The point of games like World of Tanks is to make money.

It's like junk food - you know it's bad for your health, but it's cheap, and it's tasty, so you keep eating it. Exercising moderation in eating it is the only thing you can do, and the producers gamble on customers NOT being able to exercise caution.

That is where the "layers of payment" come from. WG knows that most people don't whale like crazy, but they also know that a few do. And that is why they will never stop asking people for money, because some WILL give it to them.

I don't expect WG to do anything about the upcoming crew rework. They have done nothing about the HE nerfs which massively buffed hulldown tanks. They have done nothing about keeping heavy tanks, well, "heavy", yet the more competitive ones go as fast as mediums. They have done nothing about grossly overpowered trash like Chieftain because it was their aim to make them grossly overpowered from the start (to bait people into giving their all in clanwar and the like). And of course they have never done anything to address one of the biggest issues the game's had since its early days, which is premium ammo - sugarcoat how you want, even if it's for credits it's a pay2win mechanic.

And they will do nothing to address any of these, no matter how much some people on social media (us) cry about it.

Also, don't expect WG to cry when their game implodes (which is the fate of all freemiums). They'll just move on to the next project, like 90% of other game developers and publishers out there. We live in an era where microtransactions and gambling are widespread in games sold to grade school kids, you think these people care about the damage they are doing?