Quit my magician after I found out about the Staff of Elemental Mastery: Earth...

[Zenren]

So I got to 35 as my magician, seemed to finally be coming into his own, when I mentioned I was working towards my epic and some people in my guild said, "don't hold your breath". Well they explained about this one item and how in the last two years no one in the guild had been able to get it (and it's one of the largest guilds on blue) and how I would probably just have to settle for the staff augmented water pet. For me the epic is a major part of what a character is about and not being able to get the epic, or having the epic be so impossibly hard that it will be improbable that anyone with a life and job will get it, seems to be a waste of time. If I know the end game project that defines my class is unattainable, why would I play it? What do other magicians think about this? also, I don't remember this being a problem in retail, so I'm wondering why it is a problem on Project 1999?