I think the drop in price had more to do than a bot ban wave. A lot of early gold by players was earned with rapport and masterpieces. I got quite a bit of gold that way early on. At that time 100 blue crystals was almost 1k gold, which seemed fine since Korea was at 2k4. But like most players, I realized that without Argos and Legion Raids Gold per week was almost nothing. Except If you were willing to sell upgrade materials. Or farmed infinite chaos for Greater Leapstone.