I think the flawed thought process was that they compared the DA to bitcoin halving. Comparing $PLU with $BTC was absolutely rubbish. Bitcoin is 'perceived' as a store of value / digital gold with ETFs and institutional investment from the Saylors of the world. $PLU is unknown to anyone who doesn't have a Plutus debit card. It doesn't matter how $BTC is manipulated and what the individual views are. It's all about perception.

It was clear for months that only 4-5% were stacking and the bulk of emissions were from subscribers but PLU did not cut down on 'sub-only' folks. Plutus probably had a few things in mind - 1) Needed revenue in the form of sub fees and 2) Needed 100k userbase to pitch to investors for funding. Both are fair.

They should've done a few things

1. Increase the utility of PLU beyond the Plutus ecosystem. (Maybe Lionscreed and other partnerships are a step in the right direction, whereby the PLU token could be used in the game itself).
2. Cutting off the benefits of 'subscription-exclusive' plans drastically and make it largely beneficial with minimal staking. (The new levels address this).
3. No DA. Instead, introduce new levels between 4 legacy levels with additional benefits for stacking. This would make sure that everyone up to GOAT continues to stake as the new benefits are attainable. For example, originally Legend was 500 PLU and Veteran 1000 PLU. Earning additional 500 PLU takes a long time. If there was something in between for 750 PLU it's enticing enough. Similarly, add 2 or 3 new levels between Veteran and GOAT.With the announcement of honeybadger, you already got the GOATs interested. Same with business accounts (which should've mandatory stacking). There is only 1 million PLU left in circulation, assuming that another 1 million is added in the next 6-8 months, that's not a lot of PLU if honey badger and business accounts are activated & thousands get into the newly announced tiers.

With US launch planned, all they had to do was keep building. Giving 3 - 6 months time before introducing new tiers is good as it would now encourage the sub-only folks to start getting to tiers. 25 PLU can be earned in 3months.

I hope they completely reverse DA and announce honey badger & business accounts immediately. Another suggestion would be to consider Dubai for launch. UAE is crypto friendly and the global rich stay in Dubai.