Already, designers are being pressed into designing for the casual gamer. Selling pre-built characters and offering tiered pricing systems is one way to make the game not only attractive to the casual gamer, but competitive as well. No longer would the casual gamer be forced to compete using hours and days as a weapon. Of course, there are those who will feel that money is not a valid weapon for a gamer to wield. I like to look at it, rather, as a balancing factor.
Some people have time, some people have money.
Rarely does a person have both. But for those people, a tiered system would still work well, for they would only pay the lowest price. The only people I can see a tiered system being a huge disadvantage to are families. However, a combination of some of the above would work as well for families. Or even, perhaps, a type of family-service plan.