How about SE just send a relic, mythic, lvl90 empyrian to everyones delivery boxes for no work at all?
If I ever saw a MMO do this, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. The worst part of MMOs have always been the part where you have to spend hours, every week, doing things you don't want to do. All because some item drops from the activity.

Also you should consider your example in real life. If someone gave you a car for free, would you complain that you didn't get to work and earn the car, or would you be happy? Another good question is if you'd complain that you didn't earn the money for the car by working at a farm, LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYs, and instead got the easy patched version where you worked in an office.

It all usually boils down to the same thing. You want bragging rights. You want to be able to say you spent 500 days playing FFXI and now got 20 jobs at 90. You want to say you got a relic weapon, that nobody else has. Any sane person would accept things for free as long as they'd have some enjoyment out of the item.