The problem is the majority of people of this forum (from what I've read on this thread) agree with SE saying it's optional, other MMO have cash shop that cost more, etc etc... To be fair, I don't buy those because I also believe since we pay a subscription, we should access everything for free, but, I guess i'm too old now for the new generation of gamers who like to throw their money by the windows, back in my time we used to pay a game for it's whole, but whatever. The problem is : people buy it, anyway. If nobody were buying a 30$ mount, they would probably decrease the price, but since people do love micro transaction, well, that's what happens. There is nothing that we can do as long as people are willing to pay that much for some pixels in a game...