It's very depressing how...

[Velox]

The ability to say "I have better gear than you, therefor I am far superior" is more important than having fun apparently

Welcome to the post-WoW generation of MMO gamers :P

[sharazisspecial]

Welcome to the post-WoW generation of MMO gamers :P

How was FFXI any different?

[Magis]

Welcome to the post-WoW generation of MMO gamers :P

As another poster said, how was that any case before WoW? The difference is people expected better gear to take longer to get or make you go through tough content (like any single player game... ie: the FF relics/legendaries). WoW introduced "welfare epics" which instilled this idea that everyone should have the best gear, regardless of what they do to get it. Well, I can't just blame that, it was also the huge dump of non-MMO players after WoW became "mainstream". Since then you've had the "casuals" complaining that the "elites" shouldn't have the best gear (regardless of what the "elites" had to do to get it) and the "elites" pissed off that the gear they worked for loses it's value because people didn't want to do the content they had to do. Having some "value" to gear is important because it's this value that acts as the carrot on a stick, and the driving force to keep playing an MMO (which TBH, are all grind games anyway). Without it, the grind is painfully obvious and the game get's boring.

In this post-WoW age, gear has no value and it all just meshes together. The feeling of achievement and the rush of getting that rare and hard to get item has been lost, replaced by boring token grinds and gear that's the same as the last cycle, just with new paint on it.