Well, I bought like half the S1 characters then stopped playing SFV for a while (still on hold). I didn’t mind the grind. I just kept reminding myself I was getting it for free and I wasn’t gona spend a single dime on characters since capcom was offering them for free.
An option to get a character for free vs paying…I’ll always take the free route. Unless you make it some REALLY high grinding like “win 5 offline tournaments in a row without losing with at least 3 perfects.”