Is Path of Exile Pay to Win?

The world of action RPGs have exploded over the last couple of years, with new titles making headway in the genre. Unfortunately, some of them haven’t been cursed with pay-to-win mechanics that have left a bad taste in the mouths of many players. One popular ARPG, Path of Exile, has been around for quite some time, but is gaining steam with the advent of the genre. But is Path of Exile pay to win like the others, or is it a shining example of an ARPG done right?

Is Path of Exile Pay to Win?

To answer the question of whether or not Path of Exile is a pay-to-win game, we have to define what pay-to-win is. The most common definition of pay-to-win is a mechanic in a game that gives players the ability to use real-world money to purchase power, whether it be direct purchase, or more frequently, through random loot boxes. This power usually comes in the form of items, which give that player a massive time and power advantage over other players making the game imbalanced.

With that definition in mind, let’s take a look at Path of Exile’s monetization model to determine if it fits. There are a few different kinds of microtransactions in Path of Exile. 

• Cosmetics
• Stash Tabs
• Mystery Boxes
• Vault Pass

Nearly all of the microtransactions within Path of Exile are cosmetic in nature. These come in the form of transmog skins for your items, different hideouts and decorations, skill effects, portals, pets, and more. There are direct purchase options for these items, as well as mystery boxes that contain the current league’s offerings of cosmetic items. The Vault Pass also contains cosmetics. These provide no direct player power whatsoever.

Stash tabs are as they sound, extra tabs for you to store your items and goods in. There are specialized stash tabs that give some increased functionality over regular stash tabs, such as having your crafting currency or maps be stored in those dedicated tabs with increased capacity over a normal tab. Premium tabs also can come in larger sizes and can be made public for players to post items easily to the trade website for other players to pick up. 

While these tabs provide a lot of quality of life for players who choose to purchase them, they do not provide any power gains on characters. Yes, they can make your mapping and farming experience a bit faster, as you won’t have to worry about inventory management as much, but this doesn’t translate to a significant advantage over players who don’t have these tabs. This is the closest thing to pay to win in the game, but that’s up for debate.

The long and short of it is, Path of Exile is not a pay-to-win game. It offers incredible cosmetic purchases in-game, and has some quality-of-life purchases that can be had though they aren’t mandatory by any means. Do you think that premium stash tabs are considered pay-to-win? Let us know!