So stash tabs vastly improve the game experience, and while technically someone could play POE without them, they would have to spend most of their time micromanaging their inventory (which isn’t fun at all). Also one of the stash tabs–the premium stash tab–allows players to sell items to other players (which generates much more in-game currency for the player than if they had to just sell the item to an in-game vendor). Without these extra stash tabs, players would constantly have full inventories and would be unable to pick up valuable loot. And in a game that revolves around customization and trying different builds, players need to have a variety of different items at their disposal. Utility MTX, referred to as stash tabs in POE, expand the player’s inventory so that they can hold more items.

Utility MTX on the other hand, are basically essential quality-of-life upgrades that vastly improve the game experience.

Cosmetic MTX, such as character/hideout appearance alterations or a pet tiger, are fun additions to the game, but a player can easily go without these MTX as they only provide aesthetic value. POE’s MTX can be split into two main types–cosmetic and utility. And this difference is how POE makes its revenue–by selling MTX that considerably enhance the gameplay experience and could almost be considered necessary in order to further play the game. However gameplay advantage does not always equate to gameplay experience as we will discuss. POE’s MTX, which are the sole way that POE makes money off of players, are well-regarded in the gaming community as they keep the playing field fair and level by offering no gameplay advantage to the player. Today, I will be examining how the league system also continuously generates real revenue for POE’s developers through microtransactions (MTX). In my previous post, I discussed how Path of Exile’s (POE) unique league system prevents in-game prices from bottoming out, thus holding player interest and keeping the game experience fresh.

Path of exile inventory space