[SwordMage]

It may be that by now I am used to BoE systems.

The primary alternative to them (assuming that one accepts the need to remove items from the economy in the first place) is some form of permanent item decay. I haven't seen one discussed that many players are comfortable with -- the main argument seems to be that having earned the uber sword of back scratching, the notion that it could fall to dust after x months of end-game activities is troublesome.