I think this quote of yours points exactly where lies the difference between your vision and the one I share with AJ and please allow me to explain.
I think there are three main categories of people playing the game: gamblers, investors and consumers.
I don't think I have to talk much about gamblers - we all know them and, just like AJ, I think that MA did a great job by creating a little game in the game for them (the EP IV BPs); considering that all professions are designed in such a way that "the house" always has a cut of the rolled money, it means they are practically paying (a big part of) the bills for the rest of us. They may not give us PEDs directly anymore (by paying MUs for our hunted/looted/crafted items), but, by playing on their EP IV "slots machine", they do pay a fair amount of money to MA, allowing them to keep the boat floating. And, since all of them, pay their share, it's obviously that "the more the better" - actually, instead of showing them all the hate that they are shown, I think we all should encourage them to keep gambling and loosing money.
Then there are the "investors", people that are in here mostly for the RCE factor, that try to play smart and "beat the game", that expect their "investments" to retain their value and even give them positive returns. And I think here can be included all kind of people - from the free players that expect to pay their next computer with sweat to the big land/business owners who spent a considerable amount of money and who want to recover their investment, then even make profit. A certain number of such "investors" are for sure needed, since there would be no real "economy" without them, but just like in real life, they should represent a minority, not a majority. Luckily, not all that try to achieve that also succeed, because, if they would, the game would be belly up since a long time ago, for the simple fact that these players (if successful) instead of representing a source of income, (would) end up representing a net lose for MA.
And, honestly, I think we have too many such players.
Finally, there are the "consumers" or the casual gamers... that play the game for fun, not for making profit. You ask what is the point buying equipment any more when you know that something better will be introduced next VUs that will make said equipment lose his value and eventually become obsolete? Well, let me ask you a few similar questions? What is the point in buying a computer, knowing that some better computers will appear in the following months that will make your computer lose his value and eventually become obsolete? What is the point of WoW players wasting their time, nerves and keyboards in end-game raids to get best-in-slot gear, knowing that said gear become obsolete any time a new patch is applied? And the answer is simple... the point is that these items provide entertainment value for the time while they last... and no, they are not stupid or anything, they are fully aware that their items (either we talk about RL or virtual ones) will lose value over time, but they're OK with that, because they don't treat the money deposited here as an investment (that they necessarily want back, eventually with some profit), but as an expense for their entertainment. Such people don't mind that the gun they paid $80 on last Christmas is only valuing $20 nowadays; they'll just buy a new, better gun, from their $80 Christmas deposit of this year; they don't really mind that animal oil MU dropped from 104% to 101%, they're TTing it anyway and eat the lose, just because they can't be bothered trying to squeeze every PED or PEC.
And, honestly, I think we have too few such players.
And thing is that exactly this kind of players should represent the majority of players if we want a healthy economy and, more important, a sustainable and profitable game that will still be alive and prospering years from now on. And yeah, I think that's the kind of players the devs should focus on attracting, by lowering the cost to play, create more content for low to mid level players, bring more predictability in looting, etc, because, at the end of the day, is the players that are OK with paying for their entertainment (loosing money) that pay the server bills, not the ones that (want to) make profit and withdraw. Everyone knows WOW because of the hard core raiders (and they indeed, advertised the game for years), but truth is that for every one hard core raider that finish heroic raids and stuff like that, there are over 100 players that just pay their subscription fee to have fun with their friends.
that cut demand for oils etc and put mark ups back to where they began in the main. This confused me greatly as the two decisions seem at odds with the perceived intention of the other. 
