I get what you're saying - I really do. But what it boils down to is a disagreement over the extent to which you can pay for an advantage. It seems like in your opinion, if you can pay for a slight or temporary advantage, that's not pay to win.

in my opinion, if you can pay for something in the game that gives you an advantage over other players, it's pay to win.

I don't think your strategy guide comparison holds, because that's information that you could find elsewhere for free, and getting skilled at a game is a separate issue. Comparing advantage of paid- vs. non-paid items is only fair when we're talking about players of equal skill, anyway. Otherwise it's a moot point.

Basically I don't think we're going to agree on this, but it seems like you agree that you DO get some kind of advantage by purchasing req packs. Whether or not that makes a game "pay to win" is a useless semantic argument, I guess.