I see this argument a lot, and I don't really agree with it. There's a lot more things to do in the current version that wasn't in the earlier versions. I wish to see the old system to form a mixture of both old and new.
Maybe if you disabled breeding? That would also encourage exploration. I really want this armor system reimplemented since I'm making a modpack that brings back the old survival feel from earlier versions of the game. I already got pigs to be the only passive mob to drop food, the only really renewable source is farming or fishing.