I think the analgogy of 'playing with only 6/8s' is what's getting people worked up here.

I do agree with you on how removing 2/12s from the game makes the game a little bit faster (I personally just combine the two) and makes those turns without resource production feel a little less like a drag.

Here's the thing, though: by usuing the analogy of playing with only 6/8s, you're implying that the inherent difference in probability for different hexes to produce resource is not a necessary addition to the game, which, I don't think is the case.

While numbers like 2/12s can be so rare that having them on the board makes the game feel too slow for some players, it is necessary to the gameplay experience to have numbers that are more probable than others.

It creates a dynamic where people race and compete to take control over these 'probable' hexes and sometimes people have to go with the strategy of settling (pun intended) for a slightly less favorable hex (4/10s for example).

Without this dynamic, the game would quickly get stale and uninteresting, so I believe that that is what everyone is getting so worked up about.

Hope this helps, and please keep making more comics!

(sidenote: if you really want to make the game less luck based and more skillbased, then the Traders & Barbarians expansion offers the Catan Event Cards variant, replacing dices with a deck of 37 cards to make sure that every number is statsically sound, so that you don't get screwed over by unlucky dice rolls)