exactly, removing collection power requirements also really hurt the card values. They should bring that back at least in wild. As for the values of new cards, it's just a temporary fix as you are sure to get crushed on them eventually.
The only reason so many new players came in the previous cycle was because of the crazy inflated earnings, it's hard to see that coming back and honestly, the only people I would advise to start playing the game now are real Collectible Card Game players who are ok with playing an hour each day and getting just part of their investment back in case they one day move on. This right now is basically the target audience which narrows things down like crazy.
Feels like a lot more changes are needed to fix everything and the rework of the ranked league feels like a solution to make everything more pay2win again so players again feel an urge to buy more cards once they reach a level where they get crushed by those who simply have way better cards. I liked the fact that there at least somewhat was a level playing field with the different leagues but that will be removed.
It's so frustrating because at the core Splinterlands is actually a really fun game with so much potential.