So why bother with alternate weapons?

STR dit was my second character in beta. There were a few reasons and I've already mentioned some of them. The first reason is that there was no cash shop in beta so style points made a difference back then. The second reason is that weapons after 30 were difficult to come by (scrolls too). The crafters in the various towns around Victoria were somewhat helpful in that (we still had to collect all the ores and materials), but not all weapons could be built. STR dits also had a reliable weapon path.

Cass > Bazlud > Golden River

versus

Gephart (or fan) > Shinkita (weapon speed bugged to be slower) > Kandine

All of the STR daggers were more reliable and acquired earlier than the DEX equivalent. The level 70 weapons only dropped from Jr. Balrog and therefore I think I only ever saw one each Kandine and River. The average player could expect to make it to mid 50s or 60 before giving up (I made it to 57, and had a +5 Bazlud). Again, weapon paths were determined by what dropped, or what was available in the market. Beta really was a different game than the current maple, but much of the logic of the game has held since then: Players tend to choose the path of least resistance. As the game has changed, as items have become more available, and as stat whoring has reigned, the various alternates have fallen out of favor.

Strength bandit was my first class, typically everyone lived in the fallacy that you could substitute a str scrolled item instead of a luk one and save money. Though such argument has no presence here as beta barely had any impact on the strength dit population. Especially after the first anniversary. Many players will over look the slight DPS gap to use an axe instead of a sword. Just like many players chose the cursayer over the varkit.