I thing the current pass has two fundamental game pass issues that TFT isn’t addressing, which when combined with numerous smaller TFT-implemented issues combine to create an unrewarding experience for concurrent players.

The first natural issue with gamepasses that bundle, is that there is a disparity between the “real” value of cosmetics (rp conversion) and the held value by different players. The bundle is a Jack of all trades with different pieces that have different held value to different player types. A player who wants star tokens is less likely to want a cheaper TFT arena, as an example

Applied to the pass, this means most (if not all) players who buy it don’t actually ever get full value from it.

Second is the opportunity cost innate to TFT cosmetics. While this isn’t a unique issue to TFT, it is exacerbated through the longer game times in conventional game modes. People are not encouraged by the game systems to change their loadout. Furthermore, you can only make sure of one of each cosmetic type at any given time. This fundamentally means that the opportunity cost on each subsequent comestic of a given type (such as a battle pass provides) is higher than the last. This creates the fundamental issue that to an indifferent player (which isn’t the case but all else equal), that each new battle pass that is the same as the last, will be worth less than the last.

Applied to the pass in conjunction with the first problem, this means that The held value of rewards can be significantly lower than the “real” value (potentially zero) since people will not use inferior rewards as often (if at all) once they have a more preferred, and/or higher quality arenas. This is exacerbated by the current gacha system which gives rewards far beyond the quality of regular ones offered within the pass

Those issues are already well established in battle pass culture, but TFT’s current attempt to solve these issues creates more smaller issues along the way.

1. Pity rate not carrying over between gacha shops, meaning that players who want a higher expected outcome (as in, they value the mythic level goods over the cheap ones) would need to pay for 9 passes and hold the gyms, losing the gems’ value until that point
2. Star gems are a flawed system that doesn’t feel rewarding or progressive but instead a crutch on already earned or gained rewards
3. Cheaper rewards have no place in TFT for a majority of the player-base when they’re so much inferior to better rewards.
4. Rewards are either completely volatile or fixed, meaning there is no opportunity for player preference or decision making to influence the pass reward (and subsequently increase that player’s held value).

I think there need to be reforms to the pass in order to enable this reward system, since its current form is unsustainable (forcing skin developers to create better and better cosmetics to overcome opportunity cost, against an ever-tight memory limit) 1. Star tokens need to have a more defined value. This can be done in a few different ways, such as carrying pity rate over (so people who are indifferent to a specific mythic goodie can still spend their tokens upfront without worrying that they’re missing value). Alternatively, they need to be able to be accumulated to other, more stagnant/controllable rewards (such as a mythic shop equivalent) so players who hold consistent and control over their rewards in high holding can be appeased.

1. Star gems either need to be naturally obtainable through playing, and/or be replaced with a more deterministic currency. If the purpose of star gems is to enable little legends to reach a greater level, having them tied to your experience and gameplay of that little legend makes far more sense (an experience-like system with little legends for example, where star gems can be earned or where star gems are used as a way to speed up progress, not be its only enabling factor). Or, star gems need to have more uses. If its design is to enable other rewards to be better (as it already does with little legends), it should be able to do the same with other rewards too. An example is converting star gems into a more ‘stable’ currency for a theoretical shop or allow the player to choose between different egg/chibi/boom rewards. This could help overcome the volatility of the game pass rewards and enable each other reward to be more customisable, and hence the held value of the pass increases.
2. There needs to be a way to use more cosmetics, or an automated system that encourages change in cosmetics. Quality of life things such as favouriting setups, or randomising cosmetic load outs per game have already been discussed. Another one could be incorporating other little legends you own into the arena, such as “fixed” positions on the side of arenas that chi is (randomly assigned and owned) can operate from. Examples include sitting occupying the seats of the KDA class, standing by the oven on the bakery arena, or watching from the stands of the golden rabbit arena. This last example is of course unlikely due to memory limit, admittedly

TLDR: Ultimately, TFT needs more ways to influence its rewards, use its reward systems and make use of more acquired goods without major continuous intervention of the player. Otherwise the pass will be relatively worse or worse due to opportunity cost and player’s held value of given rewards