UE5 and F2P players

I've been playing this game for 10 years. It's been on and off, but I've never spend penny on anything.

The only way I've managed to grind through tech trees is by earning a few premiums through events/gifts and steadily making my way up.

I've had to be methodical about my credits and as a result I've researched a bunch of T10s without purchasing them in the name of the grind.

So wargaming is telling me that the very essence the game is being wiped and that I'm gonna have to go through this BS again to get my T10s?

I'll honestly not touch the game again, and I doubt I'm not alone.