I really, really don't like this idea, and the costume system always bothered me when I played LotRO. I like that people's appearances reflect their actual equipment, and that you can tell at a glance, as Teakwood said, what gear people are actually using. I understand, however, that I'm in the minority on this issue, so I'm just going to have to hope that it'll be impractical due to ps2 limitations...