The problem comes when ppl are obsessed over a "meta". At one point it was mabui mei 1010, then it was han, roshi cancer, now its the deidara cancer / itachi shisui "meta". You dont see CN servers being obsessed over a "meta" (granted they have many more skillbreaks / events and what not - but nobody feels compelled to follow a meta)

lol , they are affordable by ppl who were really long into the game or p2ws . The game is just as stingy on CN servers as for the NA servers

Well then everything basically comes down to power - not necessarily metas. My friend is a pure f2p. And like most f2ps who got screwed over by the game - he didnt have mei for the longest time (he pulled a mei just two months ago) and he is around 95k - ish power . NOt once did he use a meta lineup - in fact he used a kisame (normal 5* version) , pakura / mei , windmain and kurenai to own around rank 98 in space time :)

Case in point - focus on power/init/tactics rather than metas

Ohh and btw ... I dont run a "meta" either. I run roshi, utakata, windmain, bee SST with King of hell (which I exchanged all my lvl 6 - lvl 7 runes and lost 5k power) to get him :)