This can't be achieved with reflectors and gobos.
This photo was shot at 1/1000th @ f/5.6 ISO 200 using HSS mode. The flash, my Metz 58 AF-2, was at full power, but as you can see, some of the clouds, particularly near the sun in the upper right corner of the frame are blown out. Because I'm at such a high sync speed, the flash is doing everything it can to illuminate my subject, but in reality only a fraction of it's light is reaching the sensor. I probably could have achieved the same look with more detail in the clouds at 1/500th if my sync speed could reach that high, and the flash could have dropped by at least a stop in power giving me faster recycle times and more shots. Even if it couldn't, the first couple stops once you cross into HSS territory are still pretty useful, but having a 1/180th sync speed is like starting a 100 meter foot race 20 meters behind everyone else, you'd have to run that much faster in order to win.
Now I understand that good mechanical shutters are expensive, but there are other ways to achieve higher effective sync speeds, leaf shutters, mechanical-electronic hybrid shutters, and "hyper syncing". For me the whole argument boils down to creativity, not which company has what. It's like if I asked you to paint a picture and gave you a tube of white, a tube of black, and a 3 inch house brush. It can be done, but wouldn't you rather have a whole assortment of colors and an array of brushes for different types of strokes?
Not everyone is foolish enough to shoot with the sun in their frame, but I am, I like the effect. I think Pentax thinks of features in terms of "This will be good enough for most people", but what they should be thinking, if they want to maximize their appeal to the broadest ranger of shooters is "Most folks won't need or use this feature, but there are some who will want to take full advantage of it." I see that design philosophy from Nikon in particular, and to some degree from Canon. Now before you say "well why don't you switch?", believe me, I'm very close to doing so. But I do love my Pentax glass, and it's going to be hard (on my wallet) to find it's equal with Canon or Nikon. I'd be hamstrung for quite some time.