Even considering this it was a real misconception that gear was every hard to obtain, the time when this "myth" existed would've simply been when few towns existed and Owners essentially gatekeeped valuables (xp bottles and diamonds) and then the majority of the playerbase (hundreds of players in each town) would be solely reliant on gear from those players.
We were always all rich and had an abundance of said gear it just wasn't readily available to every active player as it is now, with more towns, people actually grinding. It's a good improvement but simply a myth that it was ever hard to get! It's good how it is I agree strongly with what Mag said above