Can we stop pretending that Path of Exile is free to play?

But it is.....

Did you ever play the end game with four basic stash tabs?

It's a bit of an academic exercise at this point. Yes, you could, but it would be terrible.

The basic requirement to enjoy end game is at least one entry level support pack. It's not expensive, I've spent far more than that. You too I think.

Four basic stash tabs just really isn't enough to actually progress through the end game anymore. Probably since breach or so.

It is absolutely F2P, that is not even remotely a discussion. You can play and it is free. So let's get that out of the way.

Now is it "Pay to Win"? While dicey, you can absolutely beat the game and all content without buying anything, including tabs.

I created a second account a year back to test, as this argument comes up occasionally.

I created a character, in a standard league, hc league, and ssf league.

In every case I was able to beat all content, including Uber Elder.

Was it tight? Absolutely. I did not have more than a few empty slots in the stash.

However, that right there proves you can win without paying a dime. Though I would not recommend it, if you plan on playing for a long time and many characters.

So to answer the question is it P2W, no it is not. You can win without putting any money into it.

The question isn't can you fully enjoy the game, etc. Obviously it is more enjoyable to have more stash tabs and even some MTXs for some. However you don't have to have any of it and that is a fact.

Let's make this simple.

The game is Free-to-Play because you can play all the content without paying anything.

The game is P2W because anything that gives any advantage in an online game that can be achieved in legal means with real life money (this doesn't include 3rd party RMT that is another story) is P2W. Stashes reduce the amount of time required to organize your inventory and enhance trade, so that's a clear advantage.

We can agree that PoE P2W is not really impactful since it consists only in P4Q (pay for quality of life).

TL:DR => Poe is FTP, POE is P2W but only in the "pay for convenience" model of p2W.

OMG, no offense m8, but there are plenty of 100% free content games out there. Made as a hobby project, by one person, on weekends. Do you realize how much GGG spends a month on employees wages alone?

IMHO current "pay for quality of life" (love this description :) is more than fair.

F2P = You can access all content. You pay with Your TIME and ATTENTION not money. PoE is LITERALLY FtP.

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Zakaluka wrote:

It's not really free. GGG / Tencent will continue calling it free.

Jesus Christ!

Of course it's not "free". Tencent/GGG will never call it "free". It IS "free to play", and Tencent/GGG will continue to call it "free to play".

F2P ≠ Free

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ajo wrote:

And while talking about essences, I don't think you could even understand the inconvenience of storing and upgrading these without a special tab. You would literally have to manually search for them by "muttering" "screaming" etc, look for piles bigger than 3, then head to the vendor and back. You'd be better of not upgrading at all and probably not even bother picking them up unless it's top tier due to both upgrade inconvenience and storage bloat.

They aren't worth picking up below the 75 one anyway, I don't think you understand the inconvenience of buying a stash tab for loot that fits in about 2 rows of a regular stash tab :p

The same applies to both the unique tab and the div card tab, all you are doing is storing worthless garbage. If you are SSF you have an excuse <3 love you SSF players

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ajo wrote:

They literally say this ffs:

"

The game is completely free and will never be "pay to win"

Never seen that. I've seen they say "The game is completely free to play, and will never be pay to win".

But as you're so sure, I'll trust you on that. A slip on their behalf.

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ajo wrote:

https://www.pathofexile.com/game

When I say I trust you, no link is needed.

That is very... "Grey zone", if you ask me.