The system is all money related.
1) The cheaters who used a backdoor to obtain precious items instead of playing / working or paying for it. And even sell them on lootdog. This is all due to a harder graining system versus a player base who can't afford or will not pay for it in the same amount as before.
2) AW that's wanting to monetize the game more and more. Maybe due to the resigning of more and more (EU) player base. (See it in my friend list that a lot are hardly online anymore)
And both systems are enforcing them. AW wants money (think you have a point Zafir that it will be BC bundles maybe for a lesser price) and personally I see it also in the daily store, hardly get any substantial daily BC offers in the store if I compare this Battle path with the last one. And it is all because AW want you to spend money. Versus a player base who is seeing more and more economic problems coming on the horizon (energy crisis, war, economic crisis, refugee crisis etc.) and they are forced to cut down on their spending but want those Battle path items and fleeing in " incorrect behavior".
And personally, I think the amount of cheating we see is just a top of the iceberg. This BC cheating is in my personal believe just a small and simple plain item, who everyone agrees on and was (aside from some research in the system) easy to find / to act on.
In AW it is also an open nerve, just as in WoT were the " tin foiled hat" was about 2 years a major " non discussable item", who afterwards prove to be true. Simply because it interacts with the trust in the game from the "common majority of the player base" If they see how easy you can gain advantage with cheating versus the change of getting caught, they will or start to cheating also (aim mods in WoT) or if they will simply leave the game.
But trust is also something AW has to provide: For example, 1) How many players were involved 2) What was the punishment, 3) what was the ration EU / non-EU players / clans involved.
We don't hear anything. Asking it in AW Discord (One of the most toxic environments I have ever seen) only gets you " stupid / insulting reactions" from moderators who in common life, which such behavior, would have to leave companies within an hour (or less) due to misfunction.
So, if you as AW wants trust in your player base and earn a decent money, you have to treat the "common majority of the player base" with much more respect, not just as cash cows, drain them and don't care if they afterwards leave. And that brings us back that this is a system that is all money related. And there in nothing wrong with making money, but if you don't respect your costumers, don't be surprised if they don't behave correctly. It is an action /reaction system who is as old as the world.