Almost every similar game out there is P2W, people pay to get an edge over others. Take away that or reduce the impact of gaining an edge over others and I doubt many will bother spending as much as they are now. That being said, apart from the bad RNG, this game is kinda generous in giving free stuffs and gems already imo.
Yup. I think every free game is P2W game in disguise. They set environment to tempt players to spend. This game seems to set the difficulty of getting good heroes at low rate while giving u a lot more of other resources to make you feel needed to get good heroes so you can invest those resources on. Still, in the end, it's those that play longer that are stronger. Not those that spend more at some point of time.