what does this even mean? the entire era concept centers on finding more ways for people to spend money. relic10 costs >100$ ea, or a lifetime to achieve in FTP--this is why you see so many CWC and CUP r10s because they are affordable (r9 for 10$ right before the free 1x R10 given out). R10 gives whales something to continue paying for. relic delta rewards them for their spending on higher relics.
meanwhile, it widens the wealth gap and prices out the rest of the community from being able to participate or compete. just like you see IRL economy and housing market for example. so yea, not a surprise FTP is not progressing--they are tapping out. dug yourself in a hole, cuz now you are giving welfare out to FTP, at the expense of disenfranchising those who already paid (a lot) to get ahead, now feeling like they wasted their money and should tap out also.
guild activity has declined and recruiting activity has increased because people are quitting due to the greedy era updates. probably should have lowered costs/requirements to begin with. price/reqs are like 10x inflated above a reasonable cost. not many people out there can afford to pay hundreds or thousands $ a month to keep up with everything you're introducing into the game.