That argument was the same when they first started to go up, only back then it was, "people do not want to spend money on paper hats when they could be buying a d chain, or something useful." Fact is, people have always desired the ability to wield a phat. Real merchanters made money off of the people thinking they could merchant back when phats really started to take off, and now, the people buying phats are those that made huge profits, and those that now because of all the new armor and weapons, are able to finally afford that "paper hat."