@OP: I thought you might like to know, I've linked your post with a translation request into the French and German forums. If the dissenters really believe that they're the majority and people are just whining through nostalgia goggles and want things handed to them and gear shouldn't mean much and skill = memorization, perhaps we can get a larger perspective on the subject. Clearly the Japanese and English forums "Like" feature seems to disagree with the dissenting opinion, and I personally also agree with the OP. I've read every single page of this thread, and if you haven't "gotten what we're saying" by now, you aren't going to. I'm not in the business of beating dead horses or digging my heels in to bandy a point to anyone too stubborn to listen, so I'm leaving it at that. I'll be keeping an eye on the French and German forums, though.