I don't know how will be Strat, but last released allow you to win a bunch of xp (once i receive more than 1million xp in a single battle), gold is different, but there is no upkeep for mercs i guess.
In fact once you achieve your "perfect build" you don't need any more to grind in Strat, and chadz said that there will be new skills like crafting, trading, etc, it will give a new dimension to the game.
I only hope that there will be feature for lone player otherwise i will join a clan, cos last Strat was really interesting only if you are part of a clan.
I guess cRPG is a lab for Strat and once it will be released i don't think that devs will improve crpg (only to improve Strat) so you're right if some ppl don't want to play Strat then they got to deal with the change. But seriously, Strat is the ultimate goal, a real MP Warband, like singleplayer campain, i guess almost everybody will be interested.