Been sniping from 2.2K medals till 3K.. Definitely more efficient and appropriate with the current medal system. Before and beyond I used/am using mixed armies and the point of it, the point of 5-star victories, is 'fun'.. After all it is called 'dominations'.
I actually am OK with the current difficulty of 5-star play, it makes sense that the higher you go the more difficult it should get. With enough tactics, blessing and Zeppelin I usually can 4-star (sometimes 5) any base, even maxed out sometimes + returning army. The lost star is quick victory or complete destruction.
BUT since I, and most of the legit community, don't spend huge money speeding up tactics and zeppelins everytime.. I don't have enough tactics + blessings + Zeppelins so I end up with 3-star victories.
I do think we need more time in the battle, I don't think mixed armies need dps or hp buff. The main problem is always 'cheaters + no opponent'. This is the real deal.
If we have enough opponents to play with we can skip the hard and maxed out bases.. But we don't. I spend 10-20min trying to find an opponent and when I do.. He's maxed out as hell and I don't have enough tactics and my big huge Zay P.. So I end up losing all my army with only 2 or 3-star.
Bottom line, All they need to do is fix the no opponent issue, keep up the bans and everything will be fine.