Repairing isn't a gil sink (or else we wouldn't have the millions upon millions of gil we do), the only reason it ends up unpopular in games is because players hate having to work for things, they hate having to actually pay attention to what they're doing in their gaming.

Repair systems were fine before the "I want it noooow and I don't like micromanaging!" generation of MMO gamers sprung up. I like the repair system, they already simplified it enough for the complainers, they don't need to axe it.