I really don’t understand this whole “FTP vs. PTW” mentality.
This game is designed with a certain rate of progression in mind. New content is released on a cadence that matches that. And to keep up with that cadence is totally possible ftp. It means accepting that you will not complete all new content on day 1 - it may take several months. Maybe a year. But that’s the pace that the game is set to anyway. The Sith raid is pretty achievable for most players by now, although many couldn’t beat it at launch. And we still don’t have a new raid, so there is more time to “catch up”.
It’s a matter of perspective and how you define your goals. If your goal is to immediately beat people who are going through money like it’s water - then you need to accept that you won’t be able to do that immediately. Any other expectation wouldn’t make sense. Those big spenders are, by definition, spending big money to beat the newest content immediately - much quicker than is intended. Of course the average player can’t expect to match that without spending similar amounts of money. So what? Why are they your yardstick?
Also, $100 a month is pretty high. I’ve spent around $100-200 / YEAR and I easily take top ranks in arenas and stay competitive with the biggest whales in my guild. It’s just about priorities. I’ve had to skip several “luxury” teams along the way and focus on the more important ones. My CLS and Rey teams still don’t have every zeta applied - but I always have some zetas available for when a new meta comes along, enough to remain at the top of the arenas. Same with the tough to acquire gear pieces. I’d love to max out a clone team right now, but I can’t justify it yet. Instead I’m just finishing off my separatists first. I rarely come first in GA, usually I’m in the middle somewhere. That’s because I’m often outplayed. I started out coming in dead last because my strategy was bad. I got sick of that so I worked to improve my teams (especially mods) and to learn the right counters. This helped a lot, with a grand total cost of $0. And if I wanted to take the effort to re-mod constantly, I could further improve my ranks.
Point being: You need to choose attainable goals and work towards them. Or pay to get them immediately.