Agreed. These high upkeep costs only really hurt new players. It only furthers the gear gap, of say, someone who is Gen1-5 and someone who is Gen10-30. Players with high gens will barely feel repair costs which are relatively low when you're a millionaire. New players, or those with a moderate amount of gold, are being pushed into a lower tier of equipment.
Kind of off topic, but:
It's the same thing with the retirement experience nerf. It's really the newer players that suffer. Who cares if someone who's Gen 30, with a full set of +3 gear, can retire ultra quick and get more heirlooms? The experience nerf only widens the gap between the newer players and the vets. While vet players ought to feel like the time they invested gives them a slight edge over the competition it becomes quite ridiculous when newer players can no longer hope to amass the same gear at the same pace the vet players did.