Days of future (meta) past

Personally i spent around 500€ in this game because i cound't get the character i wanted or i had an high pity rate,and i don't regret it as i used those money to support this game. At the time this was what i thought but if they continue to keep the powercreep i may rethink and not spend money anymore

mostly F2P (maybe 15 Bugs real cash and 20 from Google Survey app but that doesn't Count imo) sind Feb 2017
I did burn some rarer heroes to boost my favorites but e.g. still Holding on to nephenee with bad iv even though I want to fodder her Wrath away haha can't convince myself. But maybe with sacrificing my only Takumi soon.
But therefore I was very lucky on banner since last summer and got many Heroes I wanted.

Regarding your last question: Does someone really spend orbs on it? and even more run out of potions/crests? I have like 150 + in both all the time

As a F2P, I don't really know.
I tend to keep some units that I could use later one (Saber, Hawkeye for the refined weapon, spare seasonal units), but sometimes I failed to do (B!Ike for a A!Tiki) but it wasn't a bad choice.
The only bad choice I did was merging two bad IV B!Lyns to my neutral B!Lyn thinking about merging her in the future for a better one, that never came, and probably won't change the unit much.
When you're F2P you have to think a lot about what you do so there's less chance to errors.
The only hope for this anniversary is that they don't release a new (and more cute) green dragon since I've been investing on Fae lately.

im kinda disappointed in myself for spending only 25$, then it escalated to 150$ while pulling for the winter units:( i thought i could stay f2p but god this game was testing my patience

I'd have to say I'm a dolphin, balancing my purchases and RL priorities. I've foddered my only B!Ike for my Fae, and I don't regret it. I've never used orbs for stamina potions or dueling crests, but I have used them a couple times as Light Blessing in Voting Gauntlet. Only if a wicked high multipier was on the line though.

In the year I’ve played this game, I’ve only missed one day of playing and getting rewards, which was the day I got married in March last year (my wife would have killed me if I tried to play that day).

As far as the decisions I’ve made, I can’t say I have too many regrets. I never spent orbs on the arena or stamina early on.

I did spend one orb during the most recent VG because I had a 7.5 multiplier under Winter Lissa against Tharja and my team was 2 Winter Lissa and an adult tiki vs. 2 max merged Reinhardt and a Sigurd with heavy blade; I was not too happy with this past VG because I typically got the same team every time and faced off with a team built around countering mine in every way, but I did still end up getting around 9,000 feathers by the end of the VG.

I was and still am F2P. I like free gambling, and I don’t like the idea of spending money on something with no financial return, necessity, or long term benefit.

I made a few mistakes early on with sending some heroes home because I didn’t know they were going to be crucial fodder units (RIP Hinata) in the coming months, and messing with SI on a unit who really wasn’t worth it that I ended up foddering off anyway. No regrets on either end, because I think I did pretty good for being F2P. Everyone, including myself, seemed to have lucky streaks and horrible luck droughts, and I’m hoping that for everyone this is a better year in terms of luck.

Overall, I’ve foddered 10 5* units (soon to be 11 when I sacrifice my 5* Camilla) and each sacrifice made the benefitting unit much stronger. Absolutely 0 regret on being F2P and sacrificing a high number of 5* units.

I’m ready to see what this new year has in store for me.

Mostly F2P.

I've foddered a lot of 5* heroes: B!Ike, Neph, etc. I also foddered an Amelia for Slaying Axe pre-Weapon Refinery.

My luck in this game has been really consistently good: I have most of the units that I would like(seasonals included, most notably in the PA, Halloween, and Christmas banners), and I have a solid Arena core(+10 Nowi, +10 Fae, and +8 A!Tiki) that has taken me really far in terms of results.

I regret some of the choices I made(foddering ALL of my B!Ikes, foddering my only Amelia, Takumi(Gronnowl CC H!Henry)), but eh.

I've actually never spent any orbs on stam pots, crests, or Light's Blessings. Seeing as I never went for perfect/really high Arena scores until a few months ago, I have a lot of crests built up, and stam pots as well(I only have like three 9999 SP units).

Here's to another year of FEH!

Arena Armageddon? Huh?¿

I went from F2P to whale, but had just recently started reverting back to F2P status as of 2018. I spent over $2k in a span of 6 months.

It's not that I regret whaling (it was very fun actually), but weapon refinery has turned A LOT of common 4☆'s into amazing anti-meta units. It really changed my perspective towards new banners and helped me understand that I don't actually /need/ to keep pulling for the shiny new "powercreep" heroes that come out.

And honestly, once you hit max merge on at least 3 heroes with a specific niche (and a reliable dancer/support of course), it's easier to be disinterested in new releases simply because your current team is already pretty end-game.

Plus, when you've spent as much as I did (or more), you also end up with tons of pity-breakers. I have approximately 70 heroes right now. I have more than enough teams to do chain challenges and squad/arena assault.

.......TL;DR:
Being a whale is fun, but honestly you don't need to become one to be top tier, especially with weapon refinery. :^)

Im more dolphin to whale only when IS has a unit in a banner i really want which is rare. Winter and Dawn banners have been good to me and having about 220 troops on hold i can safely say i have some fodder or feathers when i need it. Meta really has no value to me cause it always changes so why follow it and waste sp :), and stamina pots and crests i rarely use but blessings i do use if a charecter ive work one dies somehow and thats progress wasted if you surrender.