Rewards are nice and all, but I think that you people forgot why this thread was even made, really. It's not about the reward, it's about it being 'exclusive' previously but made open for a wide number of people.

The only real problem is that there were any items made 'exclusive' in the first place though. Personally I am against exclusive or limited rewards in any MMO game. Heck, in any game. Which is why event-tied rewards in games like Pokemon are horrendous idea as well. They should never have begun with that. And similarly, item mall (which really shouldn't even have been implemented in a subscription-based game) should be separated from the game. In-game rewards should stay in-game, not be put on the item mall. They should be re-obtainable, like bought from the merchant during future iterations of the event, possibly with whatever token is earned in it rather than gil.

"Limiting" rewards leads to situations like this. Some people don't care about others getting the same stuff they did, because they know they don't actually lose anything out of it. Others feel somehow harmed for whatever reason. And those that didn't get the rewards the first time around are going to complain that they don't have access to the item or that they have to pay (outrageous) prices for the rewards that others got for free. It's fine for physical limited editions, like the statues, plushies and what not. Those can be gotten from those that bought them originally. Ultimately everything in the real world is "limited edition" since everything will stop being produced once better products are made, and that's fine. It's not fine for digital stuff that on top of being "limited time only" for obtaining is also going to disappear in a couple of years when the servers are gonna be taken down.