I was cleaning my gutters 7 years ago, and had a ladder issue. With 2 broken legs, I couldn't put one ounce of weight on my legs for 8 weeks. The hospital was full of others with broken legs from cleaning gutters. I've since been prohibited from ladders over 6' as no falls are left in my legs.
With 6 pine trees around my house, my homeowners' insurance company threatened to cancel me last year unless I cleaned my gutters out. I beat them to their game and just removed the 200' of gutters on my house. Since I live on a hill, water draining off the roof is not an issue.
Wow! What a nightmare to have broken both legs cleaning your gutters. Sorry to hear that, and I'm really glad that water draining off the roof is not an issue.
My long term plan is to remove most of my gutters and replace them with nothing. You only really need gutters over your doorways. Depending on the soil and slope of the grounds around your house, you can put attractive gravel under your eaves so the rainwater doesn't gouge a ditch. And you may have to install a French drain (more rocks) so the water doesn't build up against your foundation. Once the Rock is on the ground, it is maintenance free. I have stony soil, so I won't have to do either.
I can tell you have thought about this a lot, and thanks for your post which gives me some ideas to think about too.
My new dream house doesn't have any gutters
, probably because my small yard had a large number of the biggest trees in the area when I bought it. Gutters would have been clogged with leaves in about 10 seconds with all those trees. The trees were far older than the house and way past their prime, though; sadly they were too old, rotting, and frequently dropping huge and dangerous branches so after consulting with some experts I chose to have them all removed.
So now, I have no trees around and no gutters either. I thought you had to have gutters, but now I am thinking maybe not. I suppose I could have gutters added, but I'm waiting to see if I really need them or what. So far no ditch under the eaves. If one starts to develop I am thinking of putting down pavers but gravel would probably look better. Also I want to get over the financial hit of buying the house in the first place and then having all that landscaping, concrete work, and re-grading of my lot done before paying for gutters. It did just fine with no gutters for over half a century so it may not be the end of the world if my house goes one more year without them while I get this figured out.
If I do get gutters, I'll pay a gutter cleaning service even though my house is just one story. I think they cost around $100-$150 here, but that's cheaper than breaking a bone if I fell off a ladder.