We had a slab-leak a couple of years ago and after the plumbers left, we had to recarpet the whole house. We chose a thick pile from HD and the BEST padding we could get (it is a memory foam pad). All I can say is WOW. The padding has kept the carpeting feeling like new and we do have definate traffic patterns. I will probably get really sick of looking at it before it wears out. Also, with huge changes in weather and humidity, the foam keeps the carpet from wide changes in size (you know, that stretch when the humidity get real high or storms a lot, or the super dry air that tries to shrink it).
The carpeting that was replaced had also been from HD. The only reason it was replaced was because the water separated the carpet from its backing. (I was real glad to get rid of it - it was NEVER going to wear out: good padding and it was a Berber).