Not pointless Marrok! The game was fun and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it over the years. Now though...as you stated with the reworked GC system, I am in the same boat.
I think it now means that no amount of skill or strategy can overcome people who pay. Before, you could pay and be good, or you could actually be good and succeed. Now, there is no way for parity between groups. The likely effect will be less players, most of which pay for episode passes and such, and then the game will die because it wont be fun with such a limited number of players/guilds.
I think the price point is just too high. $40/month for a mobile game? and if you get the Marquee player during the episode where you can earn the rewards, what is like $200/month? Get real! It can only mean they are trying to kill the game so they can shut it down.