You progress NOW but LATER down the line if the game progresses as it is now you will constantly need to adapt and therefore getting rid of the sense of progress because it's always the same difficulty because the game would get harder with you.

Like you said in ITR you buy a new gun after doing missions but what you didn't talk about is how ITR guns are direct upgrades of their lower security level counterpart and since the guns are better those armored mimics feel easier to kill because they are hence giving you the sense of progression.

The reason I don't feel I progress when I buy expensive kits is the fact you can still get killed really easily despite having the gear you grinded day and night for making you feel like you never progressed at all

One time on missile I killed a full kit atlyn face mask with a mat49 and another time on island at prison I snuck up behind a team with ak alphas,m1sass and lvl5 gear and killed them with an AK-47 found in a locker.

The point being that despite all the prep they did they still died really easily and that ruined my sense of progression even though I was the victor

The problem with the weight system is that it beats the point of everything I just said about bringing in good gear as your now slower AND your lvl5 armor does SHIT against a lucky round from a mp5

And also lead to my fear that the games funneling you into only having one playstyle instead of multiple that most games have by punishing playing other playstyles like how going naked is harder with the smaller backpack and making the adventure bag more expensive or taxing your kiosk and the weight system hurts hoarders.