GS is a monetized grind; the free path will continue to become less achievable. By design.

Blueprints are also for direct sale on top of the subscription. Double-monetized, if you will.

Oh boy. The reason monetized systems exist is to create problems for which solutions can be sold. The odd tuning in the present moment doesn't matter; EA's playing the long game, normalizing the mechanics needed to drive future sales.

It's a fact; Blueprints are for sale on the subscriber GS track.

Blueprints are for sale on the Subscriber GS Track.

Blueprints are absolutely for sale.

Remember, this is a monetized system. Like all monetized grinds, most of us are intended to frustrated, to incentivize cash purchases. This is a feature, not a bug, from the Emperor's perspective.

Sure you can, it just means buying up to 94 GS levels first. Then, the last three expansions are apparently CC-only.

You forget this is primarily a Cash Shop stronghold. I suspect the monetized portions will be better.

It's part of the cash shop. @JackieKo please tell the Emperor how thankful we are for you and your team's responsiveness to all things cold, hard cash. ❤️

OR P2W transactions should be opposed on principle, and we ought to get beyond arguing over how much advantage-for-money is too much. Any is a problem.

The definition you propose for P2W would allow so much malevolence it's meaningless. You fail to see it's a question of kind (yes/no), not degree (too much?). People defending the sale of Crystals, which are literal best-in-slot gear for cash, shows how effectively EA has groomed us for abuse.

This is where I argue it's a question of kind, and not degree, which is the creeping doom that gets defended here.

This is instructive. EA is literally selling best-in-slot gear, and you don't care because it's just a little. We shouldn't be the Niemöller of unethical business practices. "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out."

Easy example: Literally anything worth having in the Cash Shop, which functions like another premium currency and launders cash into core game systems. If you want to Aug-out an endgame character, nothing comes close to the efficiency of Cash-to-Credits conversions on the GTN. It's the thinnest of shell games. Or: Crystals are literal BiS gear for direct sale.