Would the community appreciate the following change to DF?

[Shougun]

Seems like, at least in context of DF, heading towards 'why even have gear then'? I know some might feel that has some truth already, given an old school lens, but we've still at least some vague progression outside of toll bridge tokens lol. Speaking in terms of stats at least, obviously there is still the 'visual'. Just remove all primary and ilvl stats off gear and turn secondary / materia into flat % boosts for the awkward vestigial of choice. Unlock content = ilvl, or something lol.

Obviously in further depth gear is used as little gates, but before this change at least gear also acted like rewards in and of themselves for power within those said gates. With this change they're far more 'just gates'. Once you meet the ilvl the power reward side of the gear would be near null (due to being synced down strictly).

I don't really like it as it strips back more of the wallpaper and makes gear more of an obvious treadmill, and takes away some of the candy along the way to do it.

I think for quality of the game experience, if you had really wanted to make the game consistently challenging, you'd find more value out of horizontal gear progression. Or just by removing gear progression all together and doing something else. Costs to going horizontal, some people deem worth others not, and if you remove gear progression all together and not replace it.. then I think you've lost part of the flow/zen.. that sort of addictive growth feeling. Certainly there is the story, but that has an end lol- which is why gear is usually last treadmill to give people reason to progress. I know you didn't say to remove gear all together but turning them into strictly (near strictly) gates would take a lot of the flow out of gear growth and make it even more sour (which I think is where horizontal does well, new gear could mean a new way to interface with the game without entirely killing balance- in linear growth it's usually just gradually bigger and bigger numbers but at least it's a change).

That's not to say I don't think min ilvl should be removed or anything (it's nice it exists for PF), I just don't think it would be good to force it on.