Paying players will always get things quicker than F2P players. Very few games offer only cosmetic purchases. The dragons are not locked behind a paywall, nor are the dragons so powerful that F2P players can’t beat them. These are some of the best troops in the game and are designed to take a while to obtain. I say this as someone who only crafted Chrys two weeks ago (I’ve not been doing much Underspire/PvP for a while now).
There’s a lot to be said for dupe protection, but apart from that, I have no issue with the current implementation, especially as dragonite has gotten easier to come by.
As someone who only uses Elementalist in Guild Wars (as I’m still leveling other classes), I disagree. Wand of Stars, when available, is the best weapon option in almost every instance, regardless of class. Don’t know that I’d say WoS is a PROBLEM per se, but I agree with the sentiment that dragon + WoS is used a lot more than most other builds in most gamemodes. I do think Elementalist is a problem and would love to either see other classes buffed or Elementalist nerfed.