Guys, Is it possible that you can spend real money for in game gold (a pay to win situation)? I don't have too much patience to gain gold and get my gear back ever since the shutdown.
"gold", and "gear" in the same sentence? Seems to be another confusion between Gold and Coin. To be clear - Coin is what you buy stuff with, either in trade or in stores ... Gold is what your villagers mine, or your market carts &/or merchant boats earn by travelling between markets/docks. A very long time ago there used to be coin farmers dealing in all sorts of in-game currency, including AoEO when MS was still half-interested in it - you could pay them money through some dodgy website and hope they showed up in game to deliver your 'purchased' coin. How many of them were real vs how many were scams I don't know ... I suspect the latter. So if you wish to give your Visa card details (and money) to some Nigerian 419 scammer on his lunch break or some Indian 'Windows tech support' dude that's tiring of being insulted because of his accent ... then, go for it.