I didn't read all of the posts, just main post, but I registered here because I want to talk about two images posted by OP and give my opinion about the server.
The first pic I want to talk about (discord message by "Deer") is mine. I didn't sell any of those costumes, despite trying, so even if I had them, I got no zeny for them. ALSO, I didn't pay real money to get them, so it's not an argument to say the server is p2w, because no real money payment was made, and even if it did, no zeny or advantages that can be considered "win" existed.
The second pic (message by "Sing"), is also me, but before I changed my profile on Alf's discord. I was just asking how to search for costumes with the command to find who sells things. Two considerations about that on: a) I couldn't find the costume because I was looking with the wrong name; b) the @ws fail happens even if you look for the correct things, because there's a cooldown time between searches. That message had no relation to paying or winning whatsoever.
Now my opinion about the server, since I have both donated AND bought donation things with zeny: I don't see how aesthetic items, even if you obtain them by paying real money, contribute to winning, other than relatively mild zeny amount you can get. From what I see recently, items worth around 5-6 USD in Cash Shop may vary from 1m to 3m zeny. I farmed one full day in Skel Workers and got almost 17m by selling cards, just to compare. So I don't see how one could simply go and pay to win, because PLAYING clearly leads to a lot more win than PAYING.
About the changes, I honestly don't see any that makes the game worse than it is in classic. What's buffed needed buffs and what's nerfed needed nerfs (especially prices of dropped gear that lead to huge inflation, and were very well adjsted). And I'm all for changing TKM btw (something that is planned iirc). The custom dungeons add things the game desperately needed: good places to level up as some classes that were usually leeched, or better endgame experience. Even at rates 3x with occasional event boosts to 6x, it feels way better to level up than rates 5x that occasionally float up to 8x (yes, I'm comparing with ORO). About random options in gear, it DOES add more RNG, obviously. However, it also makes a lot of things that would be very expensive quite accessible, because the value is shifted towards gear with better rolls, so if you want to be casual, you can still enjoy good gear, but with less optimal options. I don't see how that makes things worse, unless you're extremely picky with wanting the best of the best gear... for which case you can't get it by paying.
