Gear damage is used to encourage smart playing and not dying....

Instituting XP loss on death...encouraging smart playing and not dying...both enrages people LOL. PEOPLE will ragequit the game ...

I ragequitted FF11 after dying dying and losing and gaining the same level 20 times. So NO THANKS!

THE WHOLE POINT OF GEAR REPAIR IS A GIL SINK, AND ALSO FOR PEOPLE TO FLIPPIN' PLAY TOGETHER. If you hate that so much go play a solo RPG.