i know! i got pulled into Business Stuff friday as well (was supposed to be free)—but was also having phone and wifi issues even when i wasn't in meetings (during the flight in, AT&T thought i was traveling internationally for some reason and put my phone/text/data on international roaming! still trying to sort that out. plus, the wifi at the inn at the presidio was only allowing me to load up google/gmail!).
in any case: next time for sure. i'm in SF about 2-4x/year.
the more i back away from this, the less i'm upset or miffed about it. it just becomes very clear that i've made some bad decisions about budgeting, mainly b/c i'm impatient, but also b/c the lack of a clear pattern, release schedule, or subscription model makes it nearly impossible to set a clear collecting goal and budget (which is likely an intentional result, on topps part. can't say i blame them, as it is a great short-term business model and no one held a gun to my head when i clicked to confirm all those in-app purchases).
things took an ugly turn when gold elegant weapons dropped/included my hoard character.
they got uglier for me when premium marathon variants were introduced (bounty chase and golden choice). the ocd/completionist in me didn't have the sense at the time to be patient or just, y'know, but reasonable and skip them.
things then got completely insane with the neon drops, but i talked myself into the spends and trades i made to stay up to date with my collecting goals as being within reason and reach.
pinks and the pink JtTFA drop both sort of served as a wake-up call/breaking point.
for whatever it's worth, most of my regular trading partners/friends have backed off as well. one simply b/c android kept crashing and he felt like the app was not working. another b/c he couldn't keep up with the pace of premium content/wasn't happy with any of the f2p content. another b/c her hoard character/100% goal was no longer in her reach after neons.
i know it's probably impolite to discuss money, but i experienced firsthand that if luck isn't in your favor (and it often isn't!), the in-app credits pricing vs secondary market or trading value is, let's say, unfavorable to nearly anyone but commercial accounts or those who are cheating. you have to be a very savvy/heavy trader and a moderate to heavy account to have or maintain an "elite" dolphin or whale account.
i threw an entirely unreasonable amount into the app, via in-app purchases and $$$ tapjoy offers over elegants, bounty chase, the first signature/golden signature drops, and neons, and though it's possible to recover some of that on the secondary market if i were to liquidate the collection piecemeal, i think doing that would possibly just lead me to sink any funds earned back into new stuff.
hence, getting out in one clean shot.
i suspect this has been the case for others who've sold the whole farm at what i can only assume was a huge loss (again, unless they were patient, aggressive traders, incredibly lucky, or were running multiple farm or emulation accounts—i was never really in any of those groups).
i'll still be around on the sub for at least awhile, though, so let's definitely stay in touch one way or another.