I find it really stupid as a legitimate player that several of the banned players are pretending that they're completely innocent. If you've been playing this long and spent so much on your account, you would obviously have the game knowledge to know that those weapons would not be legitimate, as the timing with Lucid release wouldn't work.
I've seen some people saying that Nexon hasn't punished anyone for the symbol exploits and other issues, but I feel that this issue is pretty separate from that. You knew that those weapons weren't legitimate and despite that, you bought them. Just because Nexon hasn't punished anyone for other issues doesn't mean that you aren't doing something bad.
Of course, I do think that the permanent bans were harsh for a punishment, and I believe that it should be lightened, but please do not pretend that you all were completely innocent in this. You knew what you were doing was wrong, and blame cannot be placed solely on Nexon for their incompetency.