I'm happy with my villagers currently so I'd use the NMT to buy other stuff like DIYs and furniture! But of the two options there, if I still had villagers I'm looking for, I'd definitely just buy them outright - I've had really awful luck island hopping and while I get the appeal of the "gacha" aspect of island hopping, it was more frustrating and time-consuming than anything for me, so I'd rather potentially spent more tickets to buy someone I like outright.
Well, to answer the question of if I had it...and if the only two options are to island hop or buy a villager with it directly...I'd island hop. But that's because I have all the cards of villagers I like. So, I'd prefer to at least get resources, experience meeting some villagers randomly, etc. Ultimately I'd probably just giveaway most of the tickets lol and save some for trades of items/etc.
So, that's what I would do. What you should do is something else entirely. Only you know what works best for you.
I can't imagine spending the time to grind for enough NM to get 600 tickets, then spending the time to buy that many from the terminal, then spending time to island hop, only to potentially not get the villager I'm looking for. That sounds more painful than getting COVID-19.
After finding Raymond while island hopping has me change my mindset that island hopping can be fun. Though there are times it can be frustrating but when you experience getting your favorite villager through island hopping, it really was a great experience.
I followed most people who suggest that you widen your list of villagers you like to lessen the expectation. Currently I'm earning enough NMTs so that when someone moved out, I could go on island hopping for a new villager.
I'd definitely be island hopping with it. I'm at about 500ish tickets spent for Lucky so far, and still haven't seen him. I could easily buy lucky for a fifth of that, but the island hopping slot machine will be more satisfying when I find him.
