Uller
Adventurer
In general, I put magic items in my adventures because I WANT my players to use them to solve some specific problem. I don't want to have to waste table-time in elaborate guessing games and I don't want to break up the flow of the story by forcing the PCs to take a day or two out to prepare Identify and cast it. So in general, I will usually provide some alternate means for identifying important magic items. Some easy clues that the bard or wizard with Arcane Knowledge can figure out or some such. For unimportant magic items, I just tell the players what they are at the end of the adventure they found them in. This is just because I _REALLY_ don't want to have to keep track of who has the +1 Bracers of Armor and what not.
However, there is a use for Identify in my games. I _don't_ just give away what items are cursed and some of them are. Identify will identify the curse if cast in the traditional 8 hour & 100gp pearl method as well as a means to get rid of it. So if the PCs suspect an item is cursed, they best spend some time and gold to discover it. This is rare though(afterall, who is going to go to all the trouble to actually make a cursed item?).
However, there is a use for Identify in my games. I _don't_ just give away what items are cursed and some of them are. Identify will identify the curse if cast in the traditional 8 hour & 100gp pearl method as well as a means to get rid of it. So if the PCs suspect an item is cursed, they best spend some time and gold to discover it. This is rare though(afterall, who is going to go to all the trouble to actually make a cursed item?).