Oh no question and there is helpful information in this thread about the details and how this impacts people based on particular circumstances (e.g., domestic vs. ex-US). You just have to filter out a bunch of handwringing

IIRC, there were some material tweaks to the program after the first year of WOH to mitigate a number of particularly disliked rules, and we might see some of the same, but as you note the fundamental structural changes are unlikely to change.
The switch to WOH (with all new status levels and qualification standards) was extremely controversial. The change there was focused on status rather than redemption levels but in its way it was equally dramatic.