I am definitely not a whale, maybe a minnow based on historical spending (a few hundred a year - but I think $0 this year so far...). I do NOT expect to get characters and ships the first time they're offered (unless they unlock at lower than 7*).
But if I were a whale, I think I'd be pissed-off at so little notice for Malak event, even someone spending a lot of money may budget it over time, have already spent their $X for this month and suddenly, hey, you need to spend a lot more on one day's notice (or longer based on duration of event, but point is, may already have spent for the month).
However, as a low-spender or F2P I do expect to get things eventually. I'm top 100, sometimes top 50 in a launch arena so that's not bad, I now have JKR, etc. But the major reason I stopped spending was heroic Sith raid, and some gear XII only from that raid (or purchases). I think I spent a little last May 4th but probably not since then. Because I'm in a guild that can't do heroic Sith, and I don't want to have to change guilds to a hardcore one monitoring your life just to get one unit plus the best gear. Fine for it to be for whales for a while, but while Rancor and Tank eventually became easier either because raid easier or new units that could easily do better in the raid, not so for heroic Sith a year later (every time someone's found something that makes even one phase easier, gets nerfed).
