Rise of Mythos (Web) -- Revisited

Rise of Mythos remains a compelling game after all this time and has added a lot of new content since my last visit (around a year ago). Unfortunately, it's still loaded to the brim in paywalls... ~_~

The Alchemy lab has an interesting new addition that allows single cards to be enhanced to higher ranks using special crystals. The process consumes tons of silver (grinding), and, so far, I've only seen the crystals locked behind event paywalls. Enhancing is a useful alternative to the standard Combination enhancements that require dozens of duplicate cards, but locking it behind paywalls places it beyond the reach of most players.

A new soul power system has been added where players collect soul stones and soul power from daily actions and battles. There are different stones and a separate power rating for each race (Dragons, Angels, and Outsiders not included). Each race starts with a single 4-star unlocked with its 5-star and 6-star versions locked, along with a second locked card that is only available in 5-star and 6-star ranks. Reaching high levels of soul power unlocks the higher ranking versions of the craftable cards. While this system is very interesting, it looks like it will take weeks to craft a single 4-star and months to unlock the higher ranked cards. This would need to be repeated for each race.

Dragons and Angels are now available as standard card packs, but Outsiders remain aloof event pack units. These new races bring some interesting new units and deck strategies into the game. Unfortunately, many cards still don't count for anything in the collection rewards (namely Outsiders and other event units) and the new races are still lacking reputation shops.

Special 7-star versions have been added to the game of the older v1.0 human cards. The improved versions of these cards are fairly powerful, but completely impossible for most players to obtain.

New VIP boss challenges are available to all players (VIP players get one extra daily attempt). These battles are 1v1 PvE and can be rather challenging without a great deck.

Twice per day, hour long World Boss battles take place. Players participate in the same 4v1 PvE style as regular boss challenges, except players earn rewards based on their performance. Some rewards are cross-server competitions, such as 'Most Damage Dealt'. These reward chests contain new units not available elsewhere.

The PvP arena has taken an interesting turn as specialized 'spike' decks have become very common. Spike decks are essentially a variation of the rushing play style. Rushing decks involved spamming low countdown units with high movement and overwhelming your opponent by blocking their side of the board. Spike decks involve repeatedly boosting the two wind walk cards and hitting your opponent with high amounts of damage very quickly. While players had many options on handling the often weak rushing units, there is little in the way of effective defense against spike decks, which often win a match in two to four turns, aside from playing a spike deck yourself. As many players have noted online, this produces rather unsatisfying battles.

Rise of Mythos continues to add interesting new content. Unfortunately, it hasn't reined in its pay-to-win nature at all. Overall, it remains an entertaining game to play.

Summary:

• + quite a few more cards
• + interesting new content
• + some interesting events (that include free players)
• - same expensive events and pay-to-win feel
• - arena battles dominated by 'spike' decks

Rise of Mythos is available online at http://www.riseofmythos.com.