the reaction to the gear grind is the same reaction my friends had when they found out about it, for the few i got to come back and try the game again. i had to not tell them about how bad the grind was or they probably wouldn't have tried, when they found out how bad it really is, it was part of the reason why none of them are still around.
i feel like if you have to leave out major parts of a game just so it doesn't sound bad when your talking people into trying it, something is wrong.