Removing the rest of the post because its a bit more complicated and just going to approach the core issue.So, with that sfw campaign gone and a third party having it’s hand in the project we kinda need to know how deep that goes. To what extent do backers still have an influence on the project? To what extent has this third party developer forced Helius' hand? Given the timeline, the statement it was to be accepted, and the sudden shift to a new model I think it's clear that some deal happened. How much has that influenced things?
From what I can see Helius has specific goals and the backers are able to influence things to a degree within a set framework, but ultimately Helius has a project Helius wants to realize. Helius has taken feedback but as for how much influences will impact things going forward it seems that polls and major changes are going to be off the table soon until the alpha rebuild goes live and makes significant progress since doing that plus taking even more changes with already limited progress would only serve to hurt the project, ex. Star Citizen. The last major poll is up and it will probably be some time into beta before Helius starts looking at more major feedback and polls.
I wouldn't be surprised if community response has some impact on the existing framework but in terms of features, design, and so forth I suspect it will be more subtle for many months going forward in its current state.
As for the deal prior mentioned? I don't know enough to comment too much on what Helius has done regarding their financials or deals. As far as I get in terms of impressions of the situation it seems like Helius has dominant control over the game and not some financial backer. I don't think the gacha is because of a deal but because Helius realized its valuable along with the content delivery season passes, though perhaps communications from those that offered such related deals may have educated and thus influenced Helius' regarding these concepts, but I could be wrong. Helius talks about tweaking the grinding rates and also allowing some automated grinding systems such as in Erotes so I don't think it will be too bad and is more of a system intended to extend the game's longevity. The multiplayer has some benefits for more complex systems, anti-piracy measures (to an extent), unique sex features for those who like it, while allowing you to set invisible if you want to disengage from the multiplayer aspect. I'm sure there is more I've missed on both the gacha model and multiplayer aspect which is kind of Helius fault for not better communicating objectives and reasoning for these two, but it may help set a frame of mind.