Yeah, I couldn't believe it. I just started playing the game a little over a week ago, and my team is already really solid. I need to work on my weapons/Mystic Artes, of course, but I think I'm doing pretty well so far. It's even more pleasing that I haven't spent a cent yet, although I'd probably be willing if they offered bundles of some sort (it doesn't seem like they do or, at least, don't have any right now).Nice that it turned that way, now we both have rainbow leader. I did read horror stories similar to you from reddit that pulls gave 1 tix per pull with multiples multis done, so I was really lucky to grab 4 tix.
My new Higbie friends help me to clear Hard Soul Arena, trying to do it everytime I see those 177 & 157 rank players, the stuff you get there with points is so nice. Too bad I don't have any chances to get to 600k points (lucky if I get 50k).
Btw I think it might be good idea to start saving gems to summer gacha.
I'm working through Soul Arena too, in-between my quests. I'm kind of mixing it up, as Soul Arena takes A LOT of your stamina, and right now I'm trying to rank up so I don't waste so much when I'm unable to play and/or sleeping. I basically do Soul Arena when I'm in a hurry and need to burn stamina quick, or I'm near full stamina and about to level up. It's going pretty well so far, but I doubt I'll hit the 600k needed for the top prize. Next time, though!
As for saving, I definitely am. As mentioned, my team is already balanced (tile/blood booster, 2x delay arte, 3x vamp artes, 2>1 square tile change, etc.), so I can pick/choose the banners that best interest me.
I don't know if this is the "honeymoon period" for me or not, but damn I'm really enjoying this game. The story is decently-interesting too, which is nice to see, and with the abundance of free stones/constant events, as well as occasional G5 banners, I'll likely be with this one for a while. Maybe it'll finally give me reason to delete Naruto: UNB and Sword Art Online (I mostly just log in for freebies and that's it).