I think that IG follow/unfollow limits have been way too high. It was exploitable with the most basic method, that didn't require much creativity or tweaking to optimize.
Nobody is going to give you a foolproof method on how they're growing their accounts. If it's working for them, chances are they don't want anyone else to be exploiting the same method.
For me it's a non-question, if IG is still worth it or not. If someone was dependent on those methods to make IG profitable it was obvious it wouldn't last forever. The guys deciding to quit IG will look for another platform that's easy to exploit without much creativity, and they'll keep jumping from one to the next. That isn't my plan.
I think this thread serves a purpose, but I don't think anyone is going to post a method on what the next big exploit is. IG is a pretty closed environment, the options are very limited, it's not that hard to find out how to optimize your growth.
I was running FL growing a couple accounts very passively (just follow/unfollowing like most). It's obvious that I need to get more active on it now, if I want the accounts to keep growing at the same rate. It's not as profitable if you're looking for easy/fast money, but at the end of the day it's still a very important Social Network that I won't be ignoring.
My plan is to get creative, start tweaking, try a couple of different methods and analyze the results. Once I've found a sweet spot, I scale it up by throwing in more accounts.