So, personal budgets aside, etc. (I myself am in the lower end of hobby budgets), here is a thought of the cost for 2.0. I am not saying it is not expensive, or even that I can afford it, I am just providing another way to understand cost:

Have you ever bought software (or these days, subscribed to it)? What are you getting? Back in the day, $0.02 of cardboard, and a $0.75 CD. These days, you don't even get that! I mean, you already have the computer, right? You already have the phone, right? How could that software possibly cost $50-$100!? (<-rhetorical sarcasm).

So what ARE you paying for with software? Development, research, testing, etc. Pretty much employee pay/labor/copyright.

You can look at 2.0 that way. Honestly, $50 for a ton of bases, a tooooon of cards, multiples of new cardboard for every ship, etc., in and of itself, is a good deal. But if you think that price is high, factor in paying for the employees, paying for R&D, etc. as well.

The real money grab is bumping up small ship cost $5 ?

Also, if you play one faction, core set + one conversion kit is $90. Plus it usually is a little under on Amazon/at FLGSs, so probably more like $80.

Still a lot, still money I don't have, but I will save it, because the gameplay fixes are amazing.