Originally Posted by
kringley
Well..pay for convenience is a lot of it. Pay for waifu is a part of the motivation for at least some people - certainly those who spend on their favorite even when the stats don't support it. If you count having a large collection as winning, then it's arguable as P2W. (And definitely golds and rainbows are not just cosmetic). However, with no PvP there's no place where a small advantage feels critical, and unlike some other games (including some Nutaku ones) there's never a point where you will either have to grind for an enormous number of hours to make the smallest bit of progress or just pay out (which I count as P2W).
As a side note, I think the 3*/4* stuff is a bit missing the point. Even a purely free player should have (with time and diligence) a decent collection of event golds, and a reasonable number of gacha golds from free FGs. I've only been playing since mid November, and I have 8 event golds (all but Monotropasturum at BS5/E4), and from my free FG 10+1 rolls, 2 rainbows and 5 golds, and 3 more golds from 5* tickets (Christmas, starting player, starting player day 7 login). Even with more average luck (1 gold per 10+1 roll) that'd still be something like 15 golds which should be able to get through most levels.