on your point abour Valorant skins being universal - I agree with you on that it is a nice point! but are they worth $25 even though you get more bang for your buck?
in ow2 you can get the battle pass (BP) for free or half the price the next season in Valorant you can’t. I cannot speak for apex or fortnight but I can for Paladins as I have spent money and have grinded on it.
Paladin’s has had lots of different versions of bp and now it follows an event pass system - its is considerably shorter and has less rewards - you earn only 2 skins and 2 recolours - thats it! However the only thing i like aboult it is that you can spend $20 and get the entire pass unlocked - that is fair when ow2 would only give you 20 levels.
In the old days if you bought the bp then the game gave you enough crystals for you to unlock the next battle pass .(However the grind was a complete mess - ow2 is so much fairer)
after awhile Paladins devs stopped giving you cystals so that you could no longer unlock then next bp as it did not make them enough money! So I dont think ow2 is that bad as people make it out to be - do you see my point?
Paladins does give on Premium skin and some crystals for free but when you look at the entire package ow2 still is not that bad imo