The armors look fairly different then me. Even the weaving in the cloth armor varies by cloth type that is used.

Compaired to most mmo, the armor in XIV probably takes around 3-4fold as long to produce.

Think that is half XIV's issues, everything is so crazily detailed it is not only putting strain on the graphics engine but taking them forever to make stuff for the game.
So. The only difference between a LV 11 cowl and a LV 41 one is... the texture's coloring. Same is true for Haubergeons. And Aktons. And... no. The implementation of armor should NOT take longer. Even the Devs themselves once praised how fast their system *should be in theory* in one of the early interviews (making of a realm #2 or #3). Lame excuse. Lke, literally "lame".