I just got sucked back into this game a few days ago. None of the people I used to play this with want to touch it again so I’ve been running solo. It’s still fun, but its not the same as slow rolling up to my buddies base in a cop car with the lights and sirens going with half of West Points zombies following behind me.
I understand where you’re coming from, and not to sound like a shill, but GGG has made their mtx about as non-onerous as possible. Stash tabs are the closest it gets to p2w, and you get plenty for free, with plenty of free QOL features.
Also, the ratios of real money to the premium currency are more than fair without any of the ‘oh no, you’re a buck short, better spend $25 to get this thing. And now you have almost enough to buy this other thing, better spend another $25us!’