Those who have a bunch of badges should really invest in skill shards. They may release Trooper fragments for the much anticipated char that can be bought with badges but not a one shot Trooper Ed for 100k badges... think about it lol... keeps us playing of we only get 20 or so frags a week and need 200 to unlock him...
Seems like NF is also trying to increase purchases on the skill shard packs. I foresee a greater lack of ability to shard characters that require large amounts of them regardless of how they present these changes as some type of better way for endgamers or new players to level up chars or spend gold or ic. Purchase limits with in-game currency are intended to force us to spend real cash if we really want to progress. This is blatantly obvious, its why Sparton is giving us fair warning (best VH album btw).
The fact that they are making trooper purchases limited is a big kick to the balls of any player who has maintained a sense of obligation to help out their fellow gamers earn badges and redeem unlimited skill shards. The game is headed in the wrong direction. They said they would try not to but that only meant this p2p direction was inevitable.
"When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion"