MeinMMO demon Cortyn is taking a stand against Warcraft Rumble from Blizzard. After a good start, it quickly becomes clear: It screams Pay2Win.
A little over a month has passed since the mobile game “Warcraft Rumble” was officially released. I’ve been playing diligently – some days a lot more, some a little less. But I logged in every single day and completed at least the dailies or contributed to the guild’s progress.
However, in these four weeks, it has become clear to me that I have to retract some of my original statements. In my first review of the game, I dismissed PvP as not particularly tactical – that is definitely not the case. It is extremely tactical and quite demanding.
Unfortunately, I also have to retract another statement, because in recent weeks it has become clear to me: Warcraft Rumble is heavily Pay2Win in PvP.
Especially the first matches feel good. Everything seems to come down to actual decisions in the game. Which minis did you bring? How do you counter the minis your opponent uses? Do you make the first move yourself, or do you try to outsmart your opponent only by reacting? Do you have minis that can secure the treasure chests immediately?
But as soon as you start climbing the ranks a bit, that changes. Because the better your rating, the more players you encounter who either had extreme luck with their minis or who just “went all in”.
Because the crucial element here is the talents. You can equip every mini with a talent – but only after you have upgraded it for the first time. There is a larger selection of talents when you make further upgrades – but that costs a lot of gold. And gold is the limited resource you can only earn to a certain extent per week, no matter how much you play. Alternatively, you can buy gold endlessly in the shop.
To illustrate this with an example: A Sylvanas without talent deals damage to a single target and leaves behind a banshee upon death that takes over an enemy mini. But a talent turns Sylvanas’s shots into an area attack that hits all minis in a row – this way, the opponent’s Sylvanas can wipe out entire groups.
It’s significantly simpler with other minis. The “Murloc tide hunters” always appear in pairs. But with one talent, you summon not 2, but 3 murlocs upon purchase.
In other words: In this case, a mini with a talent is simply 50% stronger than a mini without a talent.
Anyone who has a large selection of talents can only have achieved that at this point through the use of a lot of real money – it’s mathematically impossible any other way, as gold gain is strictly limited. In a battle between “normal” minis and minis with talents, the minis with talents will almost always win.
And that is unfortunately the definition of Pay2Win.
Solving the problem would be quite simple, because: Blizzard could completely disable talents in PvP or unlock all talents in PvP.
Then it would be a fair, largely skill-based PvP system. Not doing that is, however, a conscious decision. Because those who spend money should feel good.
FOMO and the “great feeling” of being allowed to buy something
Especially irritating is the type of monetization that has been chosen for Warcraft Rumble. There are indeed some “good” offers – such as the one-time, permanent boost on all gold earnings. You invest 20 euros and then have this boost for life. Some may roll their eyes at this, but I can still overlook that – especially since you also receive all the bonus gold retroactively if you finalize this deal later.
However, the numerous limited-time offers that the game constantly throws at you are worse. Not only are there weekly offers, but also those that you unlock during gameplay.
For example, when you complete the area “Darkshore,” you unlock a special package in the shop. Yes, compared to the other offers, this package has a really solid value – but it also has a time limit. Because after “unlocking” these offers, you only have 2-3 days to buy it.
The same applies in PvP, by the way. As soon as you reach a new rank, a new offer appears in the shop to “celebrate” it.
That simply feels wrong. The “big reward” after completing an area is that you can buy a “great” package in the shop.
As if that weren’t annoying enough, these packages are also getting increasingly expensive, making it obvious that initially “bait offers” are made that then increase in price. Because where the “reward package” initially costs 5 euros, the costs for the next packages already rise to 7 euros, then to 10 euros, and probably even higher – I haven’t even checked the last ones.
This reminds me of the darkest offers from Diablo Immortal, only that here you don’t make absurd promises like “600% value,” but instead call it “legendary offer” or “epic offer.”
Here, they simply try to trigger FOMO in players, based on the motto: If I don’t buy this now, maybe I will never be able to get important resources as easily again!
I want to emphasize clearly: I still enjoy Warcraft Rumble. Sometimes finishing a dungeon run in 15 minutes or slowly working through the heroic campaign while completing the daily quests for hefty XP boosts still feels good. I still play it every day.
But the entire PvP aspect of the game has continued to lose importance for me, and that is frustrating, as in the long run that should be the only motivation left after the campaign.
In the end, it really comes down to who has the better talents and the higher upgrade level for their minis in Warcraft Rumble. And ultimately, unfortunately, that is determined mainly by one thing: the wallet.
It’s a shame, Blizzard. Really a shame.
