One thing that might alleviate some folks aversion to an 'identify' mechanic might be what was done in the original Baldur's Gate series. Basically, classes had a Lore stat that went up with level, allowing one to identify basic items fairly easily, it was just the more powerful items that needed you to cast the spell or pay a vendor to identify the item. I don't remember how it was actually implemented, but Bards had the highest increase in Lore per level, then wizards, then Clerics and Rogues, and so forth.
