this game is not necessarily play to win, as long as you're familiar with what you're doing you should be fine.
those who pay have more chances of becoming stronger, yes, but doesn't mean f2p players can't be good c;
there probably will be in future because the cn version which is ahead has their skills modified, but the time for that change is unknown. also changes to characters will influence all players, so it has very little correlation with whether you're f2p or/p2p