This is crap. Not really a progression system the biggest messiest level get you to unlock everything? Sucks if true.
I love unlockables in games and I didn't see the original method as a negative, I'd prefer a progression system, but I'd rather have everything unlocked from the beginning that this method. This is the reason people didn't mind the 9 day wait.
'Cheating' the system to get all stuff seems like a pretty bad alternative IMO.
It's still a progression system, you have to place the new tools you get down, you cant just spam the beginning block and unlock everything in 1 minute. That's better imo since it actually forces you to place stuff down instead of idling for 15 minutes.
People didn't mind the 9 day wait because they could just cheat and get it instantly, not sure what you're trying to say there.