The decision to do most things server-based as opposed to client based is not laziness or cost. Honestly it's probably more expensive overall to have the server do these things instead of just letting the client handle it. The problem is that SE apparently think this model totally makes sense despite them being the only company that runs such a model, and that's why this problem is serious. It's not that they don't want to or lack the resources to fix the problem. They clearly think the game is perfectly as is. This is a design issue. It'd be like how SWG originally by design does not allow most players to ever become a Jedi. The devs aren't getting extra money out of this. They simply believe that is the way the game ought to be.