Honestly I think what killed any and all motivation to play gbf on top of just... the inconsistent/uninteresting writing lately, is just how much the game play has shifted into "If u DONT use THESE specific characters and set ups, you're never going to progress thru HL content"

when i first started almost 3 years ago now, and correct me if my impression is wrong, but it rly was more along the lines of:
as long as you worked on your grid, most if not all (SSR at least) characters could be super viable!

You could rly just use your favorites and have fun?

But now it's like
if you DONT have this new 9.7 tier chara that just came out/THIS set up of charas specifically, you don't stand a chance!

That's the #1 nail in the coffin for me

I want to play w my favorites?? i don't want to be forced to use characters i don't care about..?

Maybe I myself is just to blame bc I only have like 4-5 favorite characters and I'm not the type to get attached to any new ones

esp since they keep shilling out a new forgettable charas every new event

maybe certain ppl can just do that and eat up the newest thing but i cant