I would prefer if the game was free of "stats" as much as possible, and by that I mean stuff like critical hit probability or accuracy percentages or strength modifiers. Whatever else it may be, this is being sold as an FPS first, so it should really favor skill-based gameplay over number-crunching. I fully agree with gear he4d7 that an experienced player and a noob should be on even footing, except of course for the punishing level of skill the experienced player has honed over time. That said, I think it would be great to see functional variations for the different gear. I keep looking at just the helmet options and thinking each one should be specialized for things like zoom distance, target acquisition, night vision, or infra-red. That level of modding could of course apply to the rest of the armor and weapons, too. I'd honestly be a little disappointed if the variations were only cosmetic.