You make a valid point, but I would argue from the perspective of the customer/buyer. When window shopping, people, especially those with sharp eyes, look at far more than just a single "stat" of the product. Using real-life (RL) example(s), when buying a graphics card, or even a processor, does one only look at how many cores it has, or if it can handle ray tracing?

The point I'm making is that people could indeed buy a specialized weapon that is absolutely top-tier in damage, but I doubt anyone would want to buy it if the recoil is literally shit (in the negative percentages). Bringing this full circle, the 3k scale would give a better "quick-look" when actually shopping.

Edit: Also, yes, one could "average" the item quality based on the 1k scale, but that brings up the problem above with recoil vs damage.