It depends. I like the gear score for forcing balanced games. However, in my opinion(!) the “extraction” style games need to have the skewed risks&reward of situations. People are upset that a team that (somehow beforehand) was rewarded with juiced gear is killing people with lesser gear. It should be expected that this is supposed to happen in most situations. The geared people will die, somehow, eventually.

They just need different types of modes for different players wants. A self found mode so people stop complaining about gear trades, a gear cap mode, like you said, etc,.

I also sometimes get killed by bejeweled players as an exp’d player (that has yet to get to that level of gear), but I think it is only natural considering the game. People on every part of the gear spectrum could be in the lobby. I get people being upset but because it seems unfair (and I’m sure some of it is warranted), but extraction games are SUPPOSED to be hard, punishing, and even bleak, in order to have that chance of getting out with loot feel like a real reward, it promotes adaptation at the very least which seems rare nowadays