Near the start of the season:
The game has a lot more QoL than it did before but returned with many bugs which are being patched out at a decent pace admittedly. Joker, Jason, and that agent from the Matrix I don't actually know TBH are nice additions that each have their own audience they appeal to. Unfortunately one of the three wasn't even fully ready by the time of this season's launch and Joker costs twice as much as any other character to unlock. Unlocking any character at all can be a hassle so very few people even have him. That brings us to Jason, the only actual accessable newcomer since he is given for free to returning players. He's fun to play but the fact I haven't been able to play the others yet even a month later makes this update feel less about the newcomers and more about the side content. There's a new rifts mode which is a nice break from only having PVP in the beta. Unfortunately ranked and free for alls (custom lobbies only) are also not in this release yet. This makes this update a very mixed back. This season has potential to get good but for now it's just alright.

Near the end of the season:
I now have every character unlocked except Joker who I'll have to get next season due to him costing twice as much as everyone else. I managed to get Smith by grinding rifts with my boyfriend and his family. It took me until the last two days to get enough points for Smith which was annoyingly long but hey I got him. I unfortunately only made it to tier 69 naturally despite playing fairly regularly so I had to purchase exactly 1 tier to get the final reward. Not too big of a deal though since my gems are still net positive of where they were before.