There was a time in World of Warcraft when rarity felt almost sacred. You’d stand in Stormwind or Orgrimmar and instantly recognize the players who had something special. Not just good gear—but rare gear. A mount you’d been farming, but never seen before. A title that would require incredible skill to achieve. You saw something uncommon, and your brain immediately started to build a story around the player wearing it.
But modern WoW feels very different now. Not because rarity disappeared entirely—it absolutely still exists—but because Blizzard has slowly shifted from protecting exclusivity to recycling prestige.
From Exclusivity to Accessibility
Take both Mists of Pandaria Remix and Legion Remix for example. Suddenly, “rare” rewards and mounts that once required endless farming could simply be purchased using event currencies. Rare World Boss mounts, raid mounts, class cosmetics—things that once represented years of grinding or insane luck—became realistically obtainable if you just played enough during the event. Players even had a second chance at getting the 
Ahead of the Curve: Argus the Unmaker mount, the 
Violet Spellwing. And thus a different kind of rarity was introduced: temporary accessibility.
That’s modern WoW rarity in a nutshell. Blizzard hasn’t removed FOMO. They’ve just redesigned it.
Turning Past Rewards Into Future Goals
Last year’s Collector’s Bounty event worked the exact same way. Blizzard massively increased the drop rates of older mounts for a limited time, and suddenly everyone started getting the mounts they’d been farming for years. 
Invincible’s Reins and 
Ashes of Al’ar everywhere.
And honestly? It was fun. But it also raised the question: If Blizzard can increase drop rates whenever they want, should a player really have to clear Icecrown Citadel 400 times for a mount in the first place?
That’s where WoW’s rarity debate gets complicated. Some things should feel special. MMOs need aspirational rewards. They need cosmetics that make players stop and inspect someone in a city. If every reward becomes easily obtainable eventually, Azeroth loses some of its magic. But old WoW also built prestige around systems that were sometimes genuinely unreasonable.
You can see how Blizzard have started moving away from permanent exclusivity in multiple systems. Players who achieve 3400 Mythic+ rating can purchase mounts from older M+ seasons—similarly to how the Vicious Saddle system works in PvP. With Trading Post recolours, Remix vendors, returning cosmetics, increased drop rates and seasonal events, very few rewards are truly gone forever anymore.
Maybe that’s healthier for WoW long term. Or maybe, years from now, players will miss the era when seeing someone on a rare mount actually felt mythical.
