Jurassic World Alive

You go into the shop quite frequently getting your free incubator so you see a lot of prices. When your rank levels up, you get a one time level up offer with an incubator that costs less than in the store.

Kinda. I wouldn't say it's straight up gambling, but there is sometimes an element of luck in what you get. Several incubators have guaranteed DNA. You can usually see what's in an incubator (see the Recurring Fee section) but sometimes it's a matter of luck if you get what you need. Let's say an incubator has 1000 common DNA, 500 rare DNA, and 200 epic DNA. You will always get that number, but the DNA you get can be for creatures you don't need.

There is a VIP program that costs $9.99 a month USD. For that price, you get some minor in game buffs and rewards, but more importantly, you also get the privilege to spend even more money on "offers" and "deals" in the shop. Anyone in the shop can see offers for the VIPs, and for those on the fence buying VIP, you cannot see the exact contents of what you get until you pay for VIP.

Flocks. Flocks are an OP mechanic of some dinosaurs that skew fights incredibly in their favor. Flocks were a mistake. That's one example. There are also several dinosaurs that, for a time, were absolutely OP and impossible to get outside of the store and certain events, but currently that's not happening currently. That's not saying it won't happen again, though.

There are items called incubators in this game. Two types of incubators open after waiting a certain amount of time. One type is in the shop (shocker there), and the other type you can get from doing PvP battles. The shop one can be opened every 6 hours, whereas the battle ones vary in time depending on the type on incubator, from as little as 15 minutes to as much as 24 hours, and only one of those can can have an active timer at a time. You can only have 4 battle incubators at a time.

Every time you enter the shop (which you do a lot to get a timed incubator) the first thing that gets your attention is a scrolling banner full of offers ranging from $5 to $100. These offers usually last a couple of days. In addition, this game has a monthly pass system. There is a free track and a premium track. Notably, if you buy the premium track, you get enough DNA to unlock a creature you would just miss out on by staying on the free track. There is also a grand premium track.

There are guilds in this game called alliances. I've had times where I wanted a break, but I didn't want to fall behind and lose my spot in my alliance and miss out on rewards. Every week, there is an alliance event to fight in an tournament for DNA for a strong dinosaur. The fights range from actually kinda fun to absolute despair, seething rage, and complete hopelessness where you barely have enough copium to contribute enough for the week.

In an alliance, you can share dinosaur DNA and get coins for contributing, but I'd call that more "equivalent exchange" than a favor.

There is a recruitment program for friends and you get more rewards the longer the friend stay with the game and level up their player rank. If you have not recruited anyone to play the game, there is a notification that stays around on you UI that doesn't go away.

Coins? Power? Items? It's all yours, my friend, if you're willing to pay. There are several incubators in the store you can buy with IRL money, and there are some incubators you can buy with cash. Most of the cash incubators in store are inaccessible to people who get cash at the game's pace. These incubators can have coins and valuable DNA to upgrade dinosaurs, giving whales a massive advantage.