So lets take a deeper look at your post, and disect it.
People only camp HNM's for Epeen, huh? Being that the only true HNM's we have ever seen, are the ones in FFXI, lets examine those, and their drops.
Sure, some people camped them because they wanted to status that came with having that gear. That happens in all aspects of life. People do certain things, because of the status that comes with it.
But even further, lets look at the "gear".
For instance, lets discuss Adaman Hauberk, I'm sure you would admit that in your terms, this is an E-Peen piece. Not only did this piece set you apart in status, but this was also the highest parsing "DD" body in the game for a long time (aside for its HQ Counterpart). How about Defending Ring? Status surely came with this item, but it was also one of the best rings a Paladin could wear (not going to say the best, its debatable). But I'm sure that, even with the proven validity of the amazing quality of these items you would say that people didn't want to use them, they just wanted the E-Peen to wear it in town, right?
Lets go further, for a super long post. Dalmactica.. A Body armor that came from an HNM, this was cool looking, and amazing for Mages for the sole reason that is "refresh". How about Kraken Club, which came from an open world NM to begin with. The single most damaging weapon in the game when coupled with a DRK and his 2 hour? Status came with these items, but so did the ability to outparse your opponents, and take enemies down faster. Items like these took you to another tier, pending you had the skillsets to utilize them properly.
The gear from HNM's set players apart because it enabled them to perform at a higher tier. When you joined an EXP party and saw people decked out in Ebody, with Ridill's and the like, almost all of the time you knew it was going to be a great party.
You can cry all you want about how people only want HNM for epeen, but in all honesty that is an easy cop-out and a poor excuse to prohibit many players from an aspect of a game that they deeply liked.We all know there are many more reasons to camp and kill HNM's.