Pay or not....JDB has proven (often) that he doesn't listen to the masses.
There are approximately 300 end-users at any given time yet he put in a poll up in the Beta league to vote if bleeding Beta should be released as 4.6
8 owners voted yes and he said "25% of 1 league seems like a majority vote" and released it.
That's despite the fact that approximately 12 seasons of data was available for Beta across 4 different leagues.
The data clearly demonstrated the passing game was broken. Yes, those leagues didn't have the majority of "elite" owners playing. The reason for that was the fact that the passing game was so "nerfed" that none of them wanted to play it.
Now that 4.6 has had a chance to evolve in every League and is played by every owner...the data remains mostly the same.
3,000 yards passing is the new 4,000 yards passing
4,000 yards passing is the new 5,000 yards passing
20 TD passes is the new 30 TD passes
30 TD passes is the new 40 TD passes
And of course a dozen players get 20+ sacks a season while teams consistently challenge the single season rushing record. 3,296 yards rushing is the team record held by the 2019 Baltimore Ravens which averages
206.0 rushing yards per game. The Ravens with Lamar Jackson broke a record from 1978 when New England rushed for 3,165 yards (197.8).
MFN-1 (15 GAMES)
Chicago 258.0 yards rushing per game
Cincinnati 220.8
MFN-2 (16 GAMES)
Houston 226.8
MFN-7 (12 GAMES)
Tampa Bay 242.3
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS (16 GAMES)
Settlers 217.4
XFL (15 GAMES)
Cincinnati 212.0
PFL (16 GAMES)
Hornets 259.6
Motors 224.6
Bearcats 210.9
Etc etc etc
I still play avidly and have 2 leagues I admin that have been around for over 20 seasons.
Personally I think 4.6 was pushed for release because some owners felt they couldn't compete versus the "elites" and thought 4.6 fixed all the exploits of 4.5
I have news for everyone, the "elites" not only still dominate but now the gap between "elite" and "very good" owners has widened! All the exploits of 4.5 still exist in some fashion but now a very good owner has even less chance to beat the elite owners.
So congratulations for making the game more boring with nerfed passing while making the game even more competitively unbalanced. If that was the goal, then pop the champagne!!!
Success!!!!