So what you're saying is that raiding is actually not at all fun, and the only reason people do it is because of the gear. That seems like pretty shitty game design.
If anything, that's a much better argument for making gear more accessible. If those players enjoy gearing up but don't like raiding and only did it because they saw that as their only option then give them the fucking gear without raiding and let them actually enjoy their full gaming experience doing other things! People who ACTUALLY enjoy raiding and doing competitive content can still do those since that's the gameplay they enjoy. Gearing is part of most RPG's but it's not gameplay. Gameplay is what you do to GET the gear, and it doesn't need to be difficult, it should just be fun.
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I thought we were talking about a game. Why are you asking about what we NEED instead of what would be more fun?