Chris, I agree with everything you said in that last post.
My point, however, was more about the implied precision of the system. I can envision, for example, a system compatible with the WotC CR versions, that had the CR number, with a few "minuses and plusses" added on, that worked like the asterisks to constantly remind the GM that the CR is only a guideline. Maybe a certain 3E dragon would be "CR 9+++" to indicate that, "yeah, we said it is roughly CR 9 if you play the dragon stupid in a straight fight or the PCs have magic to counter its abilities, but if you use its abilities fully against a typical party, it can punch way above its weight." The 3E orc and 5E goblin might get one + on the same reasoning.
But yes, better to make the system more accessible to common sense, and linear advancement is definitely the way to go. If I remember how you had it set up, I went even more linear with mine, with a boost of hit points at the front and even less scaling. A typical fighter has something like 10 (7 + 1d6) at start, and maxes out around 92 (50 + 12d6) at the upper reaches of epic at level 24. In any given tier, the GM can almost treat different level individuals as effectively interchangeable for encounter capabilities, with the situation and player abilities of course far more determinant for how things will go.