Allow me to translate (Gaming)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Tuesday, July 07, 2020, 11:10 (1387 days ago) @ MacAddictXIV

When I played dota 2, it was a game that was completely free. It is based off of a free mod that was for Warcraft 3. I started to play it because it was free and got some of my friends to play it. We had a great time and there were MTs in the game because otherwise they wouldn't make money. So you get random cosmetics of lower quality for just playing games. I naturally equipped them even if they weren't for most of the characters I liked playing but you never know when I might! Anyway, it came to a point where there were some cooler looking cosmetics that were for characters that I played more often. My rational thought was that I appreciated this game and I had played it enough for free that I wanted to give back to the company that made it, so I spent money on it. I think I must have played on and off for roughly 5 years and spent probably around $100 bucks. Would I have paid $60 or even $70 for it up front? No.

Were these cosmetics only available by purchase? Or could you earn them?