I like this idea aswell..Why don't they bring out the old style NPC quests where you'd hand an NPC some gold and he'd tell you a rumor. "I heard there was a <insert what ever here> somewhere near Despise" You could go there and bash a few monsters and with luck find such an item. If they put that back in with a rare chance of getting some of the really good items like Doom Arties or Tokuno Majors (can always say a monster killed and looted it) then it might be more possible to draw players back to Trammel and Felucca banks provided that's the only two facets this option was available.
*screams some more*