At the moment, this game is absolutely, without a doubt, pay to win. And I'm not talking about a 5 dollar starter package. If you don't have at least 50 dollars, preferably 100 or more, to burn on powering yourself up, expect the rich/financially-irresponsible elite to crush you frequently, just because they can. I know this because I was dumb enough, and competitive enough, to actually spend 30 dollars overall on this game, and I am still getting defeated every day by players who vastly outclass me, even though I started the game at the same time they did (roughly 5 days ago, when the game was opened up to the general public). There is absolutely nothing that I, or any other player, can do about it.Fortunately, getting attacked isn't too devastating in this game, especially if you never attack anyone yourself, but the total lack of competition between the elite and everyone else can be a real turn-off. This may change in the future, but currently it's a major issue and ruins a lot of the multiplayer component of the game.However, I am not giving up on this game. The basic gameplay can be fun, especially if you find a good clan to join. Cooperating as a clan to take down a power player would be really fun, if that was even remotely possible under the current power imbalance. (I am currently in a clan that is ranked 4th in power overall for the entire realm, and every single one of us just got defeated by one elite player. That's how much this game is ruled by a handful of big spenders).