Is it Pay to Win?: World of Warcraft

Welcome to ‘Is it Pay to Win’ – a column where we examine a game and decide if that game is has aspects of pay to win and to what extent. Check out Is it Pay to Win?: Defined to see how we break down the components of pay to win (p2w), such as pay for advantage, pay for convenience, and pay for cosmetics.

World of Warcraft is a game that needs no introduction, but, we’re going to do it anyway. World of Warcraft or WoW is one of the worlds preeminent MMORPGs. It has a purchase cost (buy to play), a monthly subscription (pay to play), a token that can be bought with cash and sold for in game currency, and cash shop with game services and cosmetics.

Scoring:

  • Pay for Power: 3/5
  • Pay for Advantage: 5/5
  • Pay for Convenience: 3/5
  • Pay for Cosmetics: 4/5
  • Pay to Win: 3.4/5

Continue reading to see a game description and how we came up with those scores.

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