Can't remember the last time I bought any addies, so makes no difference to me, just like most high level players. Looks more like a plan to try and get more newbies to buy for gems, so BB can make more cash rather than fix any genuine issues.
Would much rather BB concentrate on sorting out these weeklies, so there is more variation, rather than force players down a path they don't want to go doing addies to get those required by weeklies. No one wants to do WW, so we all struggle to complete that one. had 1 person in 3 nights actually want to do it, but after 3 hours of trying to find others, we gave up.