pokerbuddy25

@pokerbuddy25 jeremys also made a valid point in first acquiring the capital via credit card fraud or "investment;" hopefully Anet and Ncsoft have (or will have) precautions and preventative measures to detect this like IRL credit card companies (detecting overseas transactions, a large deposit/use, etc.) and "healing measures" like precise and instant rollovers; I do not think these companies will let things like this slide easily or have not thought about it because they (like you and I) would definitely not want a "runaway economy" (abet a digital fictitious one) as that would affect gameplay and indirectly their OWN income; yet the prevention and "healing methods" would have to be a dynamic system because like IRL you cannot "vaccinate" against fraud forever

@pokerbuddy25 dammit ... also forgot to say that this fear of "skipping grind" through "cash shop items" will only be supported if there is a "forced" "needed" grind

I could name many officially stated examples but I will name one in particular that is very close to this issue:

gear/weapons grind... since like many have said... there is a "horizontal gear progression" and that there will be BOTH side kicked up AND down systems and "transmutation stones," there is no real incentive to grind since the "power" is only through the specific skins you would want for your max weapon/armor

though, that does not mean some will not grind at all (double negative again)

but many of the other mechanisms revealed will DETER (yet, not completely prevent) a repetitive, teeth-pulling, "grind-type" gameplay and maybe even the act of "grinding" in gw2 (if even present enough) will be more of a fun game (which I would assume is more solo oriented - though even the aspect of non-forced "grouping" kind of supports that)

Anet does understand human cognition and of course marketing/selling tactics, but they seem to "respect" the gaming community enough; and if there is not a true kind of "respect," at least the financial and public relations horror stories of gamestop controversies, f2p conversions, f2p abuse and controversies, even sub with cash shop controversies (EVE, WoW, perfectworld (LOL), etc.) should HOPEFULLY keep them fairly regulated in "abuse;" plus the gaming community of gw2 should hopefully do the same

well... I lied... i actually said more than one thing XD

@pokerbuddy25 dammit... I hate no editing meant in the middle name any living human being that is not completely UNbiased (yes I hate double negatives also)

You know guys ... there are other ways to create desires without "need" (an extreme from of desire):

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/

click on watch full program online

and yes there are other ways of creating "desire" (demand: basically in a demand/supply logic) than creating a "need"

come on now, even for the products you guys buy IRL; do you guys really "need them?;" they are mostly manufactured desires (though personally I like my shinies IRL :] )

Anet just has to be creative and like Yoh said produce things that people really want; they do not necessarily have to be "gamebreaking," "p2w" (in this definition, skilled game play advantage), or "forced need"

yet both the author of the article (though a bit biased; though name any living human being that is not completely biased) and Yoh are correct in the logic that you cannot really jump to any conclusion (which is going to be a prediction until the game releases and the economics are "stabilized") until more detailed is given

and there does seem to be a bit of morality debates going on here (morality being defined as here as a sense of "injustice" done because the outcome is not what one expects/wishes/wants/etc.)

though it also seems that, indeed, Anet is delving into "uncharted territory" and there is a possibility of things [economy, gameplay, what constitutes "fairness" (basically a morality argument based on the "who deserves what concept")] not going right; however a possibility does NOT Guarantee an "an epic failure;" the only fear (small) is that Anet/NCsoft (whoever has more power in the higher marketing decision making at the time of implementation - I have hoped NCsoft has at least learned from their and others' past mistakes) will be "lazy" and go for the "quick fix approach" of selling skilled gameplay advantage; that that seems unlikely as that is the equivalent of shooting one in the foot (gamestop deux ex controversy anyone?)

really guys, Anet is a corporation/business/made of people too; they cannot run without no profit at all; at least they are trying to come to a mutual benefit for both parities (the consumer and manufacturer (developer)/retailer (publisher - NCSoft)) with as much "transparency" (not satirical quoting) as possible

this may be TL;DR but there are some good points in there (I promise - unless you dissect segments and place them out of context)