There, I said it. Since I am apparently in the minority here, I feel obligated to share a few thoughts.

I am not a super hardcore player. SSF Caustic Arrow Ranger, not consulting a guide, nearly done with act 3.

My first successful Scourging got me a Bow with some ridiculous traits- lots of elemental damages. The curse on the Scourged part of the stat block was "No cold damage", which, since I was using Caustic Arrow, and the bow itself did loads of Lightning, didnt bother me. I couldnt make a better bow- scourged or otherwise- until well into act 2. Just a few Scourges later I got my body armor- Lots of energy shield, and a per-second health regen over 10- which, for an act 1 item, is kind of insane.

Scourging items does not always produce good results, but even a bad rare is still a rare- I get loads of AltOrbs and other currencies just from selling them off to vendors. A scourging is essentially a free Alch on top of the rest of the mechanics, which is still nice.

The Scourge events itself have yet to give me any serious trouble. The first few were rough, but since I clear every area when I go into it before moving on to the next, I am actually over leveled without even really grinding at all. I died a few times early on, but once I got the hang of it- Wait for your health and mana to refill first, dash to escape a dogpile, V a second time to shift back early if things get too hairy- I have yet to have too many problems.