I haven't seen anyone asking for #1 and you thinking that they are is just absurd. I see people use this argument a lot, and it's always ridiculous. You are aware there are many levels of difficulty in between "everything handed to you" and "extremely difficult to obtain" are you not? Your #1 and #2 options don't seem to indicate that you are.
Just because someone doesn't want a spell to be "extremely difficult to obtain" doesn't mean they don't want a challenge. It doesn't mean they want things handed to them. Just because someone doesn't choose "Nightmare" difficulty in a video game doesn't mean they want to Game Shark their way through it.
Remember this is SE here. The last time I heard them talk out loud about things being "extremely difficult to obtain" was when relics were introduced. Is it really so terrible that people want to make sure a spell isn't in the same category as an at 75 cap relic?