The reason premium relics are upsetting so many people

There are several major methods of progression in the game: coins, stones, cards/slots, labs, modules, relics, bots, and keys. Most of them are not possible to 'catch up' on or require thousands of dollars to do so. You used to be able to catch up on cards/slots but with masteries in place, that is no longer the case because of stones/coins/labs required. Relics were the last impactful thing that you could theoretically catch up on. You could do so by either spending money or destroying your bot progression for about a year.

So, after many chose to destroy their bot progression for a year in an effort to catch up on relics, we now have what is essentially a $400/year subscription fee to continue to keep up with that. If the fee is not paid, then relics will realistically never be caught up on. Yes, there is a vague promise of a later catch-up mechanic, but history has shone us that it comes with a steep cost. I was 6 months away from being caught up on relics and now that isn't going to happen.

I wish I hadn't bought most of the relics that I did - many of them are of questionable value, but I bought them at the time - specifically - to have at least one area that I wasn't at a permanent disadvantage in and I did so by essentially turning off bot progression for a year.

I'm sure the devs didn't want this to feel like a bait-and-switch situation, but that is exactly how it feels right now. Many, including the devs, seem baffled by the pushback on this specific issue, so I thought I would try to explain. Making the free relics be much less desirable than the paid relics in the first event was obvious and predictable but also more irritating.