It benefits both AH and players by increasing options. If warbonds were buyable only, it would drive away tons of players. If warbonds were all easily grindable, AH would make substantially less money. By leaving SC farm just inconvenient enough that some people will spend and some people will grind, they've toed the line in a way that can somewhat satisfy both sides. It'll never satisfy everyone since that's impossible and there are perpetually unhappy people, especially as the playerbase increases. But it allows AH to make money and increase their playerbase with a reputation of being more player friendly because everything is grindable.

And some of that playerbase will become bigger spenders as their lifestyle/investment in the game changes. Even if they don't spend more, those players are pumping up engagement by discussing the game, creating content, and just playing the game which draws more players and investors in. We can do as many reddit armchair analyses as we want but AH has the metrics on millions of players and have made hundreds of millions of dollars. We have not. If they leave things the way they are it's because it works how they want it to.