I don't totally understand why gear damage is a thing?

[Warlyx]

gil sink? it cost nothing to repair gear ...just the gil from the dungeon and the Duty , it pays off...

and yeah i remember in 2.0 how awfull it was to repair , btw repair and teleports ppl had gil issues , thx god SE listened and lowered the cost

[Sida]

To repair gear it's enough to have the craft level 10 below the gear level. And I have found out its possible repair gear even in the middle of the fight, not to mention on the downtime. I agree they could introduce some overpriced repair item that doesn't require the crafts but costs way more than the rapair materials now. Or make it possible to fix other player's gear in dungeon. For me though the current system is fine, it's one thing that gives purpose for having leveled crafts.