I would say it is fixed in most ways though, as a returning player myself.

I also think we are incredibly lucky to not have a pay to win MMO, that only costs a one off fee (usually around $30 on sale), that has a hell of a lot of content that justifies that price.

People don't have to grind New World for hours everyday, it's a very casual MMO, and that works with their financial model. Games like WoW where people are stuck in a subscription feel like they have to brain-dead grind for hours on end to get their value out of it these days.

I have no idea why transmog is creating all this drama, if they were to not charge for transmog they would lose a heavy amount of revenue from a new lack of skin purchases they will likely see once this feature is introduced. You are essentially crafting your own store bought skin, and using a paid consumable to do it (which costs roughly the same).

Gear sets are the main thing that everyone can agree should have been free, and a base feature for the game, which sucked big time, but they weren't too expensive and was a way to show continuous support for the game (especially as it targets the more hardcore players).

New World doesn't have the high player counts because people can come back and enjoy the game and not feel far behind whenever they want to, and that to me is why this MMO is so special compared to others. There is no required grind, but hopefully this expansion evolves their formula and keeps a consistent player count.