A good example of when having 8 retainers helped me make a lot more gil than having 2 is when Shirogane housing came out. And again when they added more wards. Can you simply imagine the amount of gil made from having 8 retainers selling 20X furniture items each on a housing release week? Yes, there was skill and coordination involved in making sure all my retainers were primed to take advantage of that event. But that doesn't change the fact that I made probably 300 million in one week selling furniture while probably stealing everyone else's furniture market simply because I had unfair advantage provide by real-life money (8 retainers). Now if that isn't pay to win--I don't know what is.

It was even worse, because I didn't just have 8 retainers. I had 16, because I paid for a boost on an alt to skip the MSQ so I could access retainers without doing MSQ. Yes. I have a level 1 alt with the MSQ boost that does nothing but sit at the market board and flip furniture.

The retainers have clearly given me an edge in making gil. And I hate it. I hate that I have to spend like 30 bucks a month on patch days to capitalize on marketing boom. But I do it. So if retainers = more gil potential why not just let us buy gil?