RELIC DELTA-TIME TO LEAVE...

Yeah, I duuno about this. No doubt some players will leave. That happens with every major update. My guild has lost two or three in the last couple of months. I feel like these were people that probably already had one foot out the door and a good stiff breeze could have nudged them across the threshold. 

I haven't noticed that my game play has been negatively affected - barring the occasional no-buttons issue cropping up after not seeing that happen in ages - but other than that I have noticed that the missions in TB that I already had on auto just go faster - and the later missions where relic levels pull even are pretty much unchanged (and mostly still auto-play). 

If you're mad that your budget counters don't work anymore, there's fantastic news - relic materials have never been more accessible. So chances are you can get those formerly budget teams up to snuff pretty quick. If you minimize the relic difference, your old 'off meta' counters will still work just fine - that hasn't changed. I'm not sure what people are saving up for. Add relics to the toons you've had at R5 for the last four years. You now have an excuse to take some of those characters up to higher relics - this will benefit you everywhere in the game. 

What has changed for me is that I'm a lot more eager to apply R9 where previously I wouldn't. People complained for ages that R9 just didn't mean much - well now it does. That's pretty ok with me. I like that. I feel like relic progression matters for something other than arbitrary unlock requirements. 

It's really weird to me in a certain sense - CG put progression back on the menu and people are mad about it. This was always a progression based game and we stagnated for years at R9 because R9 really didn't matter. Progression matters again - go progress already.

Maybe no one reading this wants to hear this but there's someone out there that probably needs to: I noticed I had way more fun with the game when I stopped taking everything about it so seriously. It's not the end of the world if you go down from k2 to k3 - or from k4 to A2 - your arena rank is not who you are and your skill rating can't be cashed in for anything when you log off. It's just not that serious to lose a round because someone had more invested into relics than you did. If that ruins your day and your enjoyment of the game, maybe you're better off moving on anyway. I had to make that choice recently - and instead of logging off and leaving my guild I decided to chill out a bit and take the thing way less seriously. I'm way happier for it - I'm enjoying the game more - I still get to hang out with my guild mates and be a part of a team effort - and my crystal income and rewards have hardly noticed.

I strongly urge people to take that attitude for a test drive. It is so choice - if you have the means, I highly recommend it.