There was a time ARK devs promised this game would never be P2W. Now, here we are, with probably the best creature in the game being locked behind a $5 pay wall-- but wait, it gets even better! This dino will spawn whether you have the DLC or not, and you will not be able to tame it or use it even if another player gives you one.
Cryopods were nerfed in ASA, making caves harder. Just buy the Pyromane, it can be a shoulder pet AND a cave mount! Land travel? No problem, the Pyromane has you covered! Bosses? You betcha, this dino can kill pretty much every boss with purely wild stats (no mutations!), as well as making the Tek Cave a literal joke! How does it affect PVP? It's laughable that you'd even ask. Let's make this mount also become a shoulder pet flamethrower that auto aims, since the flamethrower is already broken AF! Oh, and say goodbye to the otter, because this bad boy gives insulation as a shoulder pet too!
You are at a complete disadvantage if you do not have this DLC, and this is only the first in a line of creatures they are planning. Soon, the game will be filled with creatures you can not interact with without shilling out money, taking up all the spawn points in your game and being there whether you want them or not. Other players will have them whether you want them or not.
But hey, it's only $5 for a single dinosaur, when an entire map, multiple creatures and multiple new items was only $20 on ASE!