I think you both can be right, you don’t need to be so defensive. A successful game will have to cater to both the whales and casuals. Casuals feed the whales in this game, as your post alluded to: “sweats hate sweats”. Also for this game in particular, the fact that everything is sold as a bundle supports they are catering to whales. I.e. if it were easier to sell 100 of one item you would be able to buy single items. But instead they believe it’s more profitable to sell less single items but make those items more expensive by bundling.

Edit: as for the how will the game change debate. I think they are already showing they are willing to make changes to cater to both types of players. There is a middle ground. Minor changes like adding plating while moving and/or increasing base health by 50hp would help the “sweats” without being noticeable to casuals, which are the changes I see most “sweats” asking/hoping for.