Hmm ok, jury is still out then. I wish they'd do a paid version too, if they did I'd snap it up, I'm squarely on the fence right now.
The only things at launch, as far as I can tell from my short time with it, that are gated behind the tickets are two unlockable crafting slots (for saving a significant amount of time, I'd consider these essential) which cost a total of 160 tickets, as well as the two limited availability chairs for KK and Nook which cost 250 tickets each, although having bought Nook it doesn't seem to be anything other than a camp decoration.
From the first few hours of gameplay I was, for context, able to earn enough to purchase a chair and one crafting slot, or 330 tickets from many of the one-use missions. Having exhausted most of them, what remains (aside from the handful of missions left which annoyingly include multiple missions that involve spending tickets) is the 10 tickets you get per level-up, which IIRC based on the trailer will end up being at least 500+ additional free tickets, if not nearly 1000 or more depending on if the level cap is 99 or higher.
After that is the piddling daily login bonuses, if I'm not forgetting anything. This is of course without paying a cent, if you were willing to pump in the cost of a 3DS game ($40) you'd get a bundle of 1200 tickets.
In the future I'm sure they'll add more ticket-only decorations but the core gameplay after you've unlocked the crafting slots seems incredibly accessible without spending a penny so long as you aren't obsessive about obtaining every single decoration they wind up adding. No reason to sit on the fence. Beyond that, tickets seem to only serve as a way to skip timers, and waiting real time is already a core animal crossing gameplay mechanic.
