I play since april this year and I am very active (though didn't rank) (kingdom lvl 132). I made sure to use all my vitality and BP. And it was fun because you were able to receive all the cards except the ranking cards. I bought some gems once in a while to build some buildings and I avoided summoning because reason. But over the time I have realised a few things. Nubee is one of the most greedy companies out there. There isn't a single update/feature that made the game more enjoyable(Only more cash dependant) and I really really hope they lose their fandom soon and that the few hundreds or thousand serious cash players lose interest in the game because they are the only few left. And ultimately NUBEE SHOULD GO BANKRUPT, though by now they probably have enough money to run the game for another 200 years without new players...
So current status of the game:
Ranking Reward: Is for very active players and probably requires also some cash. But I don't mind, Nubee needs a cash source after all. (I tried once, but ranking is not funny for me)
Witch Gate: turned out to be an absolute vitality and BP burner. This is not recommendable for free players if you want to fight there frequently. (My pile is shrinking really fast)
Limited Enemy: If I remember correctly, it used to be manageable. But the last 2 or 3 LE dropped extreme rarely. I just spent full vitality (243) and I encountered the LE twice. How can I hope for Frosty to drop? (skipped the AWs and WGs, I wonder if she appears in WG, too. Will find out next try...)
BP: FAW cost now. Nubee tries another way to make us throw cash at them. If they reverse it, it only means that they were too greedy and not that they care for us.
GUR/GSR: First of all, most of the GUR are summon cards, thus a feature for cash player. This also means, that cash player will have extremely strong cards (20k soldiers and 39999 attack/def...) and free players already have serious troubles to make an HUR team. The gamebalance shifted heavily, If you don't have GURs you will have serious trouble competeng with top players for ranking. By now if you suddenly decide to rank, good luck.
Then second of all: I spent hundreds, if not thousands of Vitality in WG for these awakening Items. And I now failed 5 times in a row to awaken cards (3 times Spade</3, 2 times Santa Oracle). I run out of shoes and BP. It requires cash again if you seriously want to GUR/GSR all your cards. (Or a lot more time than the two weeks from the event. Over the time you will fall back).
Generally receiving all event cards: Became closely to impossible to do so within the Event time. Thanks to Limited enemies and the GUR/GSR feature.
Summoning: Another cash source for Nubee. No further comments.
Alliance Ultimate Battle: What is exactly new? The constant Fever time that makes you think you have to constantly throw rods in, which costs again cash. Aside of that it is still awful for a lot of timezones and you now face 4 alliances at the same time which gives just more pressure to win. Nothing became easier and everything shouts "spend more cash, dumb customer". I gave up on the "free" UR and even the HSR a long time ago...
Maybe I forgot a few points. But all in all I don't feel like I can keep up with the game without cash. I feel like dropping back and being excluded from many features. I am angerd and upset. Nubee treats it's players like dirt, both freeplayers and cash players. The freeplayers can't enjoy the game anylonger and the cash player, it looks just like exploiting them. The amounts they spend are not in any relation to what they get (a few pictures). The same amount of money could save hundreds of villages in africa... So this game probably became only enjoyable for non-cashing casual players that don't care for collection or anything at all.
My final question to you: Who do you think is this game friendly and funny to?