When the population was decent, it wasn't too bad to earn RPs from the EM then use that on the IM. Then the monthly RP requirements became too steep and you had Epics and Upgrades. Everything fell apart after that and the servers became ghost towns very quickly. It was literally a mass exodus.

So the cash shop isn't so bad in principle, it's just how it's implemented that needs to go back to basics. A vibrant community and an open exchange market is what's needed but neither of those things are going to happen now.