"...and that the next time I roll a shifter I should really try to run a well played character so that I can get the same."

I don't really think that is realistic and maybe that's the problem. Let's assume there is 0% bias against players who don't agree with you or who have different styles than you. Let's further assume that the world is perfect and you get to absolutely watch 100% of every character the same amount and see every good and bad thing they do. Even with those two non-sense assumptions, I have a feeling that whatever criteria there is for developing these rewards behind the scenes isn't consistent or metrics driven. That is to say, some rewards are better than others *not even intentionally*.

So no, I don't think to myself, "Hey I can get the same thing" because it's not realistic. It's a lottery, one that I've never won in as long as I've played and plenty of other players of higher quality than me have never won in many years as well.

A lot of it boils down to fairness, transparency and consistency. And if you can't have all those things, it's probably better to limit the impact of your rewards.

And this by the way is the same logic I have for most of my arguments - arguments against death blow, arguments against frenzied uber elementals, etc. When it comes to RP and exploration - do whatever you want - but when it comes to player versus player - skill should be the real measuring stick. Not luck. Not rewards. If PVP isn't driven 100% by player skill, it becomes meaningless and if PVP is meaningless, that kills the game for me in a major way.