Balance wise I just hope that there isn't a vast difference between the top and bottom. Whether it happens in other games or not, Hilde to Maxi is too much. In an ideal world the best characters would be around Kilik/Amy level and the worst would be at Mitsurugi's level. That way even if a character is bottom tier they can compete just fine and the top tiers aren't too much to handle.
Patches should be free because it would come to the point where people are playing different games if some haven't downloaded the patch. New costumes, stages, bonus characters and such they can charge for. We should try our hardest to push for a better game.
But aside from all that as a community there is a lot that we need to do in preparation for a new game. We have to do everything we can to make the game more popular and attract new talent. We can try to help areas with no communities develop, try to expand the existing communities, be as welcoming as possible and try to make things very easy for new comers to grasp. I remember starting out I was so lost even though people were friendly it was hard.
Also we have to be a better community. We have to be unified and actually act as veterans to set an example for new comers. We have to stop fighting each other on every little thing and stop creating emotional warfare, it really is not helpful and causes people to leave. If we cant be civil with each other we can never grow. Having rational conversations about rules and such. Some matters should be handled in private because when we just put it out there it makes us look ridiculous as a community. We should learn from other communities, SF for example. Look how prosperous they've been. The game being naturally popular helps but the way they've organized themselves and handled things makes a huge difference.
We all love the game so lets be a better community for the game we all adore.