I think gear damage is really a benefit for finding a good pickup group. If there's a cost to your character dying, then you will try harder to stay alive. If nothing bad comes out of it, how many people do you think would just mess around once in a while because they didn't feel like playing for serious? You thought Ifrit was frustrating when you were learning it. Ay yi yi. Gear damage is better than the xp loss people tell me FFXI had too. People need motivators sometimes, and gear damage is one that should stay.