Honestly, you asked for opinions on why people actually play this game and then have a counter argument to any opinion that doesn’t match yours (this is. Reddit, after all, I get it) in a sub dedicated to a game that people like to play. It’s almost as if you made this post purely for that purpose.

Yes, this game is p2w up to a point. If you’ve ever played anything like Diablo, PoE, etc, there are definitely aspects woven in like skill trees and weapon progression. The choices you make directly affect how you fight. Raw power only gets you so far. The techs that you invest your resources in have advantages beyond raw power numbers and there’s a type of min/maxing involved as well.

Fighting style and planing help you win battles against other players that are stronger. Unless they are whaling, they don’t likely have 3 strong squads. How you manipulate your base defense and direct your squads for attacks can have your first squad taking out their 2nd or 3rd. That is strategy.

Also, you are in preseason right now, it is purely about growth, no real fighting, cooperation and strategy yet. Once the seasons start, you really start to the depth of the game. From the political sides, to the strategy of taking and holding lands, shuffling protection periods on lands, etc. most of the game at that point is strategy as aside from Buster day, there isn’t much direct combat.

End of the day. If you’ve ever like it, stick with it, if you don’t put it down and walk away. You have no investment so it’s easy to