We dont need to remove upkeep.
Upkeep is a very good balancing system,that from jan till this latest patch, has worked with just a few minor flaws
I will agree that this last patch has
DEVASTATED the players income. I, myself, have been stuck at 65k for the last 3 weeks wearing only 28k in gear. Despite all claims to the contrary, without an x5 multi you will lose money just about every time you play, and sometimes even then if the gods of random chance are against you.
Several posts have speculated about this being in order to nerf
specific items that were being abused. ie: too many plate, ponys, crossbows
If that is the case, then the balancing factor should have been simple:
increase or double the initial cost of (you guessed it) plate, ponys and crossbows.
This serves to highten several things. It immediately makes owning these items more prohibitive for new players. It also
DOUBLES the upkeep costs for millionairs instantly, creating a better gold sink and draining those accounts. and it would effectively keep the lowered costs for all of the mid tier equipment stable for the rest of the people who need to earn money.
As it stands now, the only other solution I can see that would make a difference was one stated by Tydeus in
this thread. And that would be an insurance system. this would make it very easy to be a normal player to use his gear and still make it prohibitive (yet not impossible) to upkeep plate.
I suggest a thourough read of the article, it makes a lot more sense than the current system.