Honestly, people got what they wanted so there is no reason to be mad at this point. I sort of had sympathy for other gamers, until EA buckled. Worse, they are handing out all the new content for free, so the microtransaction thing actually seemed like a nice compromise.
I mean, yeah, it was shifty, but honestly, the game took every bit of criticism about the first one and corrected it.
Pay to win did it in. Most people don't mind loot boxes unless that applies.
I still don't really get how it was pay to win. You get handed credits and crafting supplies to make what you want and upgrade it. You can also buy the loot boxes. Buying loot boxes basically only allows you to experiment with the stuff you didn't choose.
Before adjustments, it was something like 200 hours of play to grind up enough materials to upgrade a star card to max, versus a loot box. Not sure what the rate is now, but pay to win doesn't mean you can only pay to get the good equipment. It can also mean an unreasonably long grind versus being able to buy everything.
Well it's been adjusted quite a bit.
Honestly, though, I'm struggling to think of an online game that doesn't have a serious adjustment period when it comes to balance.