Depending on who you ask, Warcraft Rumble could be seen as a pay to win mobile game or entirely fair to paying and free to play players. It being a “mobile game” is doing most of the lifting on that negative outlook, but is Warcraft Rumble really pay to win?
Is Warcraft Rumble Pay to Win?
Players have argued over whether Warcraft Rumble is pay to win, some claiming it’s “predatory” as others call it “pretty fair” for a mobile game. Based on those comments and my personal time playing the game, I’m more in the camp that Warcraft Rumble is more pay to win than fair to all players’ time and effort.
By spending money, you can progress much faster through Warcraft Rumble, skipping the old song and dance of grinding levels and gold and upgrading to cut down time. Mobile titles are infamous for this structure and offer buyable materials to lure you into jumping over the boring nitty-gritty stuff. According to players on Reddit, things in Warcraft Rumble players can purchase will allow them to get everything that would take months to earn.
“You can buy heroes, currency, XP, hero upgrades,” said one Redditor. “You can buy legendary heroes for which you would need to farm MONTHS. And of course, every pack is fomo. This is as much predatory p2w as it gets.”
RELATED: Best Way to Spend Your Gold in Warcraft Rumble
Another user expressed a similar take and pointed at gold progression being the crux of the issue, stating, “Because we can’t earn gold and progression is 100% tied to store RNG (gacha) [it’s] a P2W game…You need lots of [duplicates] to improve units rarity, which are locked behind GACHA mechanic as well as Talent unlock.”
In its defense, Warcraft Rumble doesn’t really force you to grab your wallet. As standard for free mobile titles, you’re either paying with game time or money; that hasn’t changed for years.
“I’ve had no issue as an F2P, I get stuck on a mission, so I take a break to farm repeatable quests until I can complete the mission,” argued one Reddit user. “You have the option to skip the grind by paying money but it’s not necessary, and there’s no downside to anyone else completing the mission before you do.”
While they’re right that PvE can be player-choice-friendly, PvP, which arguably is only attractive to specific kinds of players, suffers from the game’s monetization. Buying players will blow a free to play enjoyer out of the water with their suped-up army.
Outside of PvP, the gacha-ness of upgrading and grinding out gold later in the game gives players a reason to blow money rather than them healthily wanting to spend to support Blizzard’s development. It’s a slippery slope with mobile games, and it’s true you can enjoy Warcraft Rumble just fine without spending, but it leans into pay to win territory more than it should.
