Greetings! I am F2P for about 3 years now. I used to be pretty “hardcore” about my playing with making sure energy was used, running an alliance, and general keeping up with the Jones’.
I am in the same boat to some degree. I have no special event, S2, or S3 5’s but have managed 4 HotM’s. Still missing a few vanillas 5’s as my TC20 thinks I need an absurd number copies of certain ones 
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About a year ago I took a drastic step back in my play time. I set a timer so I can track my daily limit, quit being in an alliance for a time, etc. At first it was tough and felt I was “missing” things. Eventually I leveled out and found I could really enjoy the game just a more healthy level for me in terms of time commitment, etc.
I rejoined an alliance as a normal member. It is fairly casual. I rarely do wars but hit titans and generate enough mats that way. I also enjoy hitting titans. I raid when I feel like it, don’t when I don’t feel like it. I only play events and quests I feel like. Basically I use the game as a mild time killer and play the parts I like when I feel like it.
Once I got over the feeling to “compete” and just did it to compete with myself I enjoyed it. I also make my own challenges. For example I have done a full circuit of the emblem quests with vanilla only heroes and a circuit with 4* only heroes. When I do seasonal events I will try 4* only or make up other rules that I would think make it fun or more challenging. Last ToL I made a rule to not use any one of my top 5 heroes … and it was fun.
The lack of “needing” to be in diamond means I can try whatever weird team combinations I want to raid teams. Doesn’t matter what my trophies are, try whatever, whenever. Plus, let’s face it, the difference in loot from platinum or diamond is marginal.
Going at my own pace as a F2P also became more enjoyable because given the power creep and current meta it is almost impossible to be a F2P who doesn’t commit a HUGE amount of time daily to keep up anymore. A combination of not chasing that goal and the goal being out of reach anyway made it easy. Even being P2P can take massive time commitments these days.
I also found some like minded people both in my alliance and on the forum to talk F2P stuff. Basically you avoid getting answers of “just use X combination of hard to get heroes” or “hold your mats forever until you get impossible to get hero X”. Here is a thread with a bunch of us, all are welcome:
Everyone is different and plays for different reasons. Playing all the time is certainly not anything “bad”. It is truest a case by case basis with how each player wants to prioritize their own time. Hope it helps and hope you find joy in the game somehow still. If you can’t, it’s a game. If it’s not fun, move on.
Good luck out there!
