Yes the original excuse for cash shop was no EU servers from SE unless cash shop. But since then the question of how the money has been distributed or saved for future projects has been nil.

It is quite possible that all hardware upgrades in the future will only be funded by cash shop. Once upper management thinks they can get out of paying for something or pass the cost along. But no unofficial word about how the money has been spent. Since while some people think the dev team lifts the sun in the morning and sets it at night, they can just as easily tell half truths or bold face lies.

Also I am sure that a lot or at least I would stop questioning this. If 4.0 inventory is really fixed (serious doubts) and all players had equal opportunity for content. Those seem like some pretty steep financial commitments. I am confident at this point I will be greatly let down. Nothing from the current dev team leads me to believe that they have a handle on inventory or accessibility.