I think folks are taking “pay to play” to mean “pay to win.”
There is no MMO that has a completely free to play model. They can’t - MMOs have upkeep costs that require a steady stream of income, and if they don’t get that, they shut down. Even in the emulators for SWG and the like need donations to keep them going.
It’s just not reasonable to expect or demand that you can play a game for a year without putting any money into it.
And, as noted, the main reason for this is to make it impossible for skill point farms to operate with alphas.