Give it time, most games start slow with gear choices, but even WoW, which has been out for close to ten years is basically the same, go for top gear that is available. Once vanity system comes out, i think that will help a lot with everyone looking the same, even though stats might be the same.

You can't really blame companies though, it's players driving it. If there was more horizontal progression, where iLevel capped at say 70 or so, but different effects on items or whatever, players would theorycraft which gave best deeps or what, and if you didn't have that, no group for you. It's why WoW got rid of the old talent trees, it was just an illusion of choice, when everyone pretty much went on elitist jerks for the "best build" anyway.