Time-gating sucks in quality games for the most part, but sometimes it's necessary, and even more so on free-to-play apps. Developers who make free-to-play MMOs don't just get a team of devs to work on a game for months and go through the costs of server hosting labor just for free or "out of the goodness of their hearts", they do it to make money, since, they are a business after all. Don't expect anything good to come for free.

Freemium is the new craze in games, and it's a great way to make bank. Looking at League here, it's finest culprit. Riot makes absurd amounts of money, despite League being completely free-to-play with no cash-exclusive gameplay modifiers. Freemium games are crafty in the way they eventually take your money, but they have to or there would be no reason for the devs to make the game in the first place.