That feeling of struggle and worth meant a whole lot more when player base numbers were greater than the allotted cabal slots. Getting in meant you achieved something other characters weren’t going to achieve. It made the journey more fun than the destination, but also gave great satisfaction.
Nowadays, numbers aren’t at that level and people roll characters with the intent of being Trusted or higher. Most people you fight are caballed and VERY established in equipment or cabal ability that not being at that same point rather quickly means you’re always behind the 8 ball in all your PKs.
Yes, things need to be earned. Yes, things shouldn’t be just handed out, but when you say there was a time when just getting IN was a feat, remember that your PK experience wasn’t always against caballed enemies. It was against maybe 5-10 NON-CABALLED enemies as well. Those PKs were as much, if not more, fun than the caballed PK because of power similarities.
The journey then didn’t mean getting shit on by the Nexus Trusted because they were always the only other enemy online. You had 10 other people to fight.