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

Maybe people assume that you can only find them in more remote/dangerous places, so they don't look so hard in less remarkable places. I know I'm guilty of that. There are definitely low-level places (like the keep of Fhalugash) that I haven't really searched well enough to be totally sure lack a dam redux wand.

>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.

Okay, well that's reasonable and basically my understanding of your position. To me, if someone needs something in "a lot" of cases, then it's fair to say they need that something in the general case. Maybe "a lot" means something different to you. What you said still doesn't tell me whether you think mages need abs in a general sense. Since you express disinterest in making abs much more available, it still leaves me assuming that you don't think mages need consistent and significant dr.

I say "mages need abs" the way I say "cars need gas" They don't always need a full tank, and you don't have to refuel every time you go out, but generally speaking you need at least some gas if you want to get anywhere. There are alternatives to getting gas. Playing conservative is like pushing instead of driving; you can eventually get where you need to go it'll just take forever and probably not be much fun. I'd better stop before this analogy gets any torturous (if that's possible).

>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.

Sure, some people are crazy. I've agreed before that full abs, stoneskin and protection is too powerful to be a 24/7 thing. But you can make aura/shield more common and barrier rarer, for example.

If you can suggest a phraseology that indicates "the staff has no intention of increasing your access to abs because they don't think you need it for every etc except xyz and also abc, barring qrs etc, but they do need it for..." in a concise way I'm all ears. I can switch to "the staff doesn't think mages generally need significant dam redux" if that seems more accurate to you.