I think that economy is important!!!!
1. Imagine everyone with a lot of money and no longer having to earn things. Phantasy Star Online ended up with a similar fate, but their fate was mostly effected by hackers.
2. It encourages players to work together to gain money and builds teamwork.
3. If money goes over it's economic limit, the server can detect a hacker who is trying to get rich and ruin things for everyone else.
4. Empires gain more or less control through it's currency AND territory. Economy is key to war. Without it, the storyline goes a bit stale after a while, and I really look forward to this game.
5. Killing people with the bigger and better weapons sounds fun, and it is, but it gets boring if it happens too often, so it's better to add economy so it would be harder to get money, and as a result, harder to get the better weapons.
6. If people want to have power, it must be displayed through talent and NOT through what weapon they have!!!!
So I conclude, the fact that there is no economy = more killing my sound like the greatest bloodbath ever, which it is, but we must make that bloodbath special