Maybe. However, there is always the possibility of backfiring if people find it too confusing or if different swipes interfere with each other too much. That's why Sailfish 1.0 had quite steep learning curve, even if power users liked it to some extent (as amount of rants is constant :P). Personally I prefer 2.0 and cover actions were not that important to me even with older version.

I would understand that statement if some fundamental feature was stripped away for no reason. Your pain might be eased by making in configurable, but the result may not be consistent anymore that way. So, it's balancing... you cannot please all, if you try you won't please anyone.