I understand the OP in an absolute sense. Meaning starting from zero on everything, this isn't as bad as the others. But I look at it from a different perspective.
I think of myself as a beer-money dolphin or a small whale. I bought the 4* packs, and even whaled out on Bastila and had her 7* before this was announced. Then I started max-farming all of the the OR characters the minute they dropped, including the first regular energy refresh on Z/Jolee, and 3x100 refreshes on cantina for T3/Mission. In other words, I was AGGRESSIVELY farming them from the start, and arguably still whaling out on them already because of all the refreshes.
When this was announced, I was at 0/65 on T3, 47/85 on Jolee, 54/85 pm Zaalbar, 62/85 on Mission, and done with Bastila.
The difference between this event and the others is that it is MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to be ready without a considerable spend. I'm probably going to drop another $150+ to get them done between the packs, high cost refreshes, and the extra shards I have to buy to get there. That doesn't count my prior whaling on Bastila - which is fine, because that was my choice. But it means this expense is really just for 4 of the 5. I'm dropping gear only on them, but it won't get me far by then, so add more $$$ if my g9-ish team (except g12 Bastila) can't get it done.
That's the difference between this event and the others. It can NOT be done, no matter how thoughtful or planful you were, without spending. That is a straight up pay-wall, and a line they had not previously crossed.
