Quote Originally Posted by LunaHoshino View Post
SE has stated that the cash shop is not and will not be pay to win. The only items in the cash shop are minions, mounts and costumes.

Ergo, owning or collecting those items is not considered "winning" to SE. Simple as that.
So again, no direct statement from them on the exact definition of winning this game and more personal conjecture, that's nice. It's also been mentioned that paid Retainers, another thing offered in the cash shop which you seem to have forgotten, already offer a clear advantage for DoHs in both terms of crafting mats they can obtain and the maximum amount of items they can sell at once on the markets to make a profit, that might very well be almost, if not directly, P2W. About SE statements, they stated CT would be available at launch yet it wasn't, they stated housing prices would be much cheaper at the housing launch yet they weren't, they stated personal housing would be separate from FC housing yet it wasn't.

Ergo other DoW/DoM monetization venues aren't so out of the question and no one should really take their statements as set in stone and unchanging.