Most likely your correct, they have always liked stacked odds.
Early adopters of new stuff pay loads. For the advantages they get.
Gree always fail to see the long term damage they do with this stuff.
Sure they will make money in the short term and to them it's a great new addition to the game.
Even if it was your first numbers, it sounds to much to me.
The only reason I started playing again was because of the new campaigns and emerald keys which allows access to game levelling items, it may not be the top stuff but it was close.
Now they do this and I think why bother, someone with the new commander upgrades and new items, most likely full personal boosts can destroy all I have in 15 minutes if they find my units.
Sure they will leave me my bases but they can destroy 2 weeks work. It isn't the end of the world but it's very annoying.

I will also say opening new worlds has always had negative effects on older worlds, and I listen to the beached whales in my world, they are not happy they feel the water beached them. There worlds dried up around them. they invested in the game and now there investments are not being rewarded.

At some point Gree your going to have to offer players a way forward, in these worlds.