TBF, it does seem in some ways that this update takes an advantage away from whales. F2p probably never paid attention to marquee kits because they were waiting months to farm them anyway. For people who could max right away, that advantage seems to be gone, so this update may feel like a loss in functionality. Seems like the opposite of things like relic delta.
Part of it is I think, yes, they want to milk more cash out of the 0.5% who will just throw money at the game without thinking. The other part is that I think they genuinely want more people to engage in content without sitting on it--whivh I'm not sure is happening because you see people who are still sitting on level 5 Lukes even though they lose more by not levelling (and this is fine by me, as I can earn a little bit more in coliseum). Also, there really isn't much content to actually engage in. If it didn't feel so stonewally and there were more modes to help distract from the circular nature of the progression, I think people would be less put out.