>Huh. Well that's interesting. Do they just have lower
>limits? I don't understand why people would preferentially
>farm the harder-to-get wands.

Well, it's two things.

I think the harder to get ones, for whatever reason, are better known.

The harder to get ones also tend to be higher level and thus last a little longer too.

>There's some truth to that because ultimately it does boil
>down to a black and white statement. Either mages need more
>access to abs or they don't. My point in simplifying isn't to
>create a strawman out of an extreme version of your position,
>but I really do have the impression that you believe that abs
>is unnecessary most of the time. If that's not so, then I
>appologise for mischaracterising your position, but it's not
>really feasible to write a 12-page dissertation on the staff
>position on abs (as I interpret it, obviously). Sometimes a
>summary is needed and "mages don't need abs to be successful
>in pk" is my understanding of your general position, broadly
>speaking and with the knowledge that there are some provisos
>and caveats.

I'd say my position is that mages, in general, don't need (and probably should struggle/sacrifice to have) full A/B/S on top of their cabal/class abilities and easier-to-manage preps for every fight. Probably, they need or should want some of it for a lot of fights.

If you're thinking, "No one would take the extreme position that you need the full wack of everything and the kitchen sink for most fights", I probably can provide a lot of counter-examples with just the last month of forums.