"OP, I don't want any of these people to have a say in how valuable crystals should be."
That's why I mentioned a fixed price with a backlog of sell orders. In that case, they would not have any say in the price, and no control over who buys them ;)
All else you said above is valid, and as a returning player I am enjoying the changes and the freebies to the max <3
The demographic I'm referring to covers 50% of the population, and the changes would ensure every new player will be a player for life. There's great power in numbers, and all big platforms incentivize: tik-tok, facebook, youtube, etc. You name it, they monetize it because they know it's the best way to attract and retain users, and it's all about the users. You take a billion worthless individuals, bring them all on a single platform and instantly, that platform is worth billions. It's pretty funny how that works and how few people acknowledge it.
EDIT: I might have been too lenient with my 50% estimation
"While there's no single statistic for the percentage of people in global debt, nearly everyone in the world carries some form of debt, with global debt exceeding $330 trillion (over 300% of world GDP), impacting governments, corporations, and households, with significant disparities between developed and developing nations. It's safe to say the vast majority of the 8+ billion people owe something, even if it's small, but the amount and burden vary drastically. "