The point of trying is -- outside of accomplishing things faster -- the neat psychological concept of intrinsic motivation, even though its value may have become less important with the ever famous "path of least resistance" which I cannot deny myself all the time, to be honest. It's technically the same reason why many raiders do raid if their opinion is to be taken geniunenly: reward comes at 2nd place, and the intrinsic motivation of completing a challenge takes precedence. For PvPers, it's allegedly the concept itself of beating human players who have ideally equal skills. Again, the path of last resistance does still exist, for better of worse, not to talk about the step below that - "leeching". Yet for the perfect harmony, espcially in gear-only progression settings, even the most intrinsically motivated raider would eventually reach their patience's limit if no better gear (or flashy mount) were available. It's afterall an endless loop of beating content and get better gear > better gear for beating upcoming harder content > rinse and repeat.