Yeah, that’s a good way to look at it and touches on why I’ve always disliked Gear Score mechanics. It’s a single stat that overrides all other qualities on equipment. It provides a general stat boost but no actual discernible effects, and it’s only purpose is to gate you from progressing through a game quicker than intended (much like mobile game progression). Increasing your gear score doesn’t actually give you anything new, but it also causes you to have to ignore any special perks equipment has because none of those are ever as important as gear score.
At least until you hit the max gear score cap, but then you’re only looking for specific “unique” type equipment with consistent, pre-determined effects that define them. All other equipment in the game is filler. And at that point rarity systems lose most of their meaning too.