Ideas to Improve the Episode system

I know this wouldn't be changed for the current Era. Possibly it's even too late for the first full Era of the Calvary. However, CG, please consider these suggestions to improve the feeling of the episode system. 

As CG_Meathead  has mentioned, the system itself isn't necessarily worse than the old system however, it looks extremely antagonistic towards F2P players. These changes should alleviate those concerns without actually changing much of the reward structure.

For everyone else looking at this post, I'm working on simply making the optics of the system look better. Not to drastically improve the rewards. Even if I would love for the rewards to be better for F2P too, I'm working under the assumption that CG won't want to do that because of their internal calculus on the value of everything.

With that said, these are the changes I'd make:

1.) With the exception of the Episode Pass Path, nothing is locked directly behind a paywall. To counteract this, make it so, if you have bought the Episode pass, then you get 2X or 3X the number of Episode Points per daily quest/GC feat completed (whatever the multiplication would be needed to equal the current reward amounts for Episode Pass holders). Inadvertently this would incentivize people to pick up the pass faster as, the earlier you get it in the month, the more quests with bonus points you'll be able to complete. 

2.) For the Character Quests, split it into two rewards per quest where 1 is for completing the quest that rewards say 100 EP and the other is for having the specified number of shards that'd get the remaining 400-1900 per quest. This way, bare minimum, f2p can still work towards the Part X completion rewards. Or, if CG really doesn't want to have a way to give f2p access to droid brains, reduce/remove the character shard requirements for at least Part 1 so anyone who unlocks the character can at least get the Zetas (or allow more free shards so f2P can finish tier 1 but I doubt they'd do this) 

3.) For Galactic Challenges, return the "Complete the Battle" feat and have the owning the Episode pass be the alternative of the "Complete with X Team" feat. Ie, for the current GC, You could complete the battle with Rebel Fighters OR own the Episode pass. Then it doesn't lock people out of a feat but still gives a bonus to Episode Pass holders especially when you add in the 2/3X modifier I mentioned from change 1. This also inadvertently assists those who buy the pass as well since, if they didn't have the required team to complete the mission, they could at least still get the points by buying the pass. Something in the current system they'd be locked out of so it's actually an additional incentive for people to buy the pass.

The new Marquee feat should be removed but, if they're adamant on keeping it, ideally have it so simply having the character at whatever star level is fine OR, if they want some advancement towards it, lock it behind gear level but whatever gear level they make for the final tier should be attainable with a 3 star character (ie. the final tier should be G11 at max since you need 7 stars for G12). F2P would already be having a harder challenge here since they'd essentially have to do the mission with a 4 squad and, even getting the character to G11 would require 150 of each Kyrotechs which is already a precious commodity so not everyone would even want/could gear up that high however, it's at least possible for f2p to do so. The gear levels I'd say per tier would be the same gear level as the tier itself  + 1(tier 1 = G2, tier 2 = G3..... Tier 10 = G11)

4.) For the Free path of the Episode path, front load it with the episode currency. Even if the total amount awarded is the same. The reason why is because by the time you reach reward lvl 6, under the current system, you will have only gotten 5000 EC. The next EC reward isn't until lvl 11. Just to get the three omnis from the store it'll take 4800 EC so you have to reach lvl 6 within a week to get all the omnis before the store refreshes or you end up with fewer than the old system. The chance of ftp reaching lvl 11 is basically unobtainable from what I can see. Even just swapping the 2500 EC from lvl 1 with the final tier of 6k would likely resolve this. 

5.) With the current information on the Episode Quest page, I'm fine with it as is as long as all the F2P quests that get revealed are complete-able f2p by even new players with small rosters. Until we can see all the quests I can't properly judge this. Giving the Episode Pass holders the extra quests here are fine since they aren't required to complete the Chapter

6.) If someone signs in every day and completes all their daily missions plus all the F2P Episode quests (which, by point 5, should be possible by any player regardless of progression) then they should be able to complete the Free Episode path with just these rewards. Any rewards from the Character Quests or GC should be work towards the bonus crates. Based on math that others did, it seems F2P can earn 3 bonus crates per Episode with the current system. CG can either increase the number of EC needed to earn each individual bonus crate (this would determine the multiplication the Pass holders would need so they earn the same number of bonus crates as they would in the current system) or, ideally, increase what the rewards in the bonus crates are. Even if it's just another form of currency that's used in another store (my idea is just double up with the new currency for the Loyalty program and whatever that entails or the GL token store to help get older conquest characters up to speed rather than another completely unique currency). The F2P would still be getting far fewer bonus crates than the paying players but it's shown as them missing bonuses rather than being left out of actual content which is more appealing. 

I'm open to feedback on these proposed changes if anyone spots any flaws in what I'm suggesting