I saw that stuff when it first came out. I was playing AoC during my time in the Army which was before 2010. I even played on the Cimmeria server when it was still a thing. And no, not all the paid stuff was entirely cosmetic in nature.

I’m sorry to say but your reaction to a ‘little’ advantage here, and a ‘little bit’ there is what causes this stuff to take root. I do remember a time when there was a sizeable portion of the consumer base in video games that didn’t even like paid cosmetics and wanted everything in a game to be included into its purchase price. But they were eventually worn down.

And while I have seen development teams do paid cosmetics well, for each one that does, there’s 10 others that get greedy and push the envelope. Right now, the Lead Designer of CE does a pretty decent job keeping a leash on the greed. But what happens if he retires or moves on to other prospects, will his successor keep that same vision?

This stuff is always precariously near the edge of becoming absolute garbage. A concern @Kikigirl is right to be concerned on, to that I will give them credit for.