I wouldn't do this, but I mean... buying stuff for your best players would be beneficial for the whole lot of ye. Is that against the TOS? I personally think it should be.

Could probably technically fall under the RMT aspect of ToS. But that's a question only a ticket to the GMs could give you an answer to. Though it is unlikely you will receive a clear yea or no. 

Hopefully it is against ToS. Real money incentives from players is RMT hands down. 

why should it be illegal? If yomebody wants to give ppl rl money to join there guild then let them. Most of the times you cant even gift ppl pearl items (not sure if its possible right now or no) and nobody can forbid anyone to give somebody else money.
But I also don't get the problem with it tbh. 

It's bad because guilds would then be forced to spend real money to be competative. SOme simply wouldn't be able to do it, and their members would then move to the guilds that are paying pearls or pearl items. It's just a different kind of pay-to-win.

I'm not saying that I'm deeming it illegal, it's just my PoV. Seems shady. And no I disagree w/ guy above me, guilds aren't FORCED to do anything, but to budget for the best players make sense. It's like college sports recruiting haha.

I honestly don't think it's illegal. It's def not ethical. I dunno why the idea even came into my mind, but let's just say it occurred to me. IT MAY ALREADY BE HAPPENING :O