Negative Player progression

I am f2p and as such upgrading a character is important and so is my crystal income. I was so close to being top 200 and I was running gear 10 wedge lead, zylo g11, lando g11, biggs g10, And sthz g11. I decided to upgrade wedge and biggs I upgraded them to gear 11 and instead of seeing a positive player progression from this investment that would be the right thing to do to most people. I saw a drastic negative reprocesson. Almost instantly once upgrading them I saw a HUGE increase of g11-12 meta teams including chaze, jrt, gk barris, zmaul and the best cls. I know that people just got him and are gearing him up which explains his increase but why does it feel like I broke some protective barrier that was put in place to help me and but upgrading wedge and biggs I went from a f2p to a p2p sweaty shard? As a consumer I want to feel rewarded for progressing in the game and not punished. This leaves a sour taste in my mouth and frankly has made me think about quiting but I like my guild mates to much to quit even if it feels like everyone else is tiaking 3 steps forward and I’m taking two forward and one back.