Hearthstone is the popular free-to-play spin-off of the Warcraft series with CCG gameplay. Many questions come with this type of game, including whether Hearthstone is pay to win or truly free to play. The truth is, whether or not Hearthstone is pay to win depends on how you play the game.
How Pay-to-Win is Hearthstone?
The answer to whether Hearthstone is pay to win is yes and no—Hearthstone is free to play, but it can be pay to win if you intend to play competitively, want to stay up to date with the meta, or want to purchase new release cards immediately. You can earn cards simply by playing the game, but this can take some time, as Hearthstone features a wide roster of cards.
Those who want to play competitive or keep their decks relevant to the meta will likely need to spend real money to purchase the best cards. As a result, Hearthstone becomes pay to win in this environment, as those who do not have the meta decks will not be able to compete against these decks.
Should you spend money on Hearthstone?
This depends on if you want to play competitively. If you have no interest in being a competitive Hearthstone player, then you do not need to spend any money. In time, you will unlock most of the cards you need to build fun and powerful decks. So long as you play casually, you can leave your money in your wallet. Those who want to speed up their card collection will need to spend money.
For more information on Hearthstone, check out How to get Y’Shaarj in Hearthstone Mercenaries and How to overcap decks in Hearthstone on Pro Game Guides.
