I swear to you I went into this with a positive attitude and an open mind, but... Basically, the game just hasn't been as much fun to play for me, and I think Master Modes is a likely significant factor of that decline in enjoyment. I don't have the time or energy to decipher exactly why, maybe I'm just finally bored of the game? Anyways, I wanted to put my two cents out there (more like $3.5k lol) and say that I have been disappointed by Master Modes thus far, and I hate to say it, but it is involved so intimately in so many aspects of the game's experience that it really just throws a wet rag over everything as time has gone on. I know there are promises of further balancing... saying that you all at CIG have been enjoying some further iteration that is so much better; that's a nice hit of hopium, but I haven't seen any evidence it is actually true frankly. This nebulous claim about more players statistically enjoying the game after Master Modes is a farse in my opinion - probably Yogi trying to save face or something. Unless there are more concrete numbers somewhere? The observations made about the skill ceiling being brought so low that there is no longer any meaningful depth to ship combat - to me - is a much, much more convincing argument.