There is no safe for RTS. The genre is too niche and varied (yes I know that's counter intuitive). StarCraft is already the safest formula but even then it's not. There's two very different games that really only share lore and some very minor mechanics. They could angle more towards Warcrafts style as it's unlikely they'll ever make another Warcraft RTS, but that's not a safe call either.
Making any RTS is a risk right now.
Because it's not new. Now how far along is it? IDK. Realistically a large feature like this would probably take a couple years development and a company should be thinking multiple years down the road. It's probable that they were planning a big switch up to reputation and rewards for years.
Spez freaking out and cancelling all 3PAs does feel like a spur of the moment decision though.