It's certainly up to personal preference and budget as to whether you think it is worth it for stamped. We did stamped on our concrete, because our budget didn't allow for pavers or real stone but we wanted something besides plain concrete. We have integral color, and we haven't sealed it yet (we are still in progress on our renovation). I don't think we are required to seal it, but if we do I've already asked for a matte impregnating sealer that will not create the "wet" look and create the slippery surface that my front porch (stamped and sealed "wet" before we bought the house) has, and our PB says that is completely doable. Right now, with no sealer, our stamped pool deck isn't slippery at all, and the pattern we chose has a lot of texture so that might be helping us. Lots of pics in my thread starting about page 8 in my signature if you want to see!