I am so saddened...

[Mindspank]

That's the thing, though
Everyone says it's P2W. This is simply inaccurate. You don't have to put a single dime into this game to enjoy it. You simply have the wrong mindset.

This statement is both true and false, because you have to establish a baseline for what "enjoyment" is. You also need to define what "winning" is. This is what people in the Fiesta community have fought over for a decade now.

For some people, the enjoyment doesn't come from the game itself but from the social ties they make. The friends they make along the way. Sentimental stuff like that. If that's what you define as enjoyment, then you're absolutely right, you don't need to spend a single cent in the game. If you're making friends and having fun, you're winning.

However, for some people, the enjoyment comes from the challenges the game presents. Either in PvE or PvP, they strive to be the best at whatever class they choose to play. For these people, equipment enhancements, exp boosters and tevas are essential, and as such, they MUST spend money on the game, or they risk falling behind or losing progress by dying or breaking equipment. If you're raiding and cracking skulls in FBZ, you're winning.

Fiesta is a very slippery game in the sense that it pulls you in with it's simplicity and makes it all about the fun and the journey but along the way you start to get bogged down and even the most social of players have to make a decision as to whether or not they're going to invest money and keep up or not invest money and fall behind. This can even cause them to be excluded from their social circles to "make room for better players".

Fiesta can best be described as a machine that bends sticks. The player being the stick. It's a soft bend at first, but, as the levels get higher and the gear requirements get steeper, the pressure is on, and it's up to you as to whether or not you break and buy cash shop items.

This isn't an affront against anyone who uses cash shop items. In the height of my playtime, I spent around 10k in one year. I know the struggle. It's just that the whole "It's P2W, it's not P2W" argument is so disingenuous.

A better way to look at it is Pay to Play.

You're either paying with your time by avoiding the cash shop, or paying with your wallet for the shortcuts the cash shop affords. Either way, you're paying.