The best comment so far is "all you have to do is spend $1200 a year and you can be semi-competitive. Lol.
$1200 a year on a freaking mobile game. Lol.
Real video games cost around $100 with all DLC.
For them to expect this kind of money commitment from people, and that people pay it so willingly, is why PVP is king.
PVP makes them tons of money from people chasing gear and that last +1 speed.
No, FTP players are not competitive in this game. Not at high levels anyway. There may be 1 or 2 out of 1000 that can compete but to compete you must spend. CG Carrie even said so, I think she said they expect $2000 a year from you to stay competitive.
Stop lying about FTP being competitive.
TLDR,
PVP makes them tons of $$ , that's why there is lots of it.