Quote Originally Posted by Edellis View Post
PSO sort of worked this way, but in truth it was really quite the same. etc. etc.
The reason it worked so well is because:

1) Like you said, gear wasn't just strict stat progression. The diversity afforded by having distinct items with defined traits and special abilities lended itself to being a collector.
2)At a certain point, you could be effective with pretty much anything, so, combined with point 1, it came down to a matter of taste as to what you used.
and the point most relevant to this discussion:
3) Essentially everything had a chance to drop a rare item. So even if you really wanted item X, you could happen across items A through W in the mean time and feel like you're still getting something awesome.

The fact that pretty much nothing came from some 'end-chest' (which would promote speed-running an area) was great too; you could get awesome stuff from normal enemies throughout all the levels.

PSO never appealed to me on the basis of alts; it was all the toys I could collect on my main that made it addicting. And finding a group of others to pass items we needed/wanted back and forth was great. I really do miss the bartering-based community that game had (granted, playing legit drastically reduced the number of people I could trade with).
:-(