It really depends on what you want out of the game. There's the camp who believes that perks are a waste of time due to them not changing enough to be meaningful. This camp can safely ignore perks regardless of their implementation. I, personally, enjoy the sense of cost /benefit analysis I get to do on gear affinity. There are ways to mix & match affinities to round out weaknesses, and there's much more room for experimentation with combinations across multiple loadouts. Of course, it's impossible to please everyone. But the new system has brought me more depth in my character sheet, and that's worth defending to me.