I personally prefer the outfit lock. But I also don’t care about EPA, and I have only spent Fate on content and items that advance my character’s story rather than stats, and I have no desire to grind a ton for PP or the Cider.
I’m honestly glad the game has not stagnated under the "technical debt" of constantly having to give old content and old ways of doing things top priority. And I personally have not seen any gameplay loops that are now impossible or grueling due to outfit limitations (through I also don’t really care about my EPA and I have not yet seen all of the end-game content).
But I do feel bad for the people who have spent lots of Fate, and especially Memories of a Tale, on items for the express purpose of maxing out a single stat, as some of those purchases may no longer work for them (two expensive paid companions with single stat boosts, for example, are now incompatible for a heist).
One option to help paying players with this change, would be to allow one free Reset of their Memories of a Tale purchases. The cash spent will be the same, and it will give anyone who got screwed by the update a chance to re-optimize their hardest-to-make-up purchases.
The peril of free-to-play games is that money is on the line whenever gameplay changes are made. But a Memories of a Tale reset would help with little downside.
edited by Six Handed Merchant on 8/2/2020