Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
It isn't really 'pay to win'. I tried it out a month after launch, didn't spend a single bit of money on the store and still managed to catch up easily enough between the items I gained naturally and the generous rewards offered through the login bonuses/special events.

With Square Enix flirting with NFT's and selling dolls of comfort characters for £1000 I also find it strange to bash one game for optional purchases but ignore the other. Even if you want to go 'well it's just cosmetics' and ignore stuff like emotes and minions being tied to merchandise, to get extra inventory space in FFXIV you need to pay extra each month.
I haven't heard of anyone spending several grand on XIV within the first month, but that is most definitely a thing in lost Ark.