Raid Shadow Legends: Pay to Win or Free to Play?
Just over a month ago I got sucked into mobile gaming hell when a friend suggested I start playing Raid Shadow Legends with him. Going into it, I assumed after 20 hours of gameplay I would need to start dropping real world cash to progress. To my surprise, there was no need to spend any money to gain a significant advantage. Sure, I could have bought various new player packs, gems, and energy potions to speed up my progress in the game, but 90% of the time I really had no need for any of that. Instead, there was something else that Raid Shadow Legends demanded of me — time.
Unlike other popular mobile games like Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, Raid Shadow Legends places more emphasis on time spent in the game then time waiting on the game to progress further. In Clash of Clans, once you progress past the early game you are stuck waiting days, weeks, and even up to a month to upgrade certain buildings. For those who unwisely spent their gems early or aren’t willing to buy more, this can take even longer without additional builders.
Unlike other popular mobile games like Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, Raid Shadow Legends places more emphasis on time spent in the game then time waiting on the game to progress further.
In Raid, you have various missions, quest, tournaments, clan battles, and other methods of gaining energy, which is then used to complete more battles. This allows you to progress in the game by maintaining a loop of completing quest and missions that reward you with additional energy, which can be used to complete more battles. As mentioned before, this comes at a cost of requiring more time spent playing the game to progress. On average, I get around 2–3 hours of free gameplay per day. Most of this is happens at night when I am watching TV or when things slow down during the day. After that, you can either wait for your energy to replenish or spend money on potions.
One way to bypass the need to spend 3 hours a day playing Raid is by buying more “auto-battles”, which is a feature that allows you to repeat a battle X number of times without any input from the player. It’s basically a way to grind certain parts of the game without actually needing to pay attention to what is going on. You are given 30 auto-battles a day, which can be used rather quickly depending on the mission or dungeon you are running.
To avoid being overly optimistic, I do want to mention that there is a pay to win aspect of Raid Shadow Legends. There are xp boosters, high level gear, and summoning shards that can be bought for a clear advantage. This is especially impactful in tournaments and clan vs. clan battles. There have been several summoning tournaments that have been near impossible to win because I am paired against other players that spend significant amounts of money on summoning shards. Most of the time, the prize for first or second is simply not worth spending money for me, but for others that is not the always the case.
However, at the end of the day, most of the game allows you to be just as competitive as a free to play player compared to pay to win players. After 35 days of playing I am already at Gold 3 in arena, level 50 out of 100, and have multiple S tier champions while only spending $10 on energy potions. My only advice to you is to avoid those summoning shard events, unless you are willing to drop a pretty penny…
If you’re interested in playing Raid Shadow Legends, feel free to try it out using my free referral code below. By using the link below, new players are awarded additional prizes when hitting certain level milestones. If you liked the article, feel free to clap, follow or comment your thoughts on Raid Shadow Legends!
Referral Code: https://link.plrm.zone/app/hliro
