So now contest prizes can be bought?

[Sakuraluna]

People acting like others really care about their "exclusive" items.

It’s not exclusive though. It was always available. If you entered any contest here on the forums you literally could have won it.

I doubt the people who care about this care as much about exclusivity as you make out. It’s like what was said above; if you can eventually get the item you want by just waiting until it’s handed to you, why put in the effort. It’s a larger problem with the game’s current direction as a whole.