Was this episode event situation necessary?

Having played for 9 years I think this whole episode event thing was a huge disaster and just another push towards a pay to play environment. I mean omicrons are harder to acquire unless you pay for an episode pass to unlock more of the currency when on average players could usually net 2 of them a week. Not to mention the new episode event shop has virtually nothing of value outside of omicrons and kyber salvage. The overall progression seems to have slowed due to poor or harder to access rewards benefiting only spenders willing to fork over the big bucks just to stay ahead.