if you want to compete with the best and you are a f2p then level freezing will always be the best option

easier sages (mostly) ~

easier matsuris (normally) ~

stacking up resources becomes easier ~

you play smarter ~

the game is designed to make you level up and gain exp by disregarding this you're able to outsmart the game and become the initiator

the only negatives i see from it is that it gets alot of hate from players who are playing normally as they can't accept you're being patient and not levelling up

another negative is that the game becomes less competitive ~ more boring ~ less enjoyable

overall i'd say level freezing is 80% worth it and everyone between 50-80 should level freeze

and another point to bring up is that if you do level freeze don't show off your stats to others as that's a really easy way to recieve backlash so keep it lowkey and progress at your own pace

when do you stop lvl freezing? with 5.0 it seems harder to lvl freeze

the thing about level freezing is that you're not meant to stop but rather keep on collecting ~ i would say to max out the power up area and fully fill the orange bar as that would probably tell you you'e reached the max power and only after ur 100/100 on everything should you level up. and i think 5.0 makes it easier to level freeze as the new groceries store allows you to stock up on more items (cave keys) and get the max out of the rebates ~

I will stop lvl freezing when i have maxed out first 2 pos on lvl 10 refines, anytime sooner than that is not worth imo.

honestly...there's a lot of ways to restrict exp growth, and everyone's freezing method tends to be a little different from everyone else's

with 5.0, there are things that's definitely worth doing compared to events in 4.0. Nine tails, for example, ninja test, collecting the 3rd frog in daily practice, rescue jinchuuriki. but there are still avenues for you to limit your exp growth, like not collecting all the frogs, not sweeping plot instances and ninja exam, not going all out in nine tails (unless you're guaranteed first place in which case why are u even freezing).

there's many methods to freezing, and you just have to know what you want to get out of it, and what you want to do.

(personally, the main reason why i'm freezing is bc i don't have enough coins to strengthen all my equipment when i next level up. after that, maybe i'll freeze because i need to temporarily divert resources into buying koh, or because i realize that i still can't thrive in the higher swb bracket, and so on...)

There's only one main reason to level freeze & level freezing does have negatives but it's not substantial considering how the game works.

For someone who can substantially pay to win, if you avoid everything that gives you experience you will benefit from it substantially- the goal/reason for levelling freezing is generally 1st/2nd/3rd in Sage world, if you have that opportunity you should definitely utilize it, for those that aren't 100% p2w there are side effects too doing it but as I mentioned, those side effects are not substantial(maybe).

So before the update it used to be that you could level freeze by avoiding everything that gave experience (Daily Practice/Cat Quiz/Jinjuriki/9Tails & useless events like Anko Exam, etc)- for a free to play, player, you were actually missing quite a lot of power items, because the game would give Coupons/Refines or Myoboku Gifts from the Daily Practice & Timed Events, the increase from these weren't huge in the short term but they are a way to stay relevant long term, but your power gain isn't completely halted due to Hot Topics as such level freezing doesn't really have any real substantial negatives, because although you may be behind in power on your server, if you compare yourself to others of your own level, you'll find you may be actually be quite far ahead & that is what actually matters in turn that allows you to enter Sage World & win Advanced refine fragments which are very hard to get, this is where your advantage will come from.

Now with the new update almost everything gives you either Sun/Moon coins, making the Daily Practices & Timed-Events a lot more beneficial than they were before, especially Anko Exam that was previously ignored completely as it gave EXP and nothing else, now it gives 1200 Moon Coins which means you are potentially losing a lot of power by stalling levels now as the coins you can gather for power is actually quite substantial, but seeing as the goal realistically is to take advantage of the Advanced refines, it's still technically beneficial it's just wither you personally want to do it..

Level freezing is worth it (100%) but you have to be able to take advantage of it, if you can't purchase power to allow you to win Sage world, it probably isn't.

TL/DR
People let on as if level freezing allows you to "Collect" all this power, it doesn't- you are actually gaining less power from not taking part in events, but you're doing it to be able to win top 3 in Sage, no other events gives you such a huge amount of Advanced Refines, so as you're losing power everywhere else, you're gaining power from the hardest to obtain power item, that's essentially the trade off.