Like you said, the worth of the system won't be known until the possible mods are. But for multi-job equipment I like the concept of choosing augments (if that's what they allow you to do and they're not random). For job specific equipment, I would agree that there would probably be an obvious path and just an illusion of choice. But if I can use the mage armor for five mage jobs, I'd definitely see the intrigue in maxing it out for stats that fit my favorite among them, and ignoring the stats that might be good for that job I just come as because I occasionally have to.