Please just get rid of repairs.

[Jennestia]

there has not always been a gear damage penalty for dying, sorry

You skipped over a part of his sentence -- "A penalty for being in combat or dieing." Repair systems are in MMOs for the purpose of keeping players engaged in character management. It was added as a death penalty (all MMOs have one) because people would be upset for losing miniscule exp that's made up in minutes.