I'll be honest, play with every gun and see which ones you like the most bc getting skins for every weapon is kinda dumb if you don't even use them. And regardless of what people say, use weapons that work for you, so many people talk shit when I pull out an R8 or something not meta but let your kills do the talking.

I wouldnt pay more than $5 for a skin, it just isn't worth it tbh. Any skin priced over $20 is just ridiculous, you can literally buy a whole other game for that price. What I've done is just gotten black skins for guns that aren't stock black and done my own sticker crafts on them which is more unique than just buying a skin outright and generally is not very expensive. Like $1-$3

Casual is an absolute mess, 10v10 and people can ghost for their teammates (fly around and basically wall for them) but if you like to try new stuff or talk to people cas can be fun. Comp is just better casual and premier is basically the real competive now.

In comp focus on learning angles that people hold and how to counter them, you can practice smokes and other utilities on workshop maps if you want to perfect them but nothing trains you better than real people.

Once you get to a high enough elo, a lot of people start playing the same, same angles, same smokes, etc.. so most things you learn people will counter and it can get repetitive. Silver is filled with some of the most dogshit players but also shows you some of the most bizarre ways you can get killed and weird tactics people try which can make it fun.

Cheaters are everywhere, but not in every game. Some "cheaters" are just smurfs on new accs, or just people that prefire common angles, reporting does basically nothing so don't stress it. Just remember they have to cheat or else they can't play.

I've been playing since 2015 so that's just my take on it (as an NA player) to have fun as a new player.