[quote=@Schradinger]
If anything, stats and numbers only increase the skill required to defeat your opponent. All they do in most cases is define the framework that you have to use, thus restricting you to pre-specified capabilities and forcing your skill to play a larger role because you can't ad-lib things on the spot.
[/quote]

How do you figure? If one person has higher stats in, say, speed and reflexes, then they're automatically going to be able to counter a character whose stats suggest that their speed and reflexes are lower. Sure it might be useful to some. Hell, the reasons you stated are the exact reasons people like stats, but I personally feel it limits the writer creatively. Battles, to me, are best when they are decided by opportune moments rather than pretty-much-set-in-stone reactions. The notion of coming up with something to get oneself out of a sticky situation is the same rush of adrenaline one would get if they were doing some extreme sport.