Are Stash Tabs Pay To Win ? Science

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johnKeys a écrit :

first, let's get something straight, Jackel:

March 2012 to June 2013, isn't January 2013 to this day. a solid 2 years.
and more importantly, Closed Beta didn't have temporary leagues that merge with Standard and HC - which make you feel the full slap to the face of having just 4 tabs, every time it happens.
and non-Void-League races with their occasional cool finds and rewards? yep.

also - for the sake of your sanity - I hope you were deleting most of your dead HC characters and giving their stuff away, like I was.
otherwise, I really don't know where I'd store my stuff, because even Guild Stash is no longer an option after I filled it up multiple times.
I'm leaving things on the crafting benches in the Hideout, right now.
I'm also having a seriously hard time sorting gems and doing Vendor Recipes in Standard.
doing what is bread and butter for a mostly-solo player like myself.

so like I said, it is a heck of a lot more than an "inconvenience" to not have extra Tabs.
therefore, I stick firmly with my definition they are in fact an advantage. a huge one.
I sure as hell have the right to use that definition, after 2 years of inflicting this punishment on myself. 2 years of deliberately buying stuff that are not Stash Tabs, because I believe they are P2W, and stand out among all MTX and Supporter Packs, in being P2W.

but we'll get to that in a second, because first you have to agree with me they are an advantage.

so, assuming you did - does advantage equal P2W? best answer: depends.

like people here said before me, if you are competing on the ladder and/or hardcore-trading and/or doing anything that requires having an edge on another player/s - Tabs become that edge. one you paid GGG for. P2W.

if you are not competing and just playing for your own leisure, is where I step in and say - from my own experience - not having Tabs can be a chapter in Dante's Inferno.
does that alone make them P2W? no. they are a giant convenience and a huge advantage over someone who doesn't have them, but since you aren't competing with that person - they remain only that. "borderline P2W" if you will, and you aren't crossing the border.

but now you have to remember, Path Of Exile is - by definition - a competitive game.
therefore, the amount of people *not* competing, should be a minority.
so, by virtue of the first case being more common than the second - I can now finally claim tabs are P2W.

mind you, it doesn't make the game P2W.
it's not.
and you can't even begin to compare Path Of Exile to some shitty phone game or crappy Korean MMO, where you have to buy stuff to actually beat the game.
but Stash Tabs vs. no Stash Tabs is - in my opinion - a P2W feature in a non-P2W game. the only P2W feature. in a game and company that literally live off player's money. it would be easier for GGG to go "full P2W". many others did in a similar situation. but they didn't. and they deserve a ton of respect for that.