For many people not paying the artists is less fun, for nearly everyone paying 10x the price is not fun. Obviously a brillian game might overcome this but it can easily cause someone to move on.
This is a false dichotomy. You don't need to acquire the expensive cards to play the game. I enjoyed Star Wars: CCG back at the turn of the millennium even though I didn't have any Yoda, Vader, Luke, etc. cards. I think I had a Chewbacca, maybe? Yeah, I traded with a neighborhood kid for it, and later his mom called my mom to try to take back the trade.
right? Net Runner specifically allows proxy cards at events and even give you pdfs to print you own cards. Owning random expensive cards is no way to play a fair game.