young niche
If you're going to keep skills in the game; I don't think it's very balanced to allow people who spend more money on the game to get the meta skills way earlier than people who have to wait and grind by playing for free. Have this be the one big thing in the game besides banners, wrenches, etc. that isn't able to be bought with real world money, but is strictly tied to account level/how long you play. That way, as you rank up to higher difficulties through playing longer, everyone is on the same playing field as you go with what skills they have access to. This feels like a major oversight in regards to game balancing and I'm sure you could refund the people who bought skill stars if this sort of change is implemented soon. **Having core gameplay element unlocks be able to be skipped by paying IRL money just feels wrong to me and I'm sure many others. **
I would like to see this game succeed and flourish, it's a fun concept and I've had a lot of fun playing it with my friends, but y'all really need to at least change this at the bare minimum if this game is going to stay alive and healthy for the long-term. Keep the super pricey skins and everything else, I know it has to make return on investment and then some to justify server costs, updates, maintenance, etc. Keep all of that in, but also please reword what you meant by bonuses and skin effects (as well as the chao effects) so people don't keep peddling misinformation because they only look at things from a surface glance. Keep the gacha and whatever else to make your money back and more, I'm being realistic here, but PLEASE don't let core gameplay mechanics be a pay-to-win system. 
ebon quail