Because they selected a number, and were unhappy with the result after a period of time. It’s relevant that they made other changes to the game during this time, but each change implemented is an obvious, and low friction, time to consider whether or not to re-balance related activities.
At each turning point the only “mistake” may have been not fully considering the dedication of users who don’t want to pay. To be honest some changes may have added more or less to the prevailing problem, a growing imbalance. It doesn’t matter to me.
If the game needs adjusting, it’s fair to say "a balancing error has crept in " in my opinion, and correct it when it’s identified. As you indicate I would expect a mistake to be fixed in a timely manner once identified. I would not expect normal gameplay to be announced retroactively as an exploit.
An attempt to point the finger at the few hungry and enterprising individuals who used (in my opinion) obviously exploitative behavior to take advantage of this balancing error are a separate issue.
Was there a balancing error, either wholly made at once or which crept in over time?
Or is this a case of all players being ‘punished’ for all time to avoid removing a troublesome group of players who pushed the limits of the game balance for some leaderboard style fun on the discord/forums?
Still 100% supporting James’ statement that this isn’t cubit driven, the involved players are more than happy to tell you they have been doing this because “it’s the best way to get cubits”.
Maybe the ‘mistake’ was tying plots/cubits to level progression. It’s hard to tell because it seems like there are a lot of closely knit people involved and threads seeking to clarify specifically any aspect of the issue, what ‘the issue’ really is Or what “the developers” really want (their design intent) are crushed under the volume of people either
a) defending the “exploit” AND / OR the “exploitative behavior”
or
b) offering a range of suggestions form the very shrewd to the completely ridiculous for things that amount to “a less hurtful nerf”.
I’m literally standing here right now, a frustrated “former” QA analyst. I quote the word “former” because honestly, you never quit.
The issues here go beyond product QA though. These are social issues that begin with the “corporate culture” and follow through to “Community management” (AKA managing expectations).
Boundless has been my “current hobby” for a while but right now, much like cooking charcoal for experience, the future of that situation looks like it could change.