The potential system and selling your stuff/merchanting

I've always been under average-slightly above and now, with potentials and what not, I view maple as a Pay2Play game =/ It's way too hard to keep up with the upgrading. I don't see much future =/ Earlier today, I saw a screen shot on basilmarket of a level 134 Bowmaster with a damage range that caps at about 8.8k =/

How can anyone without stable income compete with that?

Here's that screen shot, so no one has to go digging for it. =]]]

http://www.basilmarket.com/show/screen/184611#photo_top