I think the server is financially... scummy. I'm not calling Skeppy a scum, nothing like that, but he has certain ways of getting around the p2w aspect.
In his videos, he refers to buying ranks as 'Donating' (the best example of this is
), which is a common trope of getting around server investigations.
The server also has player drops (for lack of a better word), meaning that when a player is killed they drop their current items. So, if you were good at pvp and fought some kid (who couldn't pvp) in overlord gear, you would get that overlord gear. It's difficult but theoretically plausible.
Than, finally, no ranks can win events and get keys, use the vote crate, do irl deals, etc.
So I guess what i'm trying to say is the server is p2w (and the mods, at least Skeppy) know this and are working around it. The server isn't breaking any rules on paper, but it's clear what's going on.