I 100% agree to what you say and it reflects my own journey. I have roughly 30k in CP and I consistently finish around 2000 in rating and stay in Silver 1. I have also bought old packs, new packs, strategic cards (hello Sand worm) etc.
I don't play more than what makes sense from a ECR perspective since I am conscious about the time (there is an alternative cost...) but still probably rakes in 50-60 chests in the new system per season (Daily focus included). The Ranked Rewards change was a huge improvement for me; it made it so much more rewarding (pun intended) to play and get to open a lot of chests. But the thing is, even with this type of reward the actual USD equivalent value is not even close to being able to re-invest in better decks. I think I got like 40 SPS or something last season. That is not even enough to by ONE (1) Riftwatcher pack. If I constantly need to inject real US$ in order to keep "earning" (40 SPS is like 3 USD) I dilute the return on my investment (excluding my time which also has value). That is not Play-to-earn, that is a ponzi scheme.
I am very disappointed in these types of suggestions because it ultimately points to a centralized system, a Rentier society if you will, where the "Rich" owns the assets and the players can rent or are encouraged into "scholarships"; i.e. employed by the asset owners to work/battle. As always things in life are fractal; so what you see here is the same as countless other societies. There are haves and there are have-nots. I started my Splinterlands journey thinking that you could in honesty earn in-game currency which could be re-invested without the cynical approach that you should perpetually be required to invest real-world money over and over again. I have happily committed some 500-1000 USD (including Land) to this because I liked the vision. Now, not so much anymore.