Then I don't really see why are you trying to excuse it to begin with? Yeah sure, they need the money to continue shipping out stages and characters for free, but that does not explain how or why they are trying to make limited runs cost so damn much. That is sleazy, that cannot be said enough nor can it not be refuted.
Is it better than how Koei Tecmo does with Dead or Alive 5? Yes...in certain cases. We ALSO get stages for free, but we don't get the characters for free. We have to go buy costumes no matter what, but in Overwatch, you either need to buy alot of Loot boxes and hope for the best, or get enough coins or dupes in the process to get what you want. It's just as much as a messed up system that you are trying to sweep under the rug as DOA's. The difference is that if you play Overwatch enough, you can offset easily how much coin you have before each event now compared to a beginner.
We
did get stages for free. We don't currently. We also
did get costumes for free (first DLC pack), but don't currently.
And no, you don't "have to go buy costumes." Again, you can get them for
free (don't confuse using in-game currency which can be acquired in-game for free as synonymous with using real cash). Does that require playing the game? Yeah. Sorta like conventional unlocks work. "Oh, but in conventional unlocks they weren't limited time only!" Yeah, but in conventional unlocks of the olden days you also didn't get new content added into your game for free indefinitely either. The launch was basically it, save expansion packs and maybe bug fix patches.
Does it suck that they're limited-time? Sure. It is fucking rad that nothing requires purchases with real money? Yes.
If your complaint is that newbies can't get free shit because they haven't grinded enough to make an abundance of coins, I'm unsympathetic. The game was like 33% off for the Holiday sale, so if you're a newbie you could easily use the money you saved from the sale to buy a loot box pack and make some quick coin before the event ends, and still get the base game + special holiday content for the price of the base game alone. If you're not a newbie and just don't play much, you get to buy
less stuff without paying actual money. Tough shit.
I'm not sweeping anything under the rug. I just think you're acting a bit entitled if your first response to being given free loot boxes is that it "doesn't make up for" a free costume you didn't like.