@Mithran Beat me to the punch for a very well executed break down of what I see here in Raid Mode, but I will add these tidbits for whatever they are worth.
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For those of you who are complaining that this mode is P2W…, while I can’t disagree exactly, RELAX! What exactly are they “winning”? The pay IN for reward OUT is sooo out of balance that if somebody is foolish enough to blow gems on it, go for it, or if they are so wealthy that they can buy gems to that extent… please PM, cause I have student loans and medical bills and I can help you put that money to REALLY good use. Just be grateful that modes like GW where there IS a big payout in GEMS is NOT P2W in the slightest. And for that matter any of the FREE modes of gem generation are neither gated, “energy mechaniced”, or P2W exclusive. So, chill…
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For full disclosure, today I went to Tier IV, probably wont do it again, but I only needed 7 Arcanes to unlock all traits and since it is the Premiere of the Mode I figured, why not. This had me starting with 13 Sigils. I beat Minion 1 and Boss 1, Minion 2 and Boss 2, and I did one Boss Raid against Zuul Goth, for an expenditure of 11 sigils. When I stopped because I HAD to get to work, I was more than shocked to find that I had 15 sigils remaining! The Valravens drop with enough regularity so far that it seems possible to get a decent amount of battles without having to go to far into the shop. (Buying Tiers)
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I have said this so many times, I know some of you will be able to say it with me, but I think the TRUE issue is that the VALUE of Gems is so different between the player and dev mentality.
Here it is from the Horse’s mouth. Now, to be fair, I spent 500 gems and received 6 copies of an Epic troop, a unique weapon, and 8 arcanes, plus other fluff. (which the devs value very much 
) Which again, in an effort to be fair is pretty reasonable return on a 500 gem investment, especially for a collector like myself.
THAT BEING SAID…
The issue lies in the nerf to LTs and the removal of gems from a year ago. We have now reached a point where the rate of acquisition is so limited and the rate of expenditure so accelerated that there is an inarguable gap and disparity. Again, the argument must be made that this IS their PREMIUM currency and there probably needed to be some disparity as the gem hoarding days of years gone by were ludicrous. BUT, now I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.
And whether intended or not, when Free to Play members begin to see the gap widening INDEFINITELY… they don’t become Pay to Play members they become EX members.
Be careful devs! You may have unintentionally gone too far… 