Quote Originally Posted by Ageofwar View Post
I think FFXIV is a little far from that situation
It only takes one decision of the higher ups, so you're always just one step away from it, even if you don't even have a cash shop in the game yet.

But honestly, even if they did put stat items and stuff into the cash shop, that doesn't really affect gameplay in this game. PvP is synced, like 90% of the FATEs are synced, all but the current expert dungeons are synced and even one of those is. Raids instagib you even in BiS if you fail a mechanic and as people are eager to point out, getting to a certain progression point faster than others isn't P2W, or else the jump potions would be already and we'd need to have an uproar.
The only places where you get a tangible advantage worth mentioning over other players are max level FATEs and Hunts, where your contribution takes away from the contribution of others. And even then, even equip 10 iLvL above the current raid equip would only last you 6 months, a duration at which people are already complaining getting gear the easy and free way isn't worth it.

I doubt SE could get into that situation if they tried. They'd need to go extremely overboard with the stats on the cash items for an uproar to be more than superficial.