I think increasing the number of players who receive the tier 8 above will help mid-tier players keep up to an extent with the whales. I think instead of top 1% crap or something the devs designed, it only favors high spenders and leaves f2p and small spenders in the dust. Of course, I agree that whales deserve more since they are a good source of income but becoming stingy to non-whales just continues to accelerate whales too fast for other players. The way things are, the devs are only helping the top 100 secure their spots even more and prevent actual contesting for f2p versus whales. What if they made:
Top 10: tier 1
Top 50: tier 2
Top 100: Tier 3
Top 200: Tier 4
Top 300: Tier 5
Top 400: Tier 6
Top 500: Tier 7
-and so on-
That would've meant a good number of end game players would've gotten the Cass, instead of just the top 100. It's not as if the top 100 needed more help but instead, the devs only help them get way more ahead which further cripples mid players. This game really was so good before but after this game got a little famous, it seems the objective has clearly steered with money as priority above all else. It should've been what helps a lot of players, not just whales.