This game in no way relies on microtransactions. They are completely optional, they add nothing to the game, they take nothing away from it. They are mostly just cosmetic and are also very easily attainable to earn through just playing and earning points to buy them.

This argument has never made sense to me. If microtransactions are in a game, clearly someone is expected to buy them, they don't just add them for the fun of it. With that in mind, there is always going to be something in the game designed to encourage you to buy them.

Fallout 76 seems to have gone the tf2 route of cosmetics, which is designed to create a "i wish i had that" feeling in other players who see them, combined with earning small amounts of the currency needed to buy items to give them a taste of what they could get, and to tempt the more impatient to pay up.

Tonnes of games work this way, and while you may personally not be bothered by it, it is patently false that this is "completely optional", as you are unavoidably subjected to demonstrations of things you will not get unless you wait or pay. If that doesn't eff andevt you then great, but that could easily ruin the game for some people.

"It's just cosmetic" and "It's optional" are non-arguments that fail to fully address the impact a system like this can have on people. In a f2p game that is ok, since its the real cost of entry. When it's a full price release, and also in this state? Not so much.