MMO’s have one major goal, to build up your character/persona. You start very weak, and progress until you are able to take down demi-gods at will. That’s the hook. Developers place screenshots on the back of the box with high level characters on them, giving you a glimpse of what YOU could be.
Another selling point of MMO’s that you always see is the promise from developers to make yourself unique. Customize your character with four hundred different noses, eight hundred different hair styles, etc. You don’t want to be a clone of anyone else, you want to play YOU.
Both of the promises above have long since been broken. Take off all your items at level 70 in WoW, go duel a level 50, and see how it goes. That mighty character that is able to defeat Illidan has just lost a duel to some lowbie 50 in greens. The plus side is that you can finally see that nose and hair you spent hours picking out, now that it’s not hidden by your helm like it has been since level 13.
My point is that MMO’s now are far too item dependant. We are no longer personal heroes, but a walking bank with designated spots for gear. Add in the effect of such things as race choice being less and less important, as discussed by Tobold here, and you really start to see how little control we have with OUR characters. Sure you can change up specs, but that gives you two or three ‘good’ specs, down to one for most classes if you are a raider.
We are so use to character advancement being based around items that we now simply accept it. Going up a level means nothing more than a reset of the xp bar, some items falling into your level range, and being able to pick up the same one or two skills as everyone else at that level. It’s somewhat easy to see why a developer would do this. It makes it far easier to balance a game if all you are worried about is what items a character can have at what time. Tier 1 at this point, ok make the first boss hit this hard. Nice and easy. Remember how much controversy came from the Alliance about tauren tanks, because they had that HORRIBLY imbalanced 5% hp bonus? Why deal with that as a developer when instead you can make everyone the same, with access to the same items. We all know that’s the reason for the Paladin/Shaman change. Instead of balance, just make it equal.
But in that quest to make things fair and equal, we give up a major reason we play MMO’s, and a major reason we get addicted to them; our character. It’s hard to get attached to a carbon copy of half the server. What real motivation do you have to keep grinding when your next reward is a helm you have seen daily on other characters that happen to grind a little faster than you? In an effort to play it safe, developers are oversimplifying MMO’s and wearing away at the very source of their appeal, playing YOUR character.
Part two tomorrow; my thoughts on a solution, and what game could bring back the customization we are missing.
Hardcore Casual 
I stopped playing WoW (and re-subscribed just a week ago) for about 4 months starting in March 07. I had quit a few times prior but came back within a month with only one other extended “break” shortly after the beginning of March of last year. Weird.
Why? I found myself always asking… “Why?”
“Why am I doing this?”
“Why do I feel like I’m just running around in a husk of a character killing things that have no personal weight and find myself unable to grasp the levity of nearly any situation I find myself taking part?”
To me the problem seems to be more so in the execution than the approach. Sure the player’s purpose is to fulfill some ultimate role (and to do this, “You must be[ this [ tall to ride”), but what about connection?
I agree the itemization brings a lot of new controversy to the table but I find more often than not, the play style and behavior in the game reflect more closely the “YOU” in the character than the inherent skillset and bag items.
But what about the oft overlooked disconnect? The lack of true emotional bond to a character? Why ARE you killing this little rats that love candles so much? Because some guy told you you should feel they are dicks and need to be dealt with?
There is, in my opinion, very little “felt” affect in the world that we call Azeroth (and beyond) in direct relation to the presence of these evil forces. Sure the landscape changes – but do we really fault those pesky demons for not consulting their local geographic aesthetics specialist before and after taking over? We roll through the land and think “Damn… this place is f’d in the A” but why? OK there’s some Orcs but why do I care that they are there? THEY NEVER MOVE! WILL THEY EVER MOVE?! When do they strike? I swear, those Orcs up in Redridge have been planning that fucking attack for goddamn ever and yet we’re still looking for some shit some girl dropped in a lake that we have to fetch. Butterfingers…
The ground is rumbling but where are the war machines?
Very funny post. But I think you may be asking for someone not enough people want. My wife, for instance, adores the loot aspects of the RPGs she plays. If an RPG doesn’t have loot, she’s simply, 100% not interested.
And of course, from the designer’s perspective, getting better items has to be valuable enough to motivate people to spend another two or three months playing the game. Basically, it’s another treadmill that turns player time into publisher dollars.
Is there a point on the spectrum between “items don’t matter” and “items are all that matter” that can satisfy say 80% of the consumers? I’m afraid that, though I’d prefer character ability to be more important, that point actually tends toward the “items matter” side of the spectrum.
What if you replace the gain of an ‘item’ with the gain of a further character change? So instead of getting sword x off a boss, you instead finish a quest to further your swordfighting skill? The difference would be that the quest is based of a few other choices made, while the item is hardcoded with set stats.
And as I wrote in my post above, I’m not asking for items to not matter. Just not to matter 95%, as items are static and can be easily placed in an order of power.