Blizzard announced Warcraft Arclight Rumble earlier this year, its first foray into mobile gaming for the Warcraft franchise outside of Hearthstone. Marketed as a “tower offense” game, Warcraft Arclight Rumble promises an action-packed real-time strategy experience featuring at least 60 iconic heroes, spells, and units from the franchise. With fast-paced gameplay similar to Clash Royale and a charming art style, Warcraft Arclight Rumble seeks to create a new spin on the legacy of Warcraft 3.
However, after the controversial release of Diablo Immortal, many fans have concerns about Warcraft Arclight Rumble. Despite its financial success, Diablo Immortal suffers from a predatory monetization model with no limitations and few promises. Many fans feared Warcraft Arclight Rumble will follow in Diablo Immortal’s footsteps, but Game ZXC was invited to the closed beta for Warcraft Arclight Rumble, where details for its microtransaction system could be explored.
Different Currencies in Warcraft Arclight Rumble
There are two types of currencies Warcraft Arclight Rumble: Gold and Valor. Gold is the most important currency in the game - it enables players to purchase minis and upgrade them with Talents and experience points. Valor is used to upgrade a Leader’s army slots to give them an edge in battle.
Gold is earned through several aspects of gameplay. Players can earn 20 gold twice a day for logging in, resetting at noon and midnight. Daily quest rewards, which refresh three times a day, have a chance to give 100 or 200 Gold, as well as different rarities of experience tomes. Additionally, players earn between 90 and 120 Gold for clearing most stages for the first time, and between 40 and 60 Gold for clearing it again with a Leader from a different faction. Alternatively, players can buy Gold with real money.
Valor, on the other hand, can only be earned through gameplay. As of now, the only way to gain Valor is by clearing Dungeons, though Raids will probably also reward Valor when they are added. Dungeons are made available for a few days each week, allowing players to unlock Valor based on the level of the Dungeon. Players can gain rewards for each level of the Dungeon once per week. Valor itself is used to upgrade the slots of a Leader’s army, granting additional levels to Units or Spells as long as they match the slot’s trait, faction, or keyword.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble's Microtransactions
The store in Warcraft Arlight Rumble is where players spend Gold on minis and upgrades, and where they can buy Gold with real money. Gold is spent using the slot machine-like grid to buy various items and upgrades in the game. The prices of each item differ for each type as it appears in the store.
- Mini experience boosts costs 50 Gold
- A new Unit or Spell costs 350 Gold
- A new Leader costs 400 Gold
- A new Talent for a Unit, Spell, or Leader costs 500 Gold.
- Players can buy two Epic Experience Tomes for 500 Gold a week, separate from the grid system.
The grid cycles out its bottom row once a day, and all items in the same row and column as a purchased item refresh after it is bought, instantly updating the store with new options. Players can also spend 10 gold to move a slot around, allowing them to preserve items from refreshing or line up experience boosts for purchases. Though the items are randomized, Warcraft Arclight Rumble does not have loot boxes, drop rates, or a rarity system.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble currently has limitations on how much Gold players can acquire via microtransactions. They can buy 500 gold for $4 once, and 800 gold for $10 twice each week. Beyond these purchases, players can also buy one-time bundles for a couple of days after a new zone is unlocked. These area bundles cost between $8 and $15, and offer high-value packs of units, gold, and experience at a better exchange rate than the weekly bundles. The official release may have additional limited-time bundles, though no evidence for this was seen in the beta.
The Warcraft Arclight Rumble beta also offers a one-time Arclight Booster for $19.99. This account buff grants a stipend of 1,000 Gold, increases all Gold earned by 50 percent and all experience by 20 percent until the beta ends. It is unclear if this boost will carry over into the game’s launch, and if so, for how long.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble: Pay-to-Win or Free-to-Play?
Warcraft Arclight Rumble can easily be played for free. There are plenty of opportunities to unlock Gold through in-game activities, and with enough patience and skill, a Free-to-Play player can craft solid armies for all five Factions. With no energy system or gameplay time gates, a patient player can jump in for hours at a time, while a frugal player might focus on daily quests or raising a single team to complete quests and challenges more efficiently.
That said, Warcraft Arclight Rumble is a mobile game. Players can buy Gold with real money, then spend it to unlock Units and Talents much faster than a Free-to-Play player can. Stronger teams mean faster access to zones, more gold, and higher-level Dungeons for more Valor drops. While unit level doesn’t affect PvP in Warcraft Arclight Rumble, Talents do - and a player with a team full of Talents will have an edge over one who doesn’t.
Luckily, the purchase limitations prevent this Pay-to-Win edge from being too egregious. Players can only spend $24 on weekly Gold drops, and around $200 on the Arclight Booster and the bundles for the 12 zones unlockable after the first. At the very least, this means players will not be able to whale and spend thousands of dollars on the game as in Diablo Immortal.
At the end of the day, Warcraft Arclight Rumble has aspects of a Pay-to-Win mobile game, but is still able to be accessible to Free-to-Play players. Though it would be better if microtransactions only unlocked cosmetics as promised in Diablo 4, Warcraft Arclight Rumble seems to have an equitable handle on its monetization system. As the game transitions toward a soft launch and more players get their hands on it, they will have to decide if they believe Warcraft Arclight Rumble’s business model is fair for themselves.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble is currently in development for iOS and Android devices. Game ZXC was provided access to its closed beta.