Do you feel Nexon exploits it's playerbase?

Not exploit. They're a company. They want to drain us for all their worth. It's the exact same thing Nintendo, Sony etc does. They make something you want to buy, you buy it. The potential system is no different. You want better gear, give us your money. Don't see a problem. Gaming systems, you want whats new has the better graphics and does all this and more? Give us money.

Hooboy! Aren't horribly insufficient metaphors the best?
What better way is there to say "I have no idea what I'm talking about"?

Your comparison would pretend that developing a piece of hardware is the same as developing a microtransaction. Think about that for a second.
Are microtransactions limited by current technology?
Do microtransactions require any significant monetary investment into R&D?
Do microtransactions tend to result in a net loss?
Do microtransactions face competition?
Is there a large demand for more microtransactions?
No? Well, then I guess Nexon isn't doing the exact same thing that Nintendo and Sony do.

Realistically, I think it's a fair assumption to say that no one wants game-altering NX items.
Where are the people who you claim were clamoring for the ability to pay real money to super-charge their characters?
This thread has already clearly indicated that I'm not alone in despising a system that would have all of my previous investments made useless by the latest cash-grabbing scheme.
I'm not alone in wishing that the game were ruled by in-game investments instead of by who is pulling the most money out of their wallets.

Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft don't develop new hardware because they want to rip off their fanbases.
They do it because, if they don't, they're out of the game. Oddly enough, once someone has a specific console, they don't need a duplicate.
So these companies need to introduce new hardware.

Nexon didn't need to introduce a brand new item tier.
Nexon didn't need to introduce Potential in the first place.
They had plenty of money-making items, but their greed brought them to breaking the game for the sake of profit.