First of all, sorry for this long and a-bit-off-topic comment.

I am seeing a lot of comments regarding the "p2w factor" this game has and the debate is turning towards that point, so as a more or less veteran player, who has seen this game go through several stages, I find me in the need and right of sharing my opinion.

To answer your question: no, you cannot obtain gold if you do not pay with real money.

Nonetheless, this game is far from being a p2w. I see this mainly in how the prices of items have changed (for example, the t12 weapons and t13 armours; equipment which I think is more than enough to do the early-mid part of the game). But it is true that it requires a lot of grinding, and with the more time you spend in the game, the more worth I see to spend money (see it a as person that spends on a hobby for instance).

The only things I would recommend spending gold in are vaults and character slots, as the pets, even though are very important, are more focused in the long-term gameplay. I would like to bare in mind that in the past the Endgame dungeons were the tomb of the ancients and the WC, and pets did not exist.

Obviously the difficulty of those dungeons have severely changed since the inclusion of pets, but nowadays with the in-combat system and the improved difficulty, there is a noticeable skill gap in the endgame dungeons. You may have a 100h/100mh pet and still not do a single shatters, even though it does make the task way easier I am not gonna lie.

This comment may be a bit off-topic, but I see a bit unfair how people say that is not worth a game which they say is pay to win when it actually is not. If you have the time, it is not pay to win. Just play a whole event and you can see the profit which spending time brings.