it for a long time. The complaints are not in a way that says we do not like the game, we are just sad that it strayed away from what we hoped for, and want to express that in the hopes that seeds can be planted to keep improving the game. So I think the bitterness you feel against the SWGOH community is unfounded.

I wouldn't call him bitter so much as abrasive.

I felt like this with basically every game. The game gets you so invested in the FOMO you feel like you cant just quit, but honestly that's the best thing to do. Not permanently just step away for a break a month, a year, whatever until you 'want' to play the game. We get so invested and caught up in the FOMO we forget we're supposed to have fun playing games. Uninstall the game for a bit so you don't open it out of habit and take a step back an enjoy another game, or no game for a bit.

I was HEAVILY invested in Destiny 2 for may years, diamond rated raider, first in my guild to solo flawless dungeons, first finish quests etc. etc....It started to feel like a chore always 'needing' to be ahead of the pack. Best decision I made was uninstalling the game for a season and realizing my life wasn't worst for actually missing out on video game content.

Good luck, hope this helps.

This is great advice! Appreciate it!