loot and to encourage people to actually use the less efficient but free runes for killing enemies
no more than it matters whether we LIKE the ending of The Lady or the Tiger. it's not meant to pander to us, it's meant to allow us to experience a certain sort of story. if we go into it wanting it to be a different type of story - one about accumulating stuff - we're going to end up sad, and that's how art is sometimes.
