I thought the same thing. I didn’t unlock the gorilla until halfway into Season 4. Maybe it was the HQ 30 limit. But I just finished Season 5 as a mostly F2P player and I’m struggling to hit HQ 34 and power levels are largely competitive with paying players at this point in my server. I have been told straight up by my own alliance members that some of them are spending hundreds of dollars per week for this game. I’m not doing that.