Have you ever played Clash of Clans at high level?
The grind is soul destroying and is very similar to that experienced in GoH purple grind, the only real difference is you hit it quicker in GoH than in Clash.
However, I agree with you on early game small purchases, GoH is terrible in this respect. In clash spending a few pennies to get the extra builders is extremely valuable as it increases your long term productivity. GOH does not have anything like this apart from the lesser spotted Dooku pack, which is long gone.
I think the devs could learn a lot from other mobile games in this regard. The recent crystal "sub" pricing was a joke and th RNG from packs is a massive turn off for most low level spenders.
This game needs attractive purchases in the 5-10$€£ range that at more than just a pack of crystals. The recent discounted XP pack was a good start, but there is nothing to appeal to low level spenders right now and there are a lot of us who would spend a few pennies on the game but have no desire to do so with the current offers.
Without the smaller fish, the whales starve.
