Just give us repairs already. Would make a great meseta sink, too. Some items are just way too rare or tedious to get for anyone to 'just farm another.'
Let's not even get into the one-time-only deals like Edel weapons.
I understand that feeling, but in the long run I feel like the mechanic is going to drive people away more often than it will drive them to find replacement gear, and nothing kills an online game more thoroughly than a shrinking playerbase.