GCs, Coliseum, and Era leveling

The biggest issue is that if you don't invest thousands of crystals into the new release you literally cannot play coliseum. I guess you guys claim that over time we will level all of the marquees about equally but that means that for weeks/months at the start of each era f2p cannot play coliseum. And no just because I can start a battle and get instantly destroyed dealing <50 damage for 10% of rank 1 does not mean I actually get to interact with the gamemode. 4+ years of playing btw. I shouldn't have to use g2-3 characters or level 1 abilities ever. This is ridiculous.

I think that's a missunderstanding.  What I see is that the point of this game mode is to level up your characters day after day, and going up and up during these 3 months, not to beat it every time since the first day. Of course, if you want to be top 1 in the daily ranking you have to pay (did anyone think it wouldn't be like this?), but the game mode itself is a long-term goal. If you finish it in a week... well, it's over until the next era.