Kaiser141

"PCGS has always been this way."  Yup, but if you collect classic coins, there isn't enough NGC-graded material out there to make registry competition possible.  And, it's not just keys and super-expensive coins, it's pretty much accross the board with any coin even marginally challenging.  For an easy example, take the 1931S FB Mercury dime in mint state, a difficult, but hardly impossible date.  I have NEVER seen an NGC-graded 1931S FB dime in ANY MS grade anywhere ever, and I've collected Mercs since before NGC opened its doors.  There are a few listed in the pop stats, but crack outs and cross-overs render them essentially non-existent.  Many other tough Merc. dates are the pretty much the same---18S, 19S, 23S, etc.  In comparison to some classic sets, the Merc dime set is a snap.  

I have 10 or 12 NGC sets I started well before the NGC-only change in January 2017.  I haven't added a single coin to any of them since, not one.   Several of my sets are "Best in Category" though they are incomplete and will always remain incomplete.  However, they'll stay "Best in Category" forever even though utterly stagnant since it'll be virtually impossible for anyone to find enough NGC coins to over-take me.  In all of my other sets, there has been no movement in any of the other top sets in the past year. They're all zombies, standing but dead.   That's hardly a "registry."