I think the key factor here is , that yes SoE likes money, Who doesnt. But SoE is pretty blind to the way people wanna play.
Had SoE released a "Legacy" server (basically EQ: core, much akin to how guildwars was running) and allowed people who bought the EQ core 9.95 jewelbox cd free , unlimited access. Would there really be a need for this project? Or lets say make a server like storm hammer, with all the extra cost affiliated with it. If there paying 40 a month to play there, should they NOT be able to summon items like aguide/gm? no ,what does storm hammer get? zones 3 months earlier than the rest of the servers, and some lame ass GM quests, which its already been pretty well realized SoE/vi Produced GM quest simply blow.
So the point here really is, SoE turned their backs on a certain portion of their potentail market base. So that market base turned to other sources for that service. And whats worse, is they are starting to alienate more people with the constant nerfing that seems to go on any more. People dont like the idea of paying money to play, devoting time to working very hard to obtain something, only to have it later taken away from you, or made to be irrelevant.
I do agree, for everyone who wants to come to these servers. Have a little decency, and pay the cash to purchase the CD, and in all honesty, go make use of that first free month on EQ live. Seriously. Ppl need to see how the game is intended to work for all players, before they get all the extra tools at their disposal.
Also as a suggestion, if your playing on any server with any kind of frequency, ya know, try and donate a little to the cause.(havent yet, but will be soon
It will only help the people who are running the server, run it better, more stabley, and more efficently. Example if everyone who plays on guildwars server, donated 10 dollars 1 time, that would help image immensely to further the stability , and over all size allowance of the server in general.
But all in all , these are all just my opinions. take them for what their worth