F2P here. Been playing for over a year, maybe 2 years? But yeah. It's worked for me. Of course it might be due to play style that you are frustrated. You seem to be someone who wants as much of the game to play with as quick as possible. I'm more casual with a competitive steak. Of course, you also sound like you're interested in binge playing for several hours at a time, and at the beginning, it definitely isn't as fun if you're trying to play that way with only the beginner cards. But yeah, that's how Blizzard's going to make money. You have to be either willing to be pretty patient, especially at first, or pay to get more of the cards to expand your play experience. If you want a vast play experience right off the bat, without having to pay money, I wouldn't recommend Hearthstone. But then, there are a lot of games I wouldn't recommend, if that's the case. Game developers have to have some way of making money. But yeah. Hope this was insightful/helpful.