Usually P2W means the best players in the game are the ones who spend the most money on it, and that’s not the case with WoW at all.
With WoW, the best players get paid to play the game, not the other way around. 
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This ol’ can of worms eh…
Lost Ark was always going to have some wall since it’s free no?
ARPG mixed with MMO design is them banking on a big market.
WoW doesn’t really have things that give you huge power boosts that equals a win in the content you do. Let alone in the cash store.
But you CAN pay to buy items off AH etc to gain advantage in PVP and the sorts. It’s a silly topic to be honest because it’s so muddled when compared to the apparent p2w games.
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I am a known booster and I’m telling u WoW is pay to win.
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No, you cannot.
Show me one place anywhere on Blizzard’s website or in the game where you can swipe your card and get something that gets you power.
Answer: There isn’t one.
Other people running you through stuff if you give them gold is NOT THAT.
Nope, again, show me where. Blizzard literally doesn’t have this anywhere.
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So basically unobtainable mounts, free level 60, and gold cap.
Sure it’s not “technically” buying R1 directly with money, but if you use that money to buy an in-game currency that gets you the same thing, it might as well be bought for real money.
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What have you won?
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When other players are helping you “win”, the game itself is not “pay2win”.
Because by that definition, ANY game is “pay2win”.
“Here take my controller and get me past this part, I’ll give you $10.”
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People win fill sets of BIS and glad mounts off of paying me gold, which is bought with real money off blizz store
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No, it’s pay to skip into gear that will be outdated in one patch and useless.
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None of which are pay to win.
Pay to win would be paying money to get around the game’s usual restrictions.
Here are more examples of what WOULD be pay to win:
- Pay cash and the daily lockouts on your transmutes are removed.
- Pay cash and your weekly loot lockout is removed.
- Pay cash and unlock more columns in the Great Vault that week.
- Pay cash to reset all your world quests and daily quests for that day.
None of these happen in WoW.
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WoW is not P2W. You’re equating accessibility by monetary means only vs. accessibility through play.
A true P2W system would be an item that gives gameplay advantage only available through the cash shop and not available through playing the game, for example. WoW has nothing like this.
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Yes it does? U buy full bis pvp gear and stomp every low rated below u, keeping them from ranking up and getting said gear
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That’s the other part of it. “Pay2win” also has the added “bonus” of having items that never “expire” in some way. It’s literally a “forever” boost.
WoW’s stuff expires every 2 years (roughly).
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I do think the token is a good point, but an abstraction point at that. In a literal sense, yes, it makes WoW p2w.
Lost Ark outright sells advantages in their store. WoW beats around the bush.
Yeah, WoW is p2w. The difference is Lost Ark is 100% first party, WoW is 50% first party, 50% third party (Also possible to be 100% third party). You can’t stop third parties from benefiting from boosts. Even Lost Ark will have third party eventually.
One is an absolute p2w model. The other is “Why is this even a thing?” model.
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Umm no, with this kind of thought process every game is pay too win. Alsoo even if someone has the gear their skill lvl will be incredibly bad. Wow is based more on player skill then gear or consumables.
Also buying carrys isn’t supported.
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WoW’s stuff expires every patch, if we’re talking gear.
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And paying other players to play the game for you is NOT pay2win, and never will be.
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Lost Ark is less pay to win than WoW. WoW’s hard stat brackets between the difficulty modes makes paying for main stat the only path for a massive segment of the population. To me, WoW is the most pay to win MMO currently in production, their confluence of toxic systems makes them top some of the worst offenders from a practical standpoint. To me, it is intentional, and grimy because it is configured with plausible deniability for their zealous white knights to lean on for free defense.
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Anyone who says WoW isn’t pay to win is hard coping and that’s coming from someone who sells boosts.
If anyother game said u could just go buy the best gear in the game with money, you would all say it’s p2w
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I can give Blizzard $1000, use what they give me back to buy a boosts/funnels all the way to max ilvl… and people say the game still isn’t Pay-2-Win.
Y’know what, I’m not even surprised. Glad you guys are having fun. 
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