It's not like we change things on a whim because it lets us use a shiny new toy and we say everyone just has to deal with it! We're always worrying about not changing things too much such that existing users will be lost - that's why we test our designs constantly with real users! But we know that no matter what we do there will always be an initial backlash to any redesign before people learn how the new stuff works.
Also, can I say how insulting it is to see the genuinely bad corporate decisions like adding microtransactions or revoking old software purchases get lumped in with the work that us design laypeople do? As if they're all coming from the same corporate hive mind just fixated on making your software more annoying to use? Give me a break, we're just as subject to the whims of capitalists as you are, we don't have the power to refuse until we can get a real union in our field. So don't shoot the messenger, we're trying our best to minimize those terrible decisions just like you're trying your best to ignore them.
I do appreciate the frustration, but I can also say with utter confidence that I am speaking from experience when I say, yes, sometimes changes do happen for no good reason.
I and my designer friends have absolutely spent many hours building features or UI changes that existed entirely because someone in management got a wild hair up their ass. I have been asked to break things that weren't broken, ship things that weren't shippable, add features no one asked for, and I have no doubt I will continue to be for as long as software design is driven by management and capital and not by people actually wanting to make good software.
This is also though why I think people should pause before being shitty to designers and engineers. Sadly, we're often not the ones calling the shots.
