no
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Something that makes your character LOOK more appealing = fluff, and $ for it makes sense.
Something that changes the way your character PLAYS =/= fluff, and therefore should only ever be earnable within the game itself.
Why? To keep little rich kids from flaunting their 'abilities'.
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Fortune-Telling;
Mission Transporter;
Jet Packs (granted it's remarkable stupid to purchase).
I'm not sure whether the OPs idea is a good one or not, but we can already buy things with money that provide real in game advantages. Of course, this would be an order of magnitude more powerful, but I don't think it's so easy to dismiss at this.
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The difference is that the powers you listed that have a real effect upon the game aren't obtainable through PvE means. The mission transporter, and purchased Jump pack provide about as much real comparative benefit as an unslottable travel power: they're not going to make you harder to kill in a fight, but they'll let you get to your missions faster. The fortune teller buff is a bit overpowered for a booster pack power imo, but, then again, it's balanced a bit around the fact that it's a random buff and can't be used on yourself. None of them have a large effect upon actual play and game balance.
Being able to purchase the real PvE rewards via microtransaction completely tosses aside this basic condition. It forces players to begin looking at their builds in terms of real world cost and less in terms of time expenditure, especially since it would be possible for anyone that wanted to spend $100 to get a build that another player spent 100 hours actually earning (probably more).
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Being able to wear a wedding dress doesn't make your powers recharge faster.
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But it does let you look cool while your powers recharge. 
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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No.
Microtransactions in this game are for fluff, and they will always be for fluff. IO sets are not fluff.
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This.
<QR>
I think the OP is simply put a bad idea.
Mystic Fortune in my mind crossed the invisible line of usefulness that fluff should not cross. A permanant little buff is way more useful than say the self destruct. Thats fun in the sewers and the like, to use just before a ding rez, but with the long cool down, its just not that useful.
Keep the microtransactiosn just for fluff, or drop the subscription model. Its pretty much one or the other.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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I am honestly not trying to be deceptive or dishonest here.
The whole premise of power balance has always been "SOs are all you need". That is where I am coming from.
Above that is fluff isn't it? I do understand that IOs do impact gameplay. If it is significant and that IOs represent the new SOs, then won't the game be balanced around IOs then?
If the game isn't going to be balanced around IOs, then IOs are by definition still flavor, aren't they?
I am not arguing here, I am asking a genuine question.
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"Flavor" and "Fluff" have minimal to no effect on gameplay. They're seat covers or fuzzy dice in a car. They're the description text on items. They do little to nothing to a character's performance - and, yes, all the temp items and such that are part of the varying packs really do *nothing* all that noticeable.
SOs are what the game is balanced around, yes. Above that is not "fluff." Distinct gameplay advantages gained by IO sets are certainly not fluff (see Perma-dom, perma-mind-link, stacked set bonuses... unless you consider, say, a 60% regen boost "fluff" (5 sets that give 12% regen boost - each percentage being able to be stacked twice.))
That most certainly isn't "fluff." Those are decided in-game advantages.
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Short version : Let's have microtransactions for IO sets. 1 Numina's Convalescence set for $9.99. 1 Thunderstrike set for $2.99. Blapper special, 1 Thunderstrike and 1 Crushing Impact for $4.99!
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Sounds more like you want a legal way to buy inf. Because thats all people would be doing. Buying the sets with real money and then selling them for ingame currency.
As cool as it would be it would probably have more negative impacts on the game. Probably more impacts that buying inf.
Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.
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"Flavor" and "Fluff" have minimal to no effect on gameplay. They're seat covers or fuzzy dice in a car. They're the description text on items. They do little to nothing to a character's performance - and, yes, all the temp items and such that are part of the varying packs really do *nothing* all that noticeable.
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Not all fuzzy dice are mere fluff. 
I don't have the patience to work for what I want.
Please let me PL character after character and just buy my way to power by spending all this extra money my daddy has on digital gear. Me want stuff now!
I hope you caught the sarcasm there, because I was laying it on pretty thick.
In short, no. Sorry.
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I just read that Story Arc slots are now for sale.
And to me there is a link(however tenious) between additional MA slots bought and IOs.
Simply put, more story arc slots, more ticket rewards. More tickets = IOs. Aided by the credit card.
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Availability of story arc slots does not equate to players writing quality stories which generate interest and heavy play from other players.
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Aren't we already on the slope?
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You are. The rest of us are just watching you slide.
It's like a luge race. It's going pretty fast.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Just for fun: I think it's ok to have microtransactions for SO. It won't really hurt anything, and more money for NCSoft. 
IOs are not necessary to play the game but they do let you distort your character almost beyond recognition and do things they couldn't do otherwise.
In the Blaster boards recently, a blaster with capped Ranged Defence solo'd a Rikti pylon.
Illusion Controllers use Recharge set bonuses to perma Phantom Army and go on to solo AVs and Giant Monsters.
You couldn't pull this off with just IOs, but you can still play the game. So while IO's aren't necessary, they are far from fluff.
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"Fluff" has no effect. I don't complete a mission faster because I'm wearing the Baron jacket from the magic pack, or I'm wearing red instead of green. That is "fluff."
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That's a lie, and you know it. Everyone knows red makes things go faster. Duh.
@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters
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No.
Microtransactions in this game are for fluff, and they will always be for fluff. IO sets are not fluff.
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I originally posted my piece on the definition of "fluff," but then I read the rest of the thread and realized we had already gone and done that.
The odd thing is, I agree that IOs are fluff, but I still oppose the purchase of them with real money. Goes to show that the same idea can have vastly different execution.
Also, to respond to the basketball team example used up-thread? I would say that the performance enhancing drug is, indeed, "fluff." To me, fluff is anything that is not essential to fulfill oligations or expectations.
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"Fluff" has no effect. I don't complete a mission faster because I'm wearing the Baron jacket from the magic pack, or I'm wearing red instead of green. That is "fluff."
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That's a lie, and you know it. Everyone knows red makes things go faster. Duh.
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NOWAI!
the FLAMES make things go faster!!
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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IOs are not necessary to play the game but they do let you distort your character almost beyond recognition and do things they couldn't do otherwise.
In the Blaster boards recently, a blaster with capped Ranged Defence solo'd a Rikti pylon.
Illusion Controllers use Recharge set bonuses to perma Phantom Army and go on to solo AVs and Giant Monsters.
You couldn't pull this off with just IOs, but you can still play the game. So while IO's aren't necessary, they are far from fluff.
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Devastation: Chance to Hold. This proc goes off pretty frequently. Put it in a Blaster's Tier 1 and 2 Primary attacks, and you will be seeing your foes do the Tesla Dance quite often. And if you are Tech Origin, it stacks nicely with your Taser dart.
This turns a Blaster into a pretty decent Blastroller. And if Energy is your secondary...picture a super long range fast recharging hold thanks to Boost Range.
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That's a lie, and you know it. Everyone knows red makes things go faster. Duh.
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And blue weights the RNG in your favor. Well known fact.
My characters - all on Virtue.
Gabe's Internet [censored] Theory
RMT spammers WILL steal your credit card.
Absolutely, 100%, could not say it more strongly, NO!
This is a terrible idea.
I'm very much against the idea of microtransactions in the first place. The only saving grace of them at the moment is that they're ignorable, since they have pretty much no effect on gameplay. This would change that.
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I don't have the patience to work for what I want.
Please let me PL character after character and just buy my way to power by spending all this extra money my daddy has on digital gear. Me want stuff now!
I hope you caught the sarcasm there, because I was laying it on pretty thick.
In short, no. Sorry.
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This, but not as nice.
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The fortune teller buff is a bit overpowered for a booster pack power imo, but, then again, it's balanced a bit around the fact that it's a random buff and can't be used on yourself.
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My point stands though. The Mystic Fortune power provides a real, tangible in-game benefit only obtainable via purchase.
Upon reflection, I think if the devs came up with a SEPARATE line of IOs that were obtainable via micro-transactions, I don't think any of the contrary arguments made here hold water. Especially if those IO sets were no-trade. Everyone keeps saying, "Keep micro-transactions fluff." Well, that horse left the barn.
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The mission transporter, and purchased Jump pack provide about as much real comparative benefit as an unslottable travel power: they're not going to make you harder to kill in a fight, but they'll let you get to your missions faster.
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Respectfully, that's not the point. After the blaster buffs and the introduction of reward merits, we know that the devs balance around the speed characters obtain rewards. They do NOT balance, except superficially, around difficulty. Thus mission transporter provides a great boon, shaving some significant time off certain tasks in the game. For example, the Freak and Rikti respecs are much quicker when everyone can port to the reactor when the last mission is up. I believe this is the reason that the power has a 2 hour recharge, purely as a balance to avoid people using it to supercharge their earning rate.
As I said above, micro-transactions already provide tangible benefits to the PvE game; we're only arguing about the degree that micro-transactions should be allowed to cross the line. Is it a good idea to provide those with real world resources the ability to buy uberness? I don't know. But, it's not immediately obvious to me, and shouldn't be to anyone who is thinking logically, that the devs wouldn't consider it.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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"Fluff" has no effect. I don't complete a mission faster because I'm wearing the Baron jacket from the magic pack, or I'm wearing red instead of green. That is "fluff."
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That's a lie, and you know it. Everyone knows red makes things go faster. Duh.
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NOWAI!
the FLAMES make things go faster!!
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Cubert: Can you help me apply these flame decals to the ship? They'll make it go faster!
Leela: What's your scientific reasoning for that?
Cubert: Duh, I'm twelve.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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"Fluff" has no effect. I don't complete a mission faster because I'm wearing the Baron jacket from the magic pack, or I'm wearing red instead of green. That is "fluff."
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That's a lie, and you know it. Everyone knows red makes things go faster. Duh.
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NOWAI!
the FLAMES make things go faster!!
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Only if the flames are red.
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The fortune teller buff is a bit overpowered for a booster pack power imo, but, then again, it's balanced a bit around the fact that it's a random buff and can't be used on yourself.
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My point stands though. The Mystic Fortune power provides a real, tangible in-game benefit only obtainable via purchase.
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A benefit for whom? Not for you.
Yes, I know, you're going to trot out the "what helps my teammates helps me" argument. Irrelevant.
The buff is randomly determined, so you have no assurance, at all, that your teammate is getting a wanted or needed buff. Giving a soft-capped character another 5% Defense isn't doing anything useful. Giving a capped blaster another 15% damage is pointless. Giving someone some extra ToHit when they're already at 95% versus +4s does absolutely nothing for him/her or you.
The power may apply a debuff, which certainly doesn't help your teammate.
And the buffs are minor, typically not even as strong as what you could get simply by giving that teammate some salvage and sending them to your base to craft Empowerment buffs.
So no, your point doesn't stand.
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Upon reflection, I think if the devs came up with a SEPARATE line of IOs that were obtainable via micro-transactions, I don't think any of the contrary arguments made here hold water. Especially if those IO sets were no-trade. Everyone keeps saying, "Keep micro-transactions fluff." Well, that horse left the barn.
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The horse is still safe and secure in its stall. There's an entire world of difference between spoon feeding players IOs which they can use to completely trick out a character, including enough set bonuses to acquire "desirable" effects such as perma-Hasten, and giving players access to a power which randomly grants minor buffs.
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The mission transporter, and purchased Jump pack provide about as much real comparative benefit as an unslottable travel power: they're not going to make you harder to kill in a fight, but they'll let you get to your missions faster.
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Respectfully, that's not the point. After the blaster buffs and the introduction of reward merits, we know that the devs balance around the speed characters obtain rewards. They do NOT balance, except superficially, around difficulty.
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That's a wonderfully self-serving observation. It's wrong, of course, but it's very nicely stated.
Speed is only one aspect that they examine when determining how/when/where/why to buff or reduce things. They do measure other aspects of difficulty. PM Castle, ask him about his 3 +3 minion test. It's not simply a measure of how quickly a character can defeat those minions, it's an examination of many things. How many inspirations does the character need? How much health/endurance is left when combat ends? Did the character have to resort to unusual or exploitative tactics to succeed? How is the character slotted? How many powers did the character have to use? How many times was the character defeated before succeeding?
They do balance around difficulty. Speed is one way they measure that balance, but it's not the only one. It's not even the most important one, because the fact is, there is no predetermined speed model for all ATs, all powersets or all builds.
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Thus mission transporter provides a great boon, shaving some significant time off certain tasks in the game. For example, the Freak and Rikti respecs are much quicker when everyone can port to the reactor when the last mission is up.
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Except that this was already possible simply by having one player with Recall Friend or Assemble the Team waiting at the reactor door.
And, of course, this completely ignores human nature, things like that scrapper going off to sell when the rest of the team wants to move on to the next mission, or the blaster stopping to work on a badge, or the defender who decided she needs to upgrade/replace enhancements.
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I believe this is the reason that the power has a 2 hour recharge, purely as a balance to avoid people using it to supercharge their earning rate.
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What's already possible in the game doesn't support your belief.
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As I said above, micro-transactions already provide tangible benefits to the PvE game;
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No, they really don't.
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Something that makes your character LOOK more appealing = fluff, and $ for it makes sense.
Something that changes the way your character PLAYS =/= fluff, and therefore should only ever be earnable within the game itself.
Why? To keep little rich kids from flaunting their 'abilities'.
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Fortune-Telling;
Mission Transporter;
Jet Packs (granted it's remarkable stupid to purchase);
EDIT: respecs too.
I'm not sure whether the OPs idea is a good one or not, but we can already buy things with money that provide real in game advantages. Of course, this would be an order of magnitude more powerful, but I don't think it's so easy to dismiss this idea. Particularly when considering the fortune telling power. Yes, it's random, but the buffs are quite powerful. Even the one minor debuff comes with a substantial buff.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.