>>532243935
Everything was armored in the original system. The item descriptions even make fun of it. You could upgrade a tiny piece of fabric that barely covered your nipples into level 4 plate Armour. I think the devs just wanted a crafting system that allowed you to wear whatever you wanted so long as you upgraded it. The wardrobe system is alot better but doesn't quite make sense from a lore perspective either. Realism would just have everybody walking around in bomb disposal armour or something.

They needed some reason for players to where items based on fit over function and they ended up with the wardrobe so the upgrade system wasn't such a crafting component sink.