I realized as I was again futilely trying to find gumdrops that the game has become like playing the lottery. It's designed to give just enough payback to keep people trying, but overall we aren't going to be successful. We put out more money and play harder when we see others get the prize or even multiple prizes in some events. Yet I more often cannot finish despite the time I put in. It's become all luck with the odds getting worse so we will use gems, and the events on top of each other means we can't build back up and have more reason to buy gems.
There's a reason I don't buy lottery tickets, and I've about reached that point with playing FS2.