Mine came stock. But I took them out. It was my first ever guitar.
As for the high action, I guess... I always thought that was low, it's how I've played for the past two years (been playing for 4). I play A LOT better, faster, smoother, clearer with strings this high.
I mean, why make life harder for myself? I could get the strings way low and I'd have to bend adjacent strings, making it much harder. With the strings this high I can bend under strings. MUCH easier. It's not harder to play either. All my guitars are set up this way. The BIG drawback is that I can't get my pickups close to the strings. Or else when I fret high up they get way too close to each other. So it's all a compromise, but guitar setups always are.