You can pay by time or money. PA is not purrfect, but all things considered it's way better than most other games. You can get a lot, basically all, of the content for free if you grind hard enough. Not unlocking the new items immediately is exactly the point, but you can throw money at it if you want to skip ahead. Otherwise you have like half a month to complete it so you can get all the items and complete the challenges. If you joined halfway or can't participate fully, tough luck. Such is life sometimes. But exactly as in real life, money can fix some part of the problem. And those devs gotta eat too!
It is supposed to either entice you to play daily or pay up. I think PA is more fair and balanced than most other games. Players vary too much in available time, skill and other aspects of life to make a purrfect system for everyone. Yet PA has to provide for them all.
