Why you should go F2P

Pretty much. I wouldn't mind spending money on this game (was actually thinking of buying the current orb pack), but I personally don't understand some of these hardcore whales. I mean, sure, go ahead and spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on this game to get your favorite units to +10 and what not, but where's the enjoyment? There really is no "I worked really hard for this unit" or "I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this unit" (at least not for the 5* exclusives).

It's just "Yeah, I payed for this unit."

Again, there's nothing wrong with it, I just don't get where the enjoyment comes from. What do you do in the meantime when you're not spending countless dollars on getting 5* exclusives? o.O'

grinding is not fun or engaging to me but your points are solid

Well it takes a while but I'm making great progress building up my dragon emblem. Nowi was my first 5*+10 and Fae is 3 more merges to go. Then of course I'll work on A!Tiki after. I am first and foremost a collector so I don't need to spend anything at all trying to make 5*+10 5*-exclusive units. There's no point for me at least. You play FEH the way you want to and that's the beauty of it. All I want to impart with others is that if you want to spend, spend wisely and responsibly. I have heard stories of people going into CC debt. Don't go there please.

I do find the monthly promos a good deal though and I spend for those. When you get a bundle of feathers, it helps speed up the process of merge projects or if you're a latecomer like me, sacred coins help you catch up on seal upgrades. I started playing when Ver.2 came out but I've comfortably caught up at this point.

Oh imma do that anyway.

Imma do that anyway cus’ that’s how i am

I've spent around ~$100 on this game, and I don't regret it. But I certainly won't spend much more. Your points are really solid. I've only been playing this game for maybe a month, but I find it really fun and have been rising the ranks of Arena +3 every week. The team I'm trying to build consists of Tiki (A), Nowi, and Raven. I've been grinding HM like a madman and it is so satisfying everytime I reach 20,000 feathers. GHB grinding with my free L!ike. Completely F2P.

I have been f2p the whole time since the beginning. Cause if I wanted to spend money I would have to ask my parents for permission.

Well, from the perspective of someone that tries to spend as little as possible (but doesnt mind spending on fave units) I have to say I kinda, and I mean kinda agree with you. The thing is that this game is based on hoarding orbs or buying them. I dont really see the negative with buying them, as there's no real problem with that. It's a matter of personal preference if you rather skip out on 4 months worth of units to potentially (and not even surely) get your fave unit that may or may not even be released. So some rather spend orbs in the moment instead of simply waiting for 4-5 months before dumping their orbs and getting, well nothing. This is a gaccha after all.

The whole when you finally get it it matters more is a personal preference. I know some whales who like to use money to make their fave characters better, and they have no issue, as most of their other hobbies are more introverted things that require less cash, so they use that hobby money on other stuff. I myself have bought a unit or two (I say bought, not really buying) and I can say that it still feels cool and great to get them.

Never running out of things to do is also a personal thing. I myself, semi whale or not always have something to do (well, if grinding for HM counts as something, then yeah) For a whale, I mostly imagine making wacky builds and lame units seem super cool with stupid builds fun, and I could see why, as it feels like an actual FE game (recent) where your builds define what you make.

Hating yourself for money spent ingame is a personal thing as well. I myself have never "hated" myself for the money I drop ingame. It's mindset based, as to whether you hate yourself later or not. If you accept that what you're using is for a game and that it's just that, a game, you'll be fine. if you expect immediate recompense, then that's why you're probably hating yourself .

And paying your way to T20 or getting this 5 orbs is still an accomplishment no matter the way you get there. Buying your way in only speeds up the proccess, letting you build your units faster. And you can't even 100% buy your way in, as it's a gaccha. You could get 100 raighs in a row and never see the light of day. Not to mention that orbs and feathers are still godsends. Even as a whale, the only way you'll get infinite orbs is by sacrificing all the units you don't use to send home, and even then it's not alot. Same can be said for orbs. Even a Whale runs out of orbs that he buys eventually, and those 5 orbs do add up to that next tally.

In short, I do agree that some of these things are applicable, if you have the same mindset or you have a predisposition to wanting to get there totally free (which is fine and dandy, if not about as challenging either way). The worth of the content, the length of the content and so on is still chosen by the player however, so these are all pick and chose as effectiveness and reasoning goes.

Whales help keep the game running and the content flowing, so they can right on rolling if that's how they wanna rock. You can't deny that amusement you get when they come up with wild teams in the Arena.
But yeah, I agree with your points. When the day comes that the servers shut down and the game is done, what're you gonna have to show for it? It's not like other games where you have something to keep when support is turned off. Not to say that that spending any money on it is wrong, if it helps you have fun in the now then that's great! Just don't put yourself in a bad financial situation for it! Take care, y'all. I'd hate to see you hurting over a mobile app.

Honestly? The only time I spend money in this game is when a unit I want shows up, or it’s the orb pack. I tend to use all my supplies I earn, and if I really feel the unit is worth the rng pain I’ll try hard and whale (for example, I would gladly spend the extra money to snipe for fodder for a unit I love, like Ryoma - I’ll sit there and snipe for Steady Breath because I care enough about Ryoma that I want him to be good).

Around 1-5 % people spending enough to keep the game survive and progress. So when you post something like this, most people will agree cuz they fill the 95-99% there.

Some people only play 30 mins a day or few times a week due to work/business, but they really love FE series (characters) and have money for it, why shouldnt they spend for their hobbies ? Just like you spend time, to most of them, time also is money.

Spending to ease the pain from pity breakers or the eager of having something you 've put in wishlist for much long time and still cant get. Funny skill builds, high ranking arena, lots merged heroes or some 1-hero-solo strategies are really interesting.

As long as it doesnt do harm to yourself or your family, just do what please you and kinda a quote like "Dont teach the rich how to spend money" lol.

I've probably spent about $20 on this game since release. I do the occasional $2 impulse buy (if I have enough play store credit) to get to 20 orbs before pulling. But those monthly promos. 60 more sacred seal coins? About the price of lunch, and it comes with 21 orbs? Yes please.

I don't like spending money on orbs for kicks and giggles because there's like a 95% chance it won't amount to much. The 3* Jakob, Hana, Bartre, Oboro, Niles, etc. pulls... Ugh. Feels like such a waste of money.

Interestingly, because of FE heroes, I actually went and bought FE7, FE8, and FE11 on virtual console. And I'm totally willing to shell out for FE15 DLC, which I plan to do after beating Thabes Labyrinth, letting the game rest, and then coming back for a replay. They've also guaranteed a FE16 sale, and every day I fight the temptation to go buy FE Warriors (not really enough time to play and I keep on having to remind myself that I burnt out on Musou like 10 years ago).

So they are getting me to part with money in ways that... You know... Don't involve gambling.