Seriously all they need to do if they want cores to stay is lower the cost to masterwork.
Instead of the extreme progressive tax they should lower it to 1 core per upgrade and the community would be satisfied, given everything else stays the same.
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They've had 4 years of a feedback forum and tracking other sites like reddit. They held an emergency summit last year to figure out why the game was so derailed. Now they need another one. Yes, I'd say they're out of touch.