So I am a member of a clan in Diablo Immortal who has achieved joining the Immortal faction. We are enjoying the game. But the general feeling within the clan is that The Shadow events were far more interesting. Plus, the experience gain being Shadow is vastly superior over being Immortal. The idea of the Path of blood for Shadows is fun. But as an Immortal there is nothing equal to that. Plus, the Assembly event’s exp gain is great for Shadows, but as an Immortal we don’t have anything that gives you that exp boost. Long termwise, we are concerned that the game is getting stale. A game without some serious challenge in gameplay that gives players something to strive for will peter out the community. The game definitely needs to be fleshed out and balanced in order to keep this game going.
I think you kind of answered your own question. That is to say, the system seems to be built around giving the best clans access to amazing rewards as immortals but intentionally slowing their progress relative to other clans so that others have a chance to ‘ascend’. I rather like that the story feeds into that dynamic.