Curious how the new BE being IP thing is going

As a new player, do you see yourself playing characters you want or is it a grind to randomly get a discount for someone you want? How often do you buy champions? Overall, is it better now or worse?

I enjoyed the first day of the change because my IP was a lot and I owned all the champs, so I went wild buying the chromas and emotes and stuff, but now it's a bit tedious grinding the IP. Doesn't seem anywhere near as fast as it was, especially with the loss of randoming guaranteeing the newest champ.