The biggest problem with EU is the bar never stopped moving, and likely never will. When I started, you could get the best guns at the time (mod merc/imk2), and a (mod/imp) fap for under 1k USD. The cost of the highest-level guns is now the cost of a down payment on a fairly nice home. As well to compete at even what is now a "medium" level you're looking at cycling in the hundreds of USD per hour. It was fun when I started, it's now a job... look at the 20-hour-per-day cyclers, it's shameful what these products can do to our monkey brains.
The notion of 'investment' in EU is a lie sold to you by whatever title you'd like to call them ... I thought crypto bro was funny. This is one of the most volatile markets I've ever seen. You have to be Nostradamus to make an informed decision unless you're playing with insider knowledge...*wink*. Sure, there are ways to scrape out a few dollars but all of them are surpassed by any meaningful real-life activity unless you live in a country where income is impossible, or you're one of the lucky 1%.
Why do you think there are specific individuals here, no matter how blatantly obvious a fact is, who will still ignore or defend MA or simply deflect and try to make you feel small? How can you invest in a place where MA can flip a switch and turn on SIB guns, or anything similar in the future, and make your last 10 years of investments basically zero? How can you invest in a place where they make massive mistakes and print money for specific avatars? (if that happened in real life in a bank or lottery, they take it back, not sure about your country but that is the sane thing to do). I also know a very juicy secret about an exploit that MA swept under the rug 10 years ago (they fixed it, they just never told you), that is still causing the market to fail in one area.
The fact is, EU is rotten to the core, and what we actually need is new management. We need management who is transparent, who communicates, and who are actual game developers. It's fine to have "high roller" areas, I would never tell an individual person how they can enjoy the life they live. In fact, we need to all stop bickering like we do irl against each other, come together, and take back the game we all loved to play. Even if you love the current state, you need to fight with everyone who cares because you will be left all alone in the sandbox one day wondering why no one wants to play with you and your 100k USD gun.
(Yes, this is littered with hyperbole - don't confuse my passion for anger, however. I still love this game, and I love all of the players, just not whatever disfigured creature MA has become)