[GW2] selling power

ArenaNet dev blog on MICROTRANSACTIONS in Guild Wars 2

The moneyshot here:

Here’s our philosophy on microtransactions: We think players should have the opportunity to spend money on items that provide visual distinction and offer more ways to express themselves. They should also be able to spend money on account services and on time-saving convenience items. But it’s never OK for players to buy a game and not be able to enjoy what they paid for without additional purchases, and it’s never OK for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.

This is a very slippery, tricky, dangerous slope. It's already been talked to death in regards to other "Free2Play" games, especially with Diablo III, so I'll try not to drone on.

My issue is this, if you're allowing gold to be traded in-game for real money

(and you are)

 We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold.

aren't you essentially selling power? If gold is a form of power, you're selling power. Isn't it easier (like, an advantage) for people with a lot of money to just buy Cash Shop gold bundlets so that they can buy up the best available gear and grub at the Trading Post?


So, if you really want a set of Hunter gear, weapons and numnums that really maximize your Beastmastery build - you can slowly work towards earning those things in-game. OR you could be a dude with way too much disposable income spending his way through the game without having to spend a wasted second doing any of the time-killing shit.
And that's not an unfair advantage.

It might not even be an unfair advantage if GW2 does wind up selling both gold and "time-saving convenience items" that are essentially buying PvP currency (Chalices of Glory) and Guild buffs (Tomes of Influence).
Right?

Because the key point here is what constitutes an 'unfair advantage', and 'fairness' is defined by the company building the cash shop.