latest GC tweet, hopefully the current dev crew readws it too.
What is the value in actively making something only 1% of your playerbase gets to enjoy? Also, more people own Thoridal and the Warglaives than Shadowmourne, Fangs, Valanyr or Dragonwrath. Can't just be age
From a player point of view, there can be a lot of prestige in having something that few players get. You certainly used to see this with the original WoW legendary weapons when players would hang out in IF/Org just so other players could come fawn over them. I did it with my tier 2 tank armor and Quel'Serrar.
To achieve that as a player, you have to a) be able to acquire something that b) other players can't easily (if ever) get. Having very low drop rates really hurts A because you can't just set your sights on a goal. The RNG will trump whatever commitment you throw at the game. It is however very good at B because it has the same effect on other players.
Long time commitments delay acquisition, but they don't really keep the items rare. The Long Strange Trip Protodrake was "hard" to get in that you had to be very dedicated for a long period of time (and IIRC there was some luck thrown in there as well) but when they were first available, many players had them and more got them over time, and in fact, the existence of that mount pushed us to just make very fast mounts something everyone could acquire.
As more and more players were able to achieve things that used to be rare, say a legendary or High Warlord's PvP gear, the bragging rights diminished. I worked on WoW for 6 years and played it for maybe 8 and even I couldn't tell you who were the elite raiders or gladiators in Mists just by seeing their armor.
What I'm arguing is that maybe that's inevitable. Maybe the time of "Check out that tauren's armor!" passed. Maybe there isn't a way to keep rare things really rare in ways that don't feel shitty to players. However, *if* you decide as a developer that it's important to have rare rewards, I believe the only way to keep them rare is low drop rates. Making them require massive skill or time investment just aren't sufficient any longer.