They did shake up the economy but it was nothing serious. There were a bunch of cry babies like this on Reddit and discord.
At the end of the day you only need Blood Bonds to buy some legendary weapons/hunter/tool skins which are purely cosmetic and have nothing to do with the main game loop.
Some skins/cosmetics can also be earned in game without using premium currency.
I bought most DLC and blood bond skins because they cool and I want to support a game I love
2400 hours of fun for the €20 I paid for Hunt is damn good value
Hunt Showdown is on offer at the moment. It’s quite a learning curve but once you get the hang of it it’s fantastic. I’ve clocked 2.4k hours and it’s still got me hooked