It's an extremely expensive "game"
When i first played between 2017 september and january, i ended up withdrawing 50 dollar less compared to my deposits, and for that 50 dollar, i had 10 x AMD (as i remember they were 40 or 50 dollar per 10 stack when they were introduced) and got 100k+ skills, some defensive skill sure worth some ped.
So i would say i didnt loose a single ped, i just not withdraw everything, but if you just watch the fact's, 50 dollar less withdraw, for 5 month's, 10 dollar / month is not what i would call extremely expensive game.
I have wasted more in "free" games weekly on cosmetic's, pay2win stuff and lockboxes.
When i returned at 2019 august, started new avatar (old avatar terminated) and playing with a different playstyle.
Not rushing main skill to level up as fast as i can, instead leveling everything, laser, blp, pistol, mindforce, melee's.
2017- lvl40 and avoidance in 5 months.
2019- lvl40 and avoidance at 1 year.
So reaching the old avatar level's took 2,4x more time, but instead of just breaking even, this time i have more ped compared to how much i deposited.
I dont mind ofc, but goal is not to make profit, just to reach uber levels without loosing ped.
It can be extremely expensive, can be free, or can be profitable since the start based on how you play it.
So the game is not extremely expenisve, the way some plays it is what can be extremely expensive.
Crafting, mostly stayed away from it, but after the 0.01p shrap change, all the smaller try run's were promising, much better compared to what i remember from 2017, so as Darth Revan also recommended, i will go to Monria sooner or later to level up crafting skills a bit, than will do a bigger test with crafting the components and than the end stuff from my own hunting - mining loot.