What I find most interesting is that everyone freely accepts the idea that more work leads more rewards. Camping an FBSS for many hours should, and does, lead to that person realizing more benefit than those who are not as dedicated to acquiring that particular item.
Yet, when we apply that to the endgame, people begin chafing as if the concept did not apply. EQ was built upon this notion from the ground up.
Abashi even went on record saying that "no one is "entitled" to items in the game." The hardcores are not seeking entitlements. They're asking that the system that Classic EQ was based off of be respected. However, this is not a perfect reflection of Classic, and everyone recognizes that
part of this server's purpose is to create an environment for people to experience content they did not see on live. However, preservation of the Classic environment has always been the primary consideration. With both purposes in mind, there's no reason to think that we can't act cooperatively while respecting both the classic roots of work and effort and the modern notion of respect for the casual. However, we seem to be far from that synthesis.
The GM staff has recently handed a large portion of the population an immense amount of artificial bargaining power for the purpose of creating a system that respects both sides while still rewarding extra effort. The casual side was recently offered one third of all mob spawns, and it was flatly rejected for want of a direct 50/50 split. This is blatant
rent seeking, and the recent rejection was a brazen attempt to hostilely maximize the outcome of an artificially produced windfall.
Calling the hardcores "entitled kids" is unproductive when you're categorically rejecting deals offered in good faith by leveraging your artificial bargaining position to grind talks to a halt.