I wish the new patch was on beta. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to announce it on the forums when it hits beta (assuming that it does).
It is a good thing to announce it now. This way people can stop using medals until the patch goes live.
One week before removing the lv4 chips became free I spent 800 Gems removing 4 chips. If I would have known ahead of time that it was coming I would not have done that.
The opinions expressed on this post are my own as a player, not as a Moderator.