Originally Posted by
Krr
Money is player power, and there was a promise that player power won't be sellable in the cash shop.
Making a lot of money - and then using it to invest in goods, such as houses - is by design considered the 'victory condition' of several activities, including crafting and gathering, which are major core components of the game. If this 'victory condition' didn't exist, few players would bother investing time or energy into the game. By spending $20 to effectively buy a personal house ingame, you are paying to win and gaining power over the economy.
Money also directly contributes to combat power in endgame content by enabling you to purchase food, optimally spiritbonded gear, and high-quality X-potions, which give significant enough advantages that they're basically considered mandatory by HC raid groups.
'Paying to win' in most game design statements does not mean 'paying to beat game content,' it means being able to purchase player power with real-life money. Minions, etc, are not player power, though they can be acquired through player power.
Gil is absolutely player power. It allows you to do everything from buying raid supplies to teleporting across the entire world to making sure your equipment still gives you stat bonuses after n amount of minutes spent in combat to purchasing and owning land that lets you more efficiently and exclusively use player power by centralizing most of your basic needs (such as NPCs and even crafting bonus stations).