I tend to think the same about decay weapons..
I have my own suspicions on the need for eco to be introduced into the game, And it isn't because we needed to save PED.
IMO, MA saw that if everyone kept up the golden days of loot back in 2007ish they would not be around very long. This is the solution to reduce the amount of big PED going out, it creates stability for MA, and a lot less big massive hits overall. (the crippling instability that MA needed to reduce)
Decay is what the game is based upon. So I would argue, and I have practiced this myself through 400k current skills (+250k skills cashed out in 2008), that decay weapons are actually better in the end. I stack it however I can.
With eco you will be stable, but so is MA, with no decay to modify your loots you will not hit the big ones with any sort of chance like you have with decay. Eco is like multiplying by zero....when it modifies...its not that spectacular.
When a decay weapon hits a modifier though.... hello big money. I have 3 10k+ loots in the last 2 years, and constantly hear from eco people about the last HOF they had...years ago, when I HOF regularly on decay.
You can also see it over time with other players with eco weapons on the same mobs...decay weapons will average higher on globals and hofs. But of course that's not to mean its a free lunch, when the loot is bad, its really bad.
Which ultimately comes down to how ever you think is the best way to play. In the end it will average out nearly the same...with MA getting approx 5-10%. Its up to you to make up that loss through markups and strategy.
Me personally though I like the challenge that I really need to work for my markups when those big hits aren't around if I want to continue to play without depositing.