Backseat moderating? Nah, I just offered more than an attempt at humor through pointing things out and erroneously calling it bait.
I never said he wasn't entitled to his opinion. But fact is, that line of thinking IS unhealthy for a product meant to have such a broad appeal. Not unlike when people say "This isn't a PvP game". Yeah? Well it wasn't a housing, glamours, or Eternal Bond game before either. Imagine for a moment if devs actually thought along the same lines as which he said before; we wouldn't have half the things we so enjoy and appreciate in this game. So yes, it IS unhealthy to think that way. The size of the playerbase actively enjoying a part of the game shouldn't be a subtracting factor, and what one person enjoys as an endgame activity of choice might not be so enjoyable to others. In Ultimate's case, the creeping ease of difficulty in the game (don't say you haven't noticed it) created both the player's need, and developer's challenge to create something truly difficult in this game that otherwise treats challenge like an allergy. The result isn't exclusive, nor has it taken away from anything else in this game. Seriously, SE isn't simply one small team of devs with a giant to-do list of features and additions to the game to work on.
Let me address this one for a moment.
You said it yourself that you shouldn't get a trophy if you're not the best. Well, that minion was a "tropy" for 10 people that COMPETED for it. At least it was meant to be. No one ever said that guy couldn't get it. But he gave up before even trying (and let me state, for clarity's sake; he actually DID end up trying, but was ill prepared for said competition) and instead complained and SE rolled right over for him. Not just that, I mentioned before that turning it into an achievement award allowed people who didn't compete to just grind it out before the winners even got their prizes - SE having said winners would receive their rewards first. Beyond that, the "extra" prize offered paled in comparison. They got earrings. The top 10 players of that season got earrings. . . I got earrings just for reaching Silver rank and stopping in season 2. So do you see the issue there? Sure, I get he was a minion collector, fine. But he was not (initially) willing to compete for that minion, and due to complaints, he was given that "trophy" others were otherwise willing to compete for. Everybody gets one. . . that's just not how competition rewards work. And frankly, since then, I've personally hoped they never offer a mount or minion again. Apparently glamour rewards or anything that people don't care about or feel they HAVE to care about is okay for PvP rewards, but the moment it's something people might actually want - regardless of if they want to compete for it or not - THEN it's a problem? Are some players THAT entitled?
I mean, if that's how it works, if that's what we think is acceptable, then where's my Legacy mark? I've been playing since 2.0 launch. It's "not fair" that I couldn't play 1.0 to get it, but I've been here since day 1 of 2.0. So where's my mark? Or where's my special mark for having played since 2.0?