I think the big mistakes with the arcane ring and planar pendant are these:
First of all, the planar pendant should really be arcane and not mythic. It was actually harder to come by than the arcane ring, and the stats are actually more OP than other amulets than the arcane ring is compared to other rings.
I have no issue with arcane items being the best for multiple seasons -- they should be. However, the problem is that the arcane ring and planar pendant have become way too common and the prices have dropped way too low on those items. So now just about everyone has them, and that is what makes the game somewhat boring for most. In fact, the way arcane items in general have become so cheap and common has removed the mystique from them. I can remember when it was exciting when you saw an arcane item for sale in the auction. Now there are well over a hundred of them for sale at any one time with shards selling for less than 200k.
The good news is that STS can fix this (if they want to). Pet eggs are hatched, so the supply always gets used up and needs to be replenished. If they were to increase the rarity of these items, the supply will dwindle over time, and prices will gradually go up. And with the arcane shard, the solution there is to use it to craft other items in the future, as has already been done once with Stampy.
Hopefully we will be able to chalk up this season of missteps as "growing pains" of trying to change things in AL, and the next season will be more in line with what we expect. When I look back at the past of AL, I really think seasons 3 & 4 were the most fun due to all of the new rare items that were available and all the new maps that were released during that time. Hopefully the game will get back to that level of fun.
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