Quote Originally Posted by ItMe View Post
Perhaps you're right...
I just feel like if a player is in content for a reward (exp/tomes) that is acquired at the end, players won't NOT dash through it when their prize only exists at the end.
There will always be some degree of rush, but there are obviously resource structures that can optimize something which, or be anchored around what, doesn't feel much like a mad dash to that reward. Part of that has to do with denied control and perhaps even more with intrinsic enjoyment.

And (if I'm reading your tone here and elsewhere correctly), yes, it is of course better for a content to stand on its own merits (enjoyment from the play itself) than by virtue of its rewards (extrinsic reasons for enjoyment), but the thing is those two sources aren't at all mutually exclusive. All that particular matters is, again, that first criteria. If the content appeals to some via intrinsic value and to others only via extrinsic reasons and those would each encourage competing behaviors, then you have an issue.