I’m so stingy I barely bother with VIP. 
In terms of expenditure on free to play games I’m generally of the thought that if I get enough enjoyment and entertainment from it, then I would be willing to spend something on it as a ‘thank you’ of sorts to the devs. Or at least I hope they get a cut of those microtransactions as the likelihood is it’ll just be in the publisher’s pocket.
Overall, I have spent more on E&P than any other game. But I don’t spend to get heroes; that is what we call “a mug’s game” in my neck of the woods. 
To date I’ve bought two 30-day VIP passes (one being the Christmas deal), and the alliance gems offer. The latter is more likely to entice me to spend than anything else in the game because my alliance mates can benefit from it, especially if they are free to play.
How much an individual is willing to spend is, of course, their choice.
But what concerns me is some are under the illusion they spend to get what they want, and never quite overcome that and become frustrated as a result (with respect to summons). The transaction model just isn’t designed that way.
Now if those questions are for me to answer…
I don’t play to compete with anyone. I play to have fun. As such I’m not so fussed about winning and losing against other people’s teams.
And since I rarely ever spend money on the game, and even when I do it’s not the explicit reason of buying a new hero, there is no worth or regret. In a sense the way I do spend could probably be likened to a tip (but not a compulsory tip like some places might have).
That said, I’ve only ever used gems for one 10-pull during my two? years playing the game, and that was soon after I saved enough of them for it. I think I got Richard from that. But I’ve never used gems for summons since.
Keep in mind the modal operator of “If” at the start of the sentence you quoted. It’s a hypothetical situation if I were to start a new game after leaving E&P.
I wouldn’t even consider spending money on purchasing ascension materials. I’m just too stingy.
Much of my spending habits on mobile games is formed by one of the earliest games I played. It had lower pull rates for the top tier heroes, but the game mechanics were unlike anything else I had played and I enjoyed it a lot. And one day they just shut the servers down. The game was gone.
In this day of digital entertainment and media we as customers own nothing. We only seem to have permission to access it in the vast majority of cases, and even that access could be withdrawn for whatever reason.
As such, I agree that free to play or cheap to play is the way to go. It also needs to be coupled with an understanding of the limits of what it will get you. Set those expectations at the right level, then it’s possible to get a lot of enjoyment and entertainment for a very little price.
But as a final additional point. If a game has ads like E&P, then the publisher has a revenue stream which I anticipate to be fairly steady, so doesn’t need as much purchases to keep them going. Contrast this to a game which has no ads but only items to purchase.
Apologies for the waffles…
it was just to enforce my examples.
I’ve been playing for two years also, I’ve done like three 10-pulls (all horrible, by the way xD just got a HotM a year ago).
because suddenly the boards have completely dried up on me.
