Originally Posted by
Belight
That works for Eve, but is not as easily implemented in a game with an actual Avatar.
I'm pretty sure DarkFall's armor system is going to be an epic failure. It does not address attributes or passive skills like mana conservation. Attributes are the number one thing that needs capped in games like this. DarkFall has shown just how valuable a skill cap is!
As far as item/gear restrictions... Sure, a ship or vehicle will restirct the vailidity of your skills, but that is much different that the clothing or armor a persons wears. It just stops making sense... Why would a chainmail shirt stop me from firing a bow? Why would it lower my intelligence or raise my strength? The only thing armor should affect is encumberance.
To make something like this work, I thought of a cool system DarkFall should implement.
You can have every skill to 100, yet you can only have so many skills "active" at one time. Like a template you chose. You could even be able to chose multiple templates, and then switch between them (Out of combat, with a cooldown). So vet players arent any stronger, but have more options when switching templates. You can grind out every single skill, and even use every skill, just not at the same time.
The attributes would then need to be capped and work a littel differently, it would take grinding to raise one and reduce another. Refer to UO where gains can be set to "raise, Lower, or Lock".