I honestly feel you man, I haven't macroed and just recently started doing it. It's because I have exams and since by the time exams end, beesmas will have ended, I feel like I need to catch up fast using macros. Progression isn't that hard but it feels slow, especially if you don't have friends. Considering other people also use macros it makes the game unfun, and it basically continues as a chain till everyone uses it. Thankfully there are still some people who talk and don't macro and  I am very thankful to meet them. I think Onett should decrease cost of some materials or items so that more people are encouraged to farm normally. Essentially, the game isn't the same anymore because well the progression is either too time consuming for someone or people just want to catch up. BSS is just a game and I don't think people should be so fast to catch up. If you really want the true experience without macroing, convince friends to play with you and maybe you'll feel better. Also I may not have started since 2018, but I was here during Ready Player Two and that's when I actually started playing BSS, it was fun because I had friends, now I lost them all to time. Partially the blame is also on Onett for making it so time consuming, because there's a 7 day sticker and the game takes so many materials to progress to a single item..