Jesus christ, sir. The point is flying way above your head. Nobody ever said raid/planar gear was rare. You butted in with post#473 being a prick about how people said raid gear was rare. Nobody ever said it was, theyre all talking about other gear like AC pegasus cloak and shit. Etchazz made a post about how newer games dont have rare items like EQ did so some enjoyment of the game is lost. You then quoted them and said "Well everyone had fbss/planar gear by the time kunark came out". You never made the distinction between raiding/non raiding players, so we did that for you.
Theres 2 distinctions to make. Raid gear vs Other gear.
The fact that you try and post about how raid gear wasnt really rare is fucking retarded because everyone knows that, and as I pointed out, its obvious. Yet here you are trying to say its the same as all other MMOs. Durr. Everoyne knows that. People arent saying the raid gear was rare, theyre saying the other gear is rare.
Do you know the definition of hard/rare? Let me enlighten you with the Pegasus Feather Cloak. Do you remember it? The cloak was hard to get because Quillmane was a random as fuck spawn. It would take hours to obtain, and if you were lucky you could track it on your first arrival in the zone. But that's not the point.
The point of an item being rare like that is the enjoyment of the lore/idea behind obtaining it. You know,fantasy. Players say "Bro, there's this legendary pegasus that flies around the zone, but he only appears at night/during a full moon, or when you kill 10 skeletons in certain locations. I think he may drop this cloak that levitates you". Then your friend is like "No fucking way thats awesome". Its like how people thought there was a kraken underneath Lake Rathe for years. People didnt check out Lake Rathe to find the kraken to see what he dropped (imo), but to see if he really existed. That item is rare, and since the chance to kill quillmane only comes around so often, it is as a result, hard to obtain.
Thats what youre missing. The IMMERSION. Its a real thing. Immersion and rarity of items can be interconnected to great effect. Theres a reason people play these fucking games and its to escape reality into a world of fantasy. The whole debate of WoW and its themepark vs. EQ and its living world boils down to the immersion they create. Its hard to get into WoW and its item system for some players because its bland as fuck, you dont have to journey to some dungeon in the depths of the forest, you click a button and there you are. Some people want to "experience" finding legendary monsters that may or may not exist. They want to travel through perilous lands to get to a place where some mystical creature may or may not exist. Finding an axe that they drop for them is just icing on the cake.
There's 2 different types of players is what this comes down to. The Powergamers (you) vs. The Escapers. The powergamers like you want the cloak so they can wave their epeen, show it off to their friends, brag about being l33t, and say how easy/trivial it is and say that everyone has the uber raid gear. The escapers want to be in a world of mysticism where if you explore, study lore, and maybe with a little luck, you can find the rare pixie of legend who drops his wand or whatever. Its perspective.
You see the ancient cyclops as "God how much longer do I have to camp this shit for". When you say that, it doesnt seem like youre enjoying yourself. Youre doing it so you can get +1 runspeed or whatever. Other players see it as "Wow Ive been here for awhile I wonder if this guy really exists".
Its like athletes who workout because they love to workout. A lot of people go to the gym and bitch about how long the have to workout before they look good. Working out is a means to aSn end. To the athlete the workout itself is the end, to someone else, getting bigger biceps is the endgame.
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To you, the ancient cyclops is a means to get to the end of getting Jboots, to others, the simple discovery of the AC itself is the end.
Ive gone off on a big tangent, but people are saying rare and unique items make the game more exciting. When people can "get into" a game, it becomes almost a love affair.
