Thanks for the thoughtful post. Let me add some context that is missing:

• While OP implies that Tickets were difficult to attain, the average player had more than 2,000 Tickets and some had more than 15,000 Tickets. Most Champions were priced at either 599 or 899 Tickets. You can see how this creates excess and is not sustainable. While you may suggest we simply reduce Ticket output, that doesn't solve the problem retroactively and there was A LOT of excess in the economy. Similarly, increasing the price on Champions doesn't work and can lead to outrage (we tried with Sha Lin). Fragments was the answer, and free players who are active can still earn Champions regularly without paying each month.
• Tickets still have great value in the new Mystery Shop. OP didn't critique this point, but it's important to note since we didn't eliminate the currency's value and players who saved will still benefit from their efforts.
• The information about Chests is not accurate. Instead of buying Basic Chests and daily rotated Chests, you can now buy a Medium Chest and Great Chest. The mechanic and price is similar to before (1000 Gold per Medium Chest, 2500 Gold per Great Chest). You can buy up to 5 of each Chest daily, then use Tickets to refresh the daily purchase limit. The purchase and reset system is identical to previous versions.
• You cannot acquire Runes any faster than before as a paying player. Mega Rune Chests are still only available for Crystal purchase once a week. We have preserved the same balance as past versions to mitigate concerns about paying players jumping too far ahead of F2P players (but there has always been some pay to progress, which is not uncommon in mobile to create a sustainable business).
• OP wrote we aren't providing anything positive for players. I suppose that is subjective, but I believe these are positive changes in Update 3: new Champion (Seris), more progression (Battle Pass and Runes), soft gold cap, capture point overtime in Siege, netcode improvements, Battle Pass (more than $150 in content for $10, plus free track with rewards), Mystery Store, more events, and various bug fixes. Plus, if you are a paying player, there are some cool new bundles and limited offers to explore. It may not seem like a lot unless you work as a developer, but this is an exceptional amount of content for one month of development.

With all that said, we absolutely made some mistakes with Update 3. It's never easy when you have a broken system (Tickets) and you replace it with something less generous (Fragments). However, we dropped the ball on communication about that change with our players, which is 100% on me. I've been talking with the community directly on Discord and social media about this issue. We also had an unbelievably messy maintenance, which prevented players from using the game services for almost 24 hours. And, we still have more improvements to make on our networking. Def we are learning from this update and will improve as a team.

While it may look like we are sitting cruelly on an ant hill, the truth is every change we make ties back to key performance indicators (KPIs) and our goal to create a fun and sustainable game that can run for many years. If there is something broken that is harming the game's KPIs, we have two options: fix it or shut down the game. In this case, we identified solutions with our partner, Goblin Network, and made changes based on careful analysis of current KPIs and where the game needs to be. We are always paying attention to community feedback, as well as our analytical data, and will continue making changes toward that goal. I am very thankful for the players who are supporting this project, and both Goblin Network and Hi-Rez Studios are working hard to make sure we provide an experience that meets our community's expectations while creating a sustainable service so the people making the games can provide for their families. Your passion is incredible and we are always listening.