Fair and unfair don't even make sense in this context, the point is that it's a lame little jab that doesn't inform anyone about anything. It doesn't even have the benefit of being witty. It's about on the level of "Microsoft, more like MicroSUCK!" It calls to mind a frothing-at-the-mouth nerdrage archetype, immediately helping to discredit whatever valid points you make.

This is still a bad, bad move for NCSoft no matter how you slice it. When people buy MMOs they're looking for a game they can invest time into and perhaps come back to years later even if they set it down. That's the important part of an MMO, that your character persists in the long term, your friends list will still be around (and possibly the friends on it!), etc. I'm willing to bet it's not just me that has no inclination to try an NCSoft MMO after this precedent.

The idea of paying for what you use makes a certain kind of sense, but I vastly prefer some sort of stability. How much are you going to have to pay to get access to content in the next year? What if your guildies like one dungeon and you prefer another dungeon? What happens when they sort through the feedback and find that Swordswingers paid for fewer epic quests than Wizards? I wouldn't bet on Swordswingers getting as much development time as Wizards then. Oh, you like Swordswingers and have years invested in one? Tough titties, market demands dominate the content now. Sure these demands exist anyway, but not with nearly the same immediacy as if you're funding with microtransactions.

And do you wanna bet that you're going to be paying more or less for the same amount of content?

They manage to catch me off guard with a new trick or just a convenient circumstance once every couple years. I still remember one of the first big worms that went around when I was in high school, I got an e-mail from this girl I had a nerd crush on promising me some manner of lewd photos. Had I thought about it for a moment I would've realized, but damn skippy I clicked that link inside of two seconds hehe.