It wasn't rainbow and sunshine as you think. We didn't have Laby and PoP for earning steady resources. There were no daily promo kobans. No SM and CbC to catch missed girls easily. When we missed a girl, we had to wait for years. Club Champion was a shit show. It took multiple modifications and lots of convincing/protesting to get to what it is today. League earnings was less before the rebalancing. Unless you could win 1st on league which I couldn't, we f2p had to tighten the belt constantly. I had to save 3 months to get a mythic girl and there was no SP booster. 1500 CP to get a mythic was normal. I had to ignore LD until my 4th-5th year of playing. We had to prioritize just like you are today. We grind just as hard. Veterans by the definition have labored more on the game than the newer players. When planned carefully, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor as time goes by.