Its only a p2w game because of the majority of p2w players. You can still progress without buying bundles but there will be a significantly big power difference. Its a great game if you are able to find a fun bunch of people to play with. Caution; big players will try to establish a "government" for your server sooner or later and put forth rules that prevent you from attacking p2w guys. The main reason being focused mainly on SVS ie. Week long Cross server war. This can make state boring.