Light Side bias!
It really sucks that you need to have a raid character in the face of Traya in order to stand a chance against Bastila teams, which are slowly taking over arena and it sucks even more if you concentrated mainly on farming the nightmare team, therefore you are left with no choice but to get your a** kicked each time you face Bastila and company! With the current state of my guild it will take no less than 6/7 months before i unlock Traya and start farming her.
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Should probably get SiT into the lineup, gamechanger.
Took them forever to balance this game out.
Then I look at my own sub-par G9 zzTraya / G9 Sion / G8 Sith Trooper / zDN / zThrawn (last two are quality) that just curbstomped a G12 Bastila lead (4* Bastila excepted) in TW today and I think.....naaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, Traya's pretty good.
But yes, if you are still using Nightmare then you will/should lose to zBastila teams. Since the nightmare meta lasted longer than the CLS meta, I feel no pity.
If you've been playing since launch and aren't farming HSTR, then blame nobody but yourself for prioritizing whatever you prioritized over putting together HSTR teams.
It's not your fault for farming the sith meta. It was a great meta to farm. Since you stated you were a "launch player", I would assume the only toon you were missing from that meta was Sion. He was a single hard node farm until Ships 2.0, then a dual hard node farm. You got 15 to 24 attempts at his nodes for a mere 50 crystals per day (obtainable just by finishing your dailies!!).
It's possible you didn't have DN up and needed to farm him as well, but you were also around through his marquee and through all of the runs of whichever event rewarded sith shards. So, while he's also just a single node farm, you might not have had as far to go.
The EP / Vader reworks were announced almost seven months ago to the day. I would assume you've been running them for awhile. Additionally, up until Traya, the top 20 was probably more diverse than at any point in the game's history - any number of teams could climb to top ranks (zEP, NS, Rex, Titans, JTR were all viable). So, you could have been running any those teams while building your nightmare team.
The meta hasn't changed quickly. We got about six months out of EP. The squad didn't take money to build, but did take awhile to farm up Sion. (I know, I had a 4 month old account when his rework came about and I've lived off of those fruits for the past six months, allowing me to get CLS and JTR teams sorted out). It has run its course. You don't see too many CLS leads in arena anymore, it happens.
There is no light side bias, just you complaining that your meta has passed you by. It hurts the most the first time. Imagine getting JTR only to have the Nightsister rework come and dump all over you after just a few short months - then convert to Nightsisters only to have the EP meta do the same. Now those folks have something to bark about.
So, this thread is really a 'I—don't—want—to—adjust—hence—the—game—is—poorly—designed' thread. Ok. Nothing to see here. Move along.
You have all the freedom, you want. You have about 150 characters to choose from. You have the freedom to choose whichever character you like to play. However, don't expect that your favourite team can beat any other team you face.
The bussiness model of this game is not to balance all toons and teams in the game, so that they are all viable. The strategy is to let power creeep and always introduce new and stronger characters (or rework existing ones to make them stronger). If you are strongly against that (your own words) then this is not the game for you. Find a game, where you don't feel aleniated. Find a game where you have more fun.
I've been loosing hard in the arena since day one due to running and gearing Phoenix (personal choice - I love the cartoon - no complaints).
I appreciate that it's not fun constantly refreshing arena to find the one or two teams you can beat because I've been there - still am.
Seeing the meta start to shift to Bastilla is a welcome breath of fresh air. I can finally get somewhere because Phoenix kick the Bastilla teams in the teeth (NS teams too so I hear). Please don't bemoan the fact that those on the other side get their time in the sun. Yours will come back round in time.
Meta shifts are necessary and good for the game!
Because there is a meta (which would exist even if they didnt push it around) in a single game mode, there is no freedom of choice?
The meta is there and would exist no matter what, there will always be a team that is handled better by the AI. You cant perfectly program for the million combination that can exist for 160 toons.
You thought wrong! The main goal of this game is to make money by providing its customers with a fun experience! It really just sounds like this game isn't for you! Maybe you should find a different one! Or better yet, make your own! That way it can be exactly what you want it to be!
Live my world bro! lol.
But more seriously... arena is a peculiar creature. My arena shard's top people have always had the meta team almost immediately. And that's not an overstatement. Right now, Traya lead is the meta. I remember back when Palp lead was the meta. And when JTR was the meta. And when CLS was the meta. And when Talzin lead nightsisters and when Rex lead Han GK etc was the meta. The one thing in common all of those have is that they, at one point or another WERE the meta, but have now CHANGED. 90% of my shards top 50 is Traya. A couple to a few are Palp lead. One or two are Bastila lead teams. And one or two are JTR lead teams. No CLS. No nightsisters. No First Order. Nothing else. For my shard right now, DS is dominating arena. The problem is that the meta will always change and that's inevitable. And with the given fact that F2P will always farm slower than P2P, if you start to chase the meta you will always be behind the 8ball so to speak because you won't be able to farm it fast enough being a F2P, and when you've finally maxed your team, the meta will change. Right now, imo at least, it's about luck. As previous people have said... The people who were laughed at and mocked for farming Jedi like zQui Gon Jinn lead teams with GMY are now able to slap a zeta on Bastila and, depending on the shard age, be able to dominate arena and hang with the Traya teams up there. A very good friend of mine who started playing since launch quit for about a year because all he did was try to chase the meta and kept switching lanes on what he farmed and just simply got burnt out. Once he came back he didn't pay any attention to the meta, farmed what he wanted rather than what he thought he "had to do", and now is doing a lot better. Our only hope is that what we farm will ONE DAY be the meta and we will have it off the bat so we can jump to the top of our shard. That's about it. Nothin fancy. So if and WHEN we get either Darth Malak, Revan, and/or Jango Fett I guarantee you that the meta will change again. Mark my words. And the people who get those toons unlocked and 7 starred the first time around will be dominating their shards. I just hope I'm one of em.
And P.S. Imo... this game is feeling like it's being geared more toward whales. And I'm not the only one who feels that way... there's plenty of threads out there about it. I mean just imagine starting playing swgoh day one right now. We'd be so behind it's sick. There'd be way too much to do/ farm. I can't even imagine that! lol. I think it's mainly cause there's been so much new content released on the game.
And also as far as the ships 2.0 update and people quitting ships... Some if not a lot of people have quit playing entirely. So people haven't just quit because of the power creep/ meta change or ships 2.0 update... people quit this game because of several things. Both of yours being valid points. But there are others. To name a few? New legendary and/or heroes journey events, TW mismatches, or we can address the obvious one which feels like the elephant in the room... the Sith Raid. And now people have yet another reason to quit... the mods 2.0 update. The obvious fact is that P2P will always have the advantage. They'll be able to farm faster than the F2P. Sure you'll get what they have one day but by the time you do though something else will come out and they'll have that too and you'll have to start the grind all over again. My personal perspective is this... that the credit belongs to the people, whether F2P or P2P, who stick it out... the ones who love Star Wars, realize that this is just a game, and play for fun. I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts. The reason I play personally is for fun. And to quote my friend I mentioned earlier... I play this game for fun. But if I'm not having fun anymore, then it's time to move on. For me though, I'm still having fun, so now is not that time.
This games is actually quite F2P friendly. F2P players have access to all game modes and there is nothing that can't be achieved as F2P. Yes, paying players may achieve everything at a faster pace, but F2P can raid the end gane raid, win TWs, reach rank 1 in both arenas and can currently reach nearly full stars in TBs (43 in LS TB is definately achievable) and eventually they will reach full stars as well.
The power creep strategy is used in other games as well. It's not at all unusual. And judging by the player base and revenue CG is quite successful with this strategy.
Ships 2.0 for whales? F2P players can still reach top ranks. Please explain your point. If you and others gave up on ships after the update, it's your own choice. Others chose to adapt and continue playing.
Instead of being upset that everything is not balanced out, you really should just accept the fact, that power creep is taking place. I think you will enjoy the game more.
Your original post proves, that you are fully aware of Bastilla and her strength in squad arena. With Bastilla all F2P players got the chance to reach top ranks simply by gearing a single, free 3* character and coupling her with 4 characters that every F2P player and their grandmothers already have. This contradicts the above comment of yours.
Yes, often it takes time to farm new META teams, but old META teams can often still hold rank for several weeks (or stay near top ranks) after new META characters are introduced. It's all a matter of developing your roster instead of stubbornly holding on to your old team.
Again: Just don't expect to keep winning every battle. Power creep and shifting METAs are part of this game, which you yourself choose to play.