Plus, it kind of implies that to make magical items, you have to depart of your essence,your mana, your energy, like in some tales... Represented by XP.
Well, maybe HP could be used instead in this vision though...
In a wiorld with high enough magic, why no peoples with both might and magic skills wouldn't have tried mixing the two? It sounds to me logical a warrior-mage would like pratical 'blade magic'.... ENhancing his fighting with applied magic...
It was stronger than Fighter stuff as base.. But no more than any spellcaster CoDzilla or Wizard, really.
Sucess and popularity are not necessarly the same, also...
It was the reason of early TSR's changes in names and some details.
Strangely,of all inspirations of TSR,s game, the Tolkien estate was the only one to make official complaints.. am I wrong?