If the only point of the game was slaying baddies I would agree with you. But, like Diablo, a huge part of this game is going to be the gear grind. And it does suck to get a new shiny and have to load into an explore area just to play around with it. Especially if I am winding down and just want to get my stuff identified and check it out real quick. It would make acquiring new gear more rewarding.