Hi, I was also an OG players too that just came out playing this game again at late 2019. The game is really rough if you start ro play it again because the grinding isn't the same as before. The game is not really p2w ish if you are really grinding the game well. I have my account for example.
This screenshot taken 7 month ago and this is my f2p account. As you can see I have potential being i higher ranks and compete with other players. I wouldn't really say this game is p2w just because you need to get premium item using real money, all you nees to do is just grind hard and maybe get some luck.
I have 2 account currently, a somewhat "p2w" account (I use real money to buy stuff) and a pure f2p account (that screenshot above). As you can see I don't really have to make a bunch of accounts just to get better stuffs, I just need to grind better and use my saved up tokens wisely.
Update takes time, we all are waiting for a new update from long time ago. But I believe the staff are doing something important first, I don't know how long but we just need to be patient.