The cosmetic cash shop has inspired fear, dread, and moaning since it was first announced, and yet we have not seen the devs stop introducing new cosmetic content into the game client proper.

While one could argue that these items could simply be placed into the game under the base subscription model, one could also argue that, without the additional revenue provided by the cash shop, the budget to implement some of the original cash shop content would not exist, and we wouldn't be seeing it regardless.

Unless one of us here has a direct line to the people at SE who work with this sort of thing, we have no way of knowing.

As for items like the Eastern-themed additions popping up immediately prior to launch, that's just intelligent marketing. People who are content to wait until 4.0 will no doubt have access to a ton of that sort of content already built-in, even if the cash shop items remain technically unique.