pretty much my view on the subject. the most interesting thing about equipment is seeing which stat will go up from the HQ version of it:
this one raised spell speed. this one raised all the stats, this one seemed to only raise the defense and magic defense...(i like making HQ versions of my gear because the crafting, while rather dumbed down from 1.0 remains interesting and fun...least when you get to higher levels and have more skills and cross class skills. )
SE: there is nothing wrong with complex gear. some people may baulk at a complicated system in favour of "just make it incrementally better than the last set plz" but there are many who are fine with a piece of gear that gives them a +9 against ogres. or a piece of gear that lets them run slightly faster or use magic attacks if they are a non-magic users, or which gives some odd arcane bonus which seems utterly useless until combined with another piece with another arcane useless bonus to make it god incarnate.