World of Warships is (Almost) a Perfect Free-to-Play Game

How Wargaming have balanced grinding and microtransactions

As an overall industry and genre, the jury is pretty much out at this point with free-to-play games. It’s understandable. We more or less know what to expect. Slow progression. Grinding. Microtransactions. But you can’t discount the fun and addictive gameplay. It may seem obvious but fewer people would feel compelled to give in to microtransactions if the F2P games they’re spending money on aren’t enjoyable. The base product itself has to entice players in the first place to then be able to get them to spend further money.

The gaming landscape is just about full to the brim with free-to-play titles to choose from. With recent titles like Genshin Impact taking the world by storm, there seems to be a constant treadmill of new free-to-play games. Over-saturated and yet seemingly endless, it can be hard to decide which of these games are actually worth spending your time on. Especially when lots of them make it evident that after a certain threshold it can be incredibly hard to do anything meaningful without forking over lots of cash in microtransactions.

Among all this, however, I’ve managed to discover a F2P game — thanks to a close friend — that not only feels meaningful but is absolutely addictive with its fun. That game would be World of Warships, created by Wargaming. The devs are better known for their other F2P games, such as World of Tanks. While I haven’t played much World of Tanks myself, there’s just something about naval battles that’s more epic and enjoyable. The grand scale of it all is just superbly compelling.

But technically, I have lied to you. World of Warships is not a perfect game. It definitely has flaws, just as any game does. In spite of that, the reason I think it’s a perfect free-to-play game is that it perfectly encapsulates all the important elements and experiences that make a F2P title worth your time. It’s (mostly) balanced, has enjoyable and rewarding gameplay, and most importantly — isn’t pay to win.

Now, of course, you can spend your hard earned cash unlocking premium ships and buying cash and XP to make it easier to move up the different ship lines, but this, in the long run, will actually hurt you more than it will help you. When it comes to World of Warships, it’s more like pay to lose if you spend a lot on microtransactions. Trust me.

That’s because your success is directly correlated to your experience and understanding of the core gameplay. You can’t just blow $200 on the game and instantly be overpowered. Nope, not gonna happen. If you do that, all you’re gonna end up with is bitterness and frustration as you get destroyed time and time again by more experienced and patient admirals who have done their hard yards. After all, World of Warships is all about being patient and taking advantage of others’ mistakes.

So let me tell you exactly why World of Warships is a hell of a lot of fun as a F2P game, with a balanced grind and enjoyable gameplay.

Big ships, big guns

I mean, what’s not to love about gliding around in a massive, hulking battleship and trying to blow other people up? Or scooting around in a pithy little destroyer, trying to sneak onto the command points and wreak havoc with your HE shells? There’s a playstyle for everyone. Not only do you have your battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers, you also have different branches of these ships within certain countries. Both Britain and the US, for instance, have dedicated heavy and light cruiser tech trees — it’s this kind of variability that makes it such a quality title.

Likewise, World of Warships is also a history buff’s dream, with all sorts of historically important ships available to take control of. Ships like the USN’s Indianapolis and the Kriegsmarine’s Scharnhorst are imbued with tales and stories from WWII that add an extra layer of interest and value to the gameplay. While not all of the ships are direct replicas of real-life ships, almost all of the ships in World of Warships were real-world ships or at least inspired by ship designs from the past. Each and every ship has a unique play style and story.

Purists will also adore World of Warships for its attempted emphasis on historical accuracy and dedication to bringing to life some of the 20th century’s most important and well-known ships. They’re not afraid to make changes to a ship if they realize there’s something inaccurate or incorrect. Luckily, historical accuracy doesn’t get in the way of ensuring a balanced and fair game. So far in my own experience with the game, with just a few exceptions, all of the ships are balanced.

The caveat to that is that you need to understand the ships’ strengths and weaknesses. If you understand this aspect of the game, then you are on the road to success. Some ships are harder to learn or more punishing of noobs than others, but if you figure out the best way to utilize each ship, not one of them will disappoint. The learning curve for different ships is obviously variable, but over time you will slowly grasp how to take advantage of each ship.

Casual or strategic

Depending on your level of commitment and intent, World of Warships can be enjoyed on a simple casual level, but you can also drive deep into it to understand the different strategies and knowledge to perform better. Just want to float around and shoot at people? No worries, you are catered for. You can jump into Casual Battles which are PvE and completely disregard teamwork and strategy.

If you want to communicate with teammates and friends, set up strategies, and control the map, however, you are also in for a great time. Learning the maps, how to angle your ship’s armor and when to use which shell type are just some of the considerations you’ll have to account for. Thankfully the many modes of World of Warships mean whether you want to be serious and focused, or are simply short of time, there are many ways for you to enjoy the game. Different weekly PvE scenarios also spice up the action too, providing a reliable variety in the gameplay experience.

Each ship has different loadout options. Depending on what you equip, you can buff or accentuate different areas for that ship — depending on how you want to play. You can make your ship’s secondary batteries fire further and more accurately, or you can improve its anti-aircraft fire to better defend against aircraft carriers. You also gain commander skills that are unique to that ship's commander (commanders can be transferred to another ship in that nation but with a penalty) and provide other enhanced skills and characteristics.

Layered beneath lots of fun and explosions, there is indeed a deep and strategic game with lots of learning for the really dedicated. It will take hundreds (if not thousands) of battles to figure out which ships are good at what, how to angle your armor, and how to position yourself for success. Sometimes, the smartest thing to do is to sit around and wait for the opposition to do something stupid and then take advantage. As a rule of thumb, you are usually rewarded for patience.

An enjoyable grind?

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I actually thoroughly enjoy the grind in World of Warships to unlock new ships and progress up the various nations’ tech trees. Sure, it’s a pain. It can be laborious and frustrating. But then it can also be exhilarating and incredibly rewarding. The key to not getting impatient with this game is well, patience. If you’re used to twitch shooters like Call of Duty then this will be a big shift in pacing and style. But if a change of pace is what you’re after, then World of Warships perfectly embraces that.

Now, of course, if you are that impatient and want to start fighting with the big boys, the most iconic and powerful ships are available for your money. You can put as much real money into the game as you wish, and buy premium ships so you can start playing in higher tiers sooner. It is a quicker way to advance to the higher ship tiers quicker, but it’s a very — let me be clear here — very, bad idea. It means you lose out on learning all the core mechanics and tactics of the game you would pick up as you progress through some of the tech trees.

As a semi-experienced player now, I can tell you one of the worst things in a high tier game is when a clearly inexperienced teammate, in a brand new premium ship, absolutely guns it at the start of a battle and gets themselves killed. It can often make a big difference to the flow of a match (and will infuriate your more established fellow admirals). The low levels of grinding are imperative to understanding the core mechanics of the game and should ensure you’ll appreciate the game in the higher ship tiers.

I myself have bought premium ships, and while they can help you get into higher-tiered battles before you’ve unlocked those ships in-game, there’s nothing pay-to-win about it.

All up, World of Warships is a fairly niche F2P game. If you don’t want a slow-moving tactical game and don’t particularly care about the ships and their place in history, it probably isn’t for you. However, if you want a deeply enjoyable, rewarding, and tactical challenge within a large community, along with plenty of ships to play, then World of Warships is (almost) the perfect free-to-play game for you.

It manages to avoid all the foibles that so many F2P titles fall into in 2020. The monetization isn’t egregious or in your face. The grind is protracted but rewarding and there is a large and inviting community to interact with and learn from. World of Warships has provided me with a ton of fun so far and I don’t expect that to change any time soon. I hope to see many of you out there on the high seas.