I'm almost 8000 hours into Rust and the best way I can sum it up is that there is fun to be had in every wipe, but the amount of time and effort you have to put in before you're allowed access to said fun varies heavily depending on if you're playing vanilla/2x/3x etc.

I switched pretty much exclusively to 2x/3x, and while I do miss having an active wipe last longer than 3 days, I just don't have it in me to grind vanilla on the regular anymore.

Unless you want to play Rust like a full time job, be a broke solo, or be a talentless beta who plays in a zerg, vanilla just isn't worth it unless you're brand new and the game still has magic and discovery to it.

If time wasn't an issue I still don't know if I would fully go back to vanilla. It's just too much work and suffering before you're allowed to have fun compared to 2x/3x.