Great post.
I only got enough T5 mods to give one character and few to my other arena teams. Everything else is T1 or T2 (with a T3 or T4 in the mix).
I maxed out a couple of of T5 mods before the second patch. After the update I took my remaining T5 mods from level 12-13 to level 15. I had to buy two credit packs and complete GW to do it! I would guess it was around 1.5 mil mark.
That's way more expensive than if I had done it 12 hours earlier. Very frustrating.
I'm not sure I agree with you on the DPS not becoming anything other than a DPS.
I fought a Rey in the arena with over 50k health and protection. She also had a 47% accuracy mod.
By the end of three different fights my Dooku led team (or Lumi led) that Rey didn't miss a single shot and I only lasted long enough to take out ST Han on one round and drop her protection. ST Han only had 30k health + protection.
My GS modded is hitting 11k crit damage without offense up and my modded Rey is hitting 14k crit on her Leverage attack without offense up. I admit my mods aren't the best but that is insane damage (pre update) as my toons aren't maxed.