Pay-to-win games are games that offer items or other gear that give buyers advantages over non-paying players or make gameplay marginally more sluggish and challenging for players who do not pay in premium currency or real-world money.
What items Can You Buy in Rocket League?
In your RL garage, there are plenty of things that you can buy. Here is a quick list of the items to get you started:
Car Body – Your car body determines the shape, look, and hitbox of your vehicle.
Decal – Decals are there to decorate your cars with unique patterns.
Paint Finish – This is the quality of your car’s paint job.
Wheels – Designer wheels for your favorite cars.
Player Banner – This is the design of the banner that shows your name and title.
Player Title – This is the designation displayed below your name in games.
Trail – This is the trail you leave behind when you drive around the field.
Rocket Boost – This is the particle effect that you see whenever you use a boost.
Goal Explosion – This is the animation that triggers when you score a goal.
Topper – This cosmetic is like a hat for your racecar.
Avatar Border – This is simply the frame around your avatar in the game.
Engine Audio – This is the sound of your roaring engine.
Anthem – This is the music that plays whenever you score a goal.
As you can see, there are so many things that you can customize to make you feel like a star. However, the question is whether these items affect your game performance. Simply put, no item except the car body does anything to change your gameplay.
How does your car body affect your Rocket League gameplay?
If you’re not new to the game, you probably have many cars in your Rocket League arsenal. If not, you can unlock them for free.These different models have different hitboxes. Car hitbox is the only attribution that can change your Rocket League gameplay.Though the differences are very small, any experienced Rocket League player will tell you that the difference is noticeable. Muscle cars like the Merc have larger hitboxes. This allows them to be more efficient when blocking shots.
Cars with smaller hitboxes like the Octane are more agile and help you to perform quick maneuvers.
Does this make Rocket League a pay-to-win game?
No, not really. We’ve already mentioned that the difference in Rocket League gameplay because of your car’s hitbox is minimal. So, if you’re not a pro in this game, you won’t even recognize the difference. However, if you’re a Grand Champion this can determine the outcome of your game.
There are great cars that you can win for free yet many great ones are locked behind a paywall. However, you can get all of the body types as you keep on playing. The bottom line is that it is not a pay-to-win game.
Here’s my RL Garage. I haven’t spent a penny on car bodies but you can see in the picture that I have all of the body types that the game offers. I also have a couple of sportscars in my RL garage. These cars aren’t specialized like the two types we’ve already discussed. These cars are average in both agility and blocking.
There’s another topic we need to discuss before signing off. Many new players often think that season passes games are pay-to-win schemes. Yes, developers do try to get a little extra by offering lucrative deals with the pass but experienced gamers will tell you that games with season passes are not pay-to-win.
Is Rocket League pay-to-win?
No, Rocket League is not a pay-to-win game. You might think that buying a lucrative car body will give you an advantage but you can get every type of car body for free. Plus, it doesn’t make any difference for most players.
You could also become a great player just through practice.