I don't think anyone here is arguing that microtransactions aren't troubling, or a problematic trend. I think we're all in agreement there.
Your starting point is a little strange, though. I don't think exploitation is a necessity or inevitability. People paying for a game (or even DLC!) isn't by nature exploitation. I'm more than happy to pay $20 for Far Harbor + Nuka World. That's not exploitation-- those were large, well-made areas that functioned logically separately from the base game. I'm less happy to pay $40 for those same DLCs, plus some cosmetic items, where that content isn't described ahead of time.
Part of the problem here is preorders, which are bad and terrible. Part of it is loot crates that, even when cosmetic, are mathematically designed to exploit folks who struggle with addiction. Part of it is in games that lock an absolutely absurd amount of content up in DLCs that are available within a month of a game's launch (hi, Destiny 2!). I don't think it's as simple as saying "loot crates lol bad" or "virtual currency is the problem!" The game industry currently has a few economic drivers that contribute to this conversation, and correcting for any one of them isn't going to solve things entirely.
And it's nice that the conversation has gotten louder. Publishers that avoid these sorts of practices need to be rewarded, and publishers that don't need to be punished. I think that's where the line needs to be drawn, and like you mentioned, we aren't there yet. Battlefront 2, at the end of the day, is still going to print money, just like Battlefront 1 did. People still play gacha games. Dota 2 can still fund $20 million tournament prize pools through loot crates (through which they're pocketing an additional $60MM!). The market is still fucking dumb.