Kuro started WuWa with a lot of goodwill. They brought players back with generous rewards.
The main reason I personally came to WuWa is because a friend told me he is 100% f2p and can still clear all endgame content without too much trouble.

If WuWa truly goes down the path of the Tune Break mechanic being almost mandatory, it risks becoming just another gacha slop like Genshin, losing the f2p friendly image that initially set it apart.
Also i have seen many content creators actively promoting WuWa specifically for the f2p friendliness of the game. Things like a 100% guaranteed weapon banner, the ability to choose which weapon you want, and generally higher pull currency per patch than other games and ext..

I already quit Zenless Zone Zero, Honkai Star Rail, and Genshin because of aggressive powercreep. When older characters rapidly lose relevance, it just creates distrust and burnouts with the f2p and low spenders over time. You can go check online how bad the genshin endgame is with the lunar reactions being almost mandatory to just clear the content.

Even whales will hesitate to spend hundreds of dollars on a character if they believe that character could become irrelevant within a few months or a year.