Whilst I understand what you're saying, I don't agree - at least personally. I don't want to go to MF - but I do want to be able to get good full sized prints from my Epson 3880 - the A900 just about cuts it (as does the M9) - the D700 certainly didn't. 36mp would be enough.
I completely agree with you here - and I think it's because like me you do a lot of travel photography. Planes, buses, trains, moto rickshaws, by foot. I'm happy to put the camera on a tripod, take distance measurements (using AF no less) and carefully manage DoF. But I'm not willing to carry a MFD kit - that's just not going to happen. And when I got the carefully set up shot over with I pop the camera off the tripod and hand hold it. Maybe put a 70-200 VR on and set it to ISO 1600. Sure the tripod work will be technically better, I don't think that ought to surprise anyone, but the latter isn't going to be worse than any other 35mm camera, and with VR, good f/2.8 performance and high ISO it's going to run circles around anything MF handheld in low light.
Unlike you though I really want the broad range of Nikon glass, from T/S to fisheyes, to a 500/4. I want an underwater housing for it. Again, I want versatility that no MF system can offer. And I'm not waiting for the A99, because Sony is so short in the optical department, short on third-party L brackets and QR plates, short on third-party accessories (like UW housings), uses silly memory sticks, and I'm concerned they'll go all-EVF. Though I could live with all that, the fact that Nikon is making the D800E without the AA filter seriously convinced me. Sony has traditionally better color response (to my taste), but everything else about the A99 is a big fat unknown... can I get it w/o an AA filter? With OVF? Will I get a decent L bracket for it? So in the D800E I see win-win-win-meh, in the A99 I see win-maybe-maybe-maybe. A little too much pig in the sack at this point for me...
I know every lens isn't going to push the technical limits of the D800E - and that's fine. I just won't use those lenses to those ends, like a 105/2.5. Just like I shoot with a Summarit 5cm f2 on my M9; it has qualities that make it attractive for reasons other than resolving power. And packing a lens for some particular type of shot is pretty easy. Secondary gear like this I often just wrap in a shirt and toss in the suitcase.