I used to play Smite religiously, starting at the beginning of season 3 and stopping 4ish years later. So how do I even put into words my feelings about Smite?

It was such a huge part of my life for years. I met new friends, I bonded with people, I laughed, and I cried playing this game. So why did I stop playing? Because I was miserable. It's a free game and I understand that cosmetics will be a part of just about ANY game nowadays and they have to make money somehow. But there was a pretty obvious shift that happened where the entirety of the games direction was based around getting people to buy skins. Gods that players were shouting were OP were getting tons of new skins, and any time you saw a buff due to "underperformance according to our metrics" in the latest patch notes, you knew who the next batch of new skins was going to include. Hirez balanced (or rather they unbalanced) the game based off of who they were trying to sell to you. After all, why would you nerf a character who's making money? It sounds silly to say it was actually mildly heartbreaking to see a game I spent so much time playing turn into something that I couldn't stand to boot up anymore.

I've been told that in the years since i've stopped playing that the game has gotten a lot more playable. And like, I believe you? I do? But am I going to play it again? I want to? But will I? Probably not.

So, how do I feel about Smite?

I fucking hate this game. There are few games in existence that I can say I dislike more than Smite. But deep in my heart, in my SOUL, I love this game. And I will continue to love it as long as it's not installed on any of my systems.