It depends on the game; notably, FFXIV does not allow trading most of the drops you get from the boss fights, so anyone that has a rare mount from one of those "earned" them themselves.
Of course, there's also a market for characters - there's bot / player farms of people leveling characters and acquiring these rarities which then get sold to whales. I don't believe it's a particularly big market though.
There is also a market for leveled characters, as people don't want to spend the time to do so themselves, but they (and I'm sure all other MMOs too nowadays) offer a paid for level boost that takes you to the current max level - 10, at a price point that directly competes with bots.
One issue XIV still has is gold farming and selling bots, they don't offer a means to directly buy gold. Closest thing is buying pure white/black dyes for real money, which can be sold in-game. I suspect it's a PR tradeoff, that is, "boo at people just buying gold".
Of course, XIV has a bit of an inflation issue I think, not enough money sinks. They'll add a new mount that costs 7.5 million in an expansion which will remove some money from the economy, but I don't think it's enough.
Of course, there's also a market for characters - there's bot / player farms of people leveling characters and acquiring these rarities which then get sold to whales. I don't believe it's a particularly big market though.
There is also a market for leveled characters, as people don't want to spend the time to do so themselves, but they (and I'm sure all other MMOs too nowadays) offer a paid for level boost that takes you to the current max level - 10, at a price point that directly competes with bots.
One issue XIV still has is gold farming and selling bots, they don't offer a means to directly buy gold. Closest thing is buying pure white/black dyes for real money, which can be sold in-game. I suspect it's a PR tradeoff, that is, "boo at people just buying gold".
Of course, XIV has a bit of an inflation issue I think, not enough money sinks. They'll add a new mount that costs 7.5 million in an expansion which will remove some money from the economy, but I don't think it's enough.