I know and understand the whole idea of maximizing artist hours for cosmetic DLC. It's an understandable reason for it to exist.
However, the big thing about MTX to me is the way it changes my perception of the game and how it feels to interact with it. Playing games without in-game cash shops or MTX allows me to focus on the game itself and feel that what I've purchased is one cohesive piece that works in a singular purpose towards a goal of something enjoyable to play and rewarding to explore the content of.
Something like Prey 2016. My entire memory and experience of playing that game is absolutely nothing but the experience of the lore, atmosphere, gameplay, decisions, and the creativity of exploration. At no point was I ever passing over menu options designed to sell me more piecemeal content, I wasn't wading through a reel of battle pass cosmetics, I wasn't attempting to ignore little rectangular ads on the main menu asking me to check some skins out.
And again, I totally understand why those things are there and I'm not inherently against their existence, I enjoy many games where those experiences are a part. In the end, I just believe that being free of that stuff absolutely makes a game feel perceptibly better and more pure, more of a game and less of a transparently monetized product.
I also feel like there's a sort of forbidden knowledge aspect to the whole "maximizing artist labor time for cosmetic MTX". The best way for cosmetic MTX to happen is to utilize extra possible labor time that couldn't be used elsewhere. I'd love to believe that any cosmetic MTX took no time or development from any other part of the game. I'd love to believe that no amazing visual design for armor or weapons was held because its more premium appearance would better fit a paid item than a free base game one.
But you'll never know that for sure. There will always be that inkling of cynical doubt that the cool item got a price tag and the okay one ended up in the base game. That the visual artists are so burnt making constant art for base game and then MTX that their energy couldn't be focused solely on the core experience. I can assume, I can take the company's word for it, but I'll never be able to cleanse my mind of the knowledge that it's a separate kind of content from the base game.