The hype was definitely real in the Nordstrom Rack days. A lot of people don't know that Roshes didn't hit FNL, Foot Locker, etc. for at least a year. With Mangoes and Calypsos as international releases, people getting introduced to Japanese sites, all the way to the (I'm hating myself for calling them) "Yeezy" FBs...there was definite hypebeast involvement. Heck, that's why TeamROSHE exists - we wanted to help people find them at boutiques and smaller stores.
And then, Nike cranked the presses, and those people lost interest.
I still have 60+ pairs, and rock them on the regular. What's funny is when I wear the Size? collabs, or some of the early colorways and people think they're IDs, because they just don't know/weren't around at the beginning.
The hunt was definitely fun, but there's something to be said for just walking into a store and picking up a new pair with no hassle.