Consumer alert: I am not trying to put words in the original poster's mouth. For one, I don't know where that mouth has been; I might catch something. No, I am trying to make sense of the post, and this is my attempt.
It is explicitly stated in the rules for 4th edition DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and "suggested" (at the very least) in 3rd edition D&D that after n sessions, a character should be x level and have y number of magic items of z magnitude.
I think what our confused (confusing?) poster is suggesting is that:
Because of this "Time you've played must equate to a certain number of levels, period" paradigm, that a 4e campaign that centered on the unearthing of the monolith in the original poster's initial thesis, that the unearthing of, through use of magic, through hunting down a spell, coercing/hiring/kidnapping someone of sufficient power to make the unearthing happen, or likewise acquiring a powerful enough magic item to do so (Mattock of the Titans, etc.) that by the end of that period, the next logical step would be that the reward for doing so would be (a) commensurately powerful magic item(s), and that conversely, in original D&D, since a DM is unfettered from such conventions, that the DM might say that the journey, was, in effect, the destination and that lo and behold, beneath the mighty monolith is a lousy 1st level spell (I mean can you imagine Q1 capping off with finding a scroll of magic missile lying in Lolth's apartments in the Demonweb?!).
Frankly, in this DM's opinion both outcomes suck. The first predicates the notion that the rules MAKE the DM give the players things based on real world time put in, and the second is just "nyah nyah I'm a dick and I can be because I'm the DM".
Note: this is my interpretation of the original post, and nothing more.
