I was surprised they put the Merfolk node in, as I expected only to play the Vampire and the original 5.x nodes. I'm very glad they split the original event, as this was still a horrible grind.
For me the advantages of this event:
- Not the five full nodes the original event had
- Event end on Sunday
- 8 hour recharge time
- Last progression reward close to max. I believe there should be a reward for coming close to a perfect score and the way the rewards are given now reflects that.
Disadvantages:
- Grind, grind, grind... yuk. Azor is playing such a passive, disrupting deck that it takes over 20 minutes to get rid of him. His indestructible support only adds to the pain.
- The Merfolk node again? The original nodes 4 and 5 are a grind already.
- Bugs, bugs, bugs... a lot of players complained about the bugs. If nailed by one of them, your shot at the final rewards is as good as gone. IF the devs choose for a tight reward structure, make sure players are able to achieve it without getting screwed by bugs.
I understand that some people are complaining about the difficulty of this event. That being said, it seems that no one realizes that most of the 4.x and 5.x nodes were nerfed (e.g. less HP (Azor), less mana gains (Gateway), more expensive loyalty abilities), making it already easier for all of us. I also believe that some of the encounters must be challenging (but not impossible).