I agree largely with what you're saying.. but, just because I have gear, doesnt mean I did anything to earn it.
Case in point, right now, my PS4 is running an Endless AI tower with Ivy to level her. I have it set to AI, AI set to 30 in Rushdown and Combo. I have my fightstick plugged in with its turbo option on, mashing X like a maniac... So at the end of each match my fight stick just clicks AI Ivy into the next match. It'll go until she loses, which with most characters is 30~ matches in. I use the same technique to beat towers and multiverse stuff. It also auto-rematches when it loses in regular towers (endless obviously backs back out and if I dont stop it, chooses endless again, picks player controlled Batman, and then just mashes his st.3 until it loses, which is actually about 4-5 matches in.. though once it made it to around 8.
Why am I doing this? To collect gear for no reason other than random cosmetics, unlock shaders and level characters when Im not actually playing the game. It takes, I dunno, counting loading times, 1-2m to get her running a new tower when one is beat so if my GF or niece arent using my PS and I feel like it, I set it up and let it grind away. I *SHOULD* have friggen abused the 30m to lv20 strategy more heavily and gotten everyone there instead of like a third of the cast.. but they patched it out. =[
Im not posting this to brag about a bunch of pointless gear, I play exclusively pre-arranged sets so its not something that affects me. I'm just saying that just because someone has a bunch of crazy gear it doesnt necessarily mean they earned it, lol. Ive NEVER played a match against another player with Aqua, Adam or Deadshot and I have gear sets that give them 2900-3000+ str and abil with 2500~ Def lol.