I rushed the mystery islands at the start so I enjoy going on them now to find a new villager. I can't decide on just 10 villagers anyway, so RNG helps me narrow it down. I wouldn't enjoy it if I was after someone specific though! I do still like the chance of getting a DIY from an amiibo visitor and I have a few cards that I can use to get rid of any disasters.
I amiibo most of the permanent villagers and just bought off Dom from someone on nookazon. I tried to island hop for Dom but lost hope lol well since I reset my island I'll try to island hop and if I lose all hope again just buy him off someone. Campsite trick is very effective for me since I got Judy on my old island using that.
It really depends on my current mood. I had been set on Raymond and Marshal and saw how much it took people to find them. I did have luck with Ruby and Dom, but I couldn't really find other villagers I wanted so I figured with dreamies I'd just save up currency.
I am always waiting on some islanders to potentially ask to move or a camper I like to visit and move them. I had that with Katt. If the villager leaves after asking I look to see if anyone has someone I want on offer. If not I go hopping and might pick someone I wouldn't have otherwise.
I don't like random move ins just because it takes so long for a villager to ping you about moving and I don't like tt-ing at all.
I enjoy island hopping but if I have a specific personality in mind and none I like are showing up, I'll eventually turn to tbt/discord to find a random villager of the personality I need!
I have used several amiibo's to bring people in but do feel like I'm slightly cheating myself. I enjoy island hopping but am not lucky by any means! I have two islands so can use the second one as a holding location until I can move them onto my non timetravel island. I've been very lucky I have been gifted/ traded for some awesome villagers. So I guess a combo of all three. I do however enjoy watching youtube videos of other people's island hopping trips!
Island hopping has become how I try to find villagers now. I used amiibo cards for a few of the my villagers, three that I plan to keep long term. I've island hopped a lot for two of the villagers I want long term and mostly plan to do the same for the rest. If one of the villagers I want randomly show up in my campsite, I'd happily take them.
At first I got all my villagers through adopting, bc I didn't have much luck with island hopping and I was interested in very specific villagers. But because of that it felt a bit artificial and my island kinda looked basic?
Now I'm starting to play in a more relaxed way and I enjoy island hopping to meet villagers I woudn't consider otherwise. I'm also waiting to get a jock through the campsite since I don't have any, and it helped me find Judy which was completely unexpected!
Mystery island hopping! I love seeing a bunch of new characters, and since I'm usually just looking for the first villager that excites me, I've never been disappointed.