Here's what I'm understanding so far.
If Cadence wasn't broken, purple gears pre-patch is stronger overall than current Master Class gears. However, current Master Class gears have a ton of AGI and CRIT which our current equipment doesn't have and enough STR to make up some of the ATK we're missing due to a bugged skill. On the other hand, if the current Master Gear trend continues, we won't get INT anywhere except from cards, runes, or base stats.
Now whether adding INT on base stats is a good idea or not is still up in the air since Cadence broken and since AGI is essentially the HIT/Dodge stat which makes it a get it or die kind of situation. Unless AGI is overhauled, we'd have no choice but to spec AGI because of the Hit factor which leaves the secondary stat to be who knows what right now.
It's really hard to make a good decision with all these formulas out of whack. Really could use a stat reset due to this.