Hi, Jim, we've worked a time or two. I remember your patiently working to complete a CW QSO with me on 30m back in 2006 (I think) when I was on a campout with my son and a nephew. I BARELY heard your signal in the noise around sunrise here, so it was really the wee hours for you. The three of us were trying to see how many states we could work on that campout, and you patiently repeated your QTH several times for me. Don't ask me why I've remembered you and your callsign all this time, but part of it is that I've heard you in the pileups now and then in the meanwhile.
Anyway, my general mode for working DX has been just as you describe, except without the kilowatt. What I've found on FT8, unlike CW, is that when I call CQ, I get loads of calls. I don't know exactly why this is: is it my rare prefix? Is there an ethos among FT8 ops that they like to work as many different stations as possible? Am I just being called by robots that will call anybody and everybody indiscriminately? The fact that my CQs get answered makes me think that these QSOs are desired on the other end, and so I feel like I'm helping other people by offering more QSOs than my more typical mode of hunt-and-pounce DXing. If I knew that most of these QSOs actually had little or no value to the other station, then I would happily return to my typical operating mode for FT8, too.
I will say, though, that it has been fun to call CQ successfully. My little-pistol signal on CW hardly ever raises any response, and that was the case even before FT8 "took over" the bands as it has.