Sorry, I don’t think you did.
Conquest Hard mode rewards roster depth, kit knowledge and to some extent the ability to use crystals earned from other game modes to refresh energy.
Smaller accounts that have relatively recently become eligible for Conquest Hard mode taking longer to unlock Conquest units is not a F2P / P2P thing. There will be thousands of F2P who are unlocking the new conquest unit after 3 conquests every single time.
Full disclosure: for a while I was buying the Conquest Pass, but for the previous 2 conquest units I did not buy it at all.