I've been playing War Thunder for a long time (I'm not proud of my hours) and have been completely free to play; I haven't spent a single penny. The developers (Gaijin) have designed the game so that it practically forces you to spend money on the game if you wish to progress further to reach a certain high-tier vehicle.

It's fairly easy at the start to unlock and research vehicles, but once you reach rank three or four in the tech trees, the pace at which you unlock/research new vehicles and modifications drops dramatically. Which then gets to the point of having to slowly grind through at a snail's pace instead of what you were starting off. Due to this, Gaijin has implemented pop-ups and endgame stats showing that you should buy premium vehicles/time and here's what you'll get if you do. Basically rubbing it in your face the amount you earn with premium compared to non-premium with the amount being drastic and demoralizing, which is why most people who play the game do give in and pay. 

Gaijin has also stated in the past years that they will not release top-tier premium vehicles so that new players can't immediately buy their way to the top tier and in recent updates, that is exactly what they have done. They're selling top-tier premium vehicles for only for said premium to be mediocre at best in the game modes that the playerbase have been playing since the game first released. We've asked and suggested more game modes, but they never come to fruition because doing so won't make Gaijin money, so all they do is keep releasing new top-end vehicles that will take players months or even years to unlock in hopes of them giving in and spending money on premium to make the grind easier.

If you do pick up and game and plan to stick with it for a while then my only advice for you is to forget the grind and just stick to having fun. everyone wants to get the top tanks but the game is more enjoyable at lower tiers and low tier is easier to get to access overall. Best of luck and I hope the review helped

I've been playing War Thunder for a long time (I'm not proud of my hours) and have been completely free to play; I haven't spent a single penny. The developers (Gaijin) have designed the game so that it practically forces you to spend money on the game if you wish to progress further to reach a certain high-tier vehicle. It's fairly easy at the start to unlock and research vehicles, but once you reach rank three or four in the tech trees, the pace at which you unlock/research new vehicles and modifications drops dramatically. Which then gets to the point of having to slowly grind through at a snail's pace instead of what you were starting off. Due to this, Gaijin has implemented pop-ups and endgame stats showing that you should buy premium vehicles/time and here's what you'll get if you do. Basically rubbing it in your face the amount you earn with premium compared to non-premium with the amount being drastic and demoralizing, which is why most people who play the game do give in and pay.  Gaijin has also stated in the past years that they will not release top-tier premium vehicles so that new players can't immediately buy their way to the top tier and in recent updates, that is exactly what they have done. They're selling top-tier premium vehicles for [h3]$70-$80 (you could buy a better and more enjoyable game with that money)[/h3] only for said premium to be mediocre at best in the game modes that the playerbase have been playing since the game first released. We've asked and suggested more game modes, but they never come to fruition because doing so won't make Gaijin money, so all they do is keep releasing new top-end vehicles that will take players months or even years to unlock in hopes of them giving in and spending money on premium to make the grind easier. If you do pick up and game and plan to stick with it for a while then my only advice for you is to forget the grind and just stick to having fun. everyone wants to get the top tanks but the game is more enjoyable at lower tiers and low tier is easier to get to access overall. Best of luck and I hope the review helped