Really useful points raised there, thank you.
I believe the FOMO is more from sheer volume of the items and amount I’ve missed, as opposed to 1-2 items. Personally, I did indeed play early access, right in it’s earliest days but have felt no qualms over missing out on the console exclusive preorder item (I was PC). It was only 1 item, and I wasn’t overly fussed by that particular design.
I went on to buy every single DLC released afterwards, though.
I started playing with friends, then moved to a more solo/build playstyle as time went on (most ofc play with clans and on PvP servers as well, so I don’t represent a majority of players). The playstyle I evolved to is more centered around creative builds, than most other aspects of the game. This means the cosmetics are naturally my favourite thing!
I wouldn’t like black market options either, as you say. I’d much prefer a solution that allows me to support the devs etc. I also absolutely love a lot of the new content, and the variety is fantastic. I would not want to remove the BP from the game. As I said in my OP, I think the BP is necessary. It has it’s place and it’s a lovely way to bring out new content, especially if the DLCs aren’t performing well enough.
I haven’t suddenly dropped the game per se (I’ve logged in here and there and still have it installed). I’ve barely touched the game this year, though. My old drive to play just disappears when I realise some of the new content that looks awesome, is completely unobtainable because I missed the boat. My own fault, but I’m aware it’s not just me. I went through a lot of the forums before making this post and found a mixture of old players, and new players that shared my interest to see access to old BP content again for various reasons.
I 100% agree with what you say about the artists and modelers efforts. From a financial point of view, is the exclusivity of these items really where the best money maker is? This is a sandbox after all, so I don’t think that model applies as well to Conan as it does to other game genres.
Exclusivity / Fomo driven purchases are the only reasons I can think of that Funcom wouldn’t want to make that content available again in some way. But is there not some compromise that could work well for Conan?