I noticed after the 6.6 update there were some unowned pets that appeared in the game for 2 future Holiday events. A standard and ‘golden’ version of each. These disappeared after the 6.65 update.
So, @Fourdottwoone may be right about this.
Thank you for your post, it motivated me to quit game after 1.5 years of playing! 
I uninstalled the game on all my platforms (two computers and my phone) the day I made this post and haven’t logged back in since. While I didn’t ask for my account to be deleted, I have not had a single urge to play the game. It’s honestly refreshing. I’m glad you took the jump too. This game isn’t healthy.
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Totally. I’ve always been F2P in GOW. This has not stopped me from joining a competitive guild, nor from going 5/0 against other competitive guilds in GWs.
But I couldn’t care less about leaderboards, especially when the rewards are basically symbolic.
I guess whether someone considers the game P2W or not depends entirely on what they mean by “win”.
In dedicated P2W games, every competition between players results in one gaining a significant advantage over the other. A loss can be devastating. This creates a feedback loop wherein the winners win more and more and the losers fall further and further behind.
In GOW, a “win” counts for little more than bragging rights. You can happily play without caring about rankings at all because they have insignificant effects on your progress.
Let’s hope it stays that way. It’s the very best thing about GOW, and what sets it far apart from many many other games with similar mechanics.
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Well said and I agree with this 100%
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