^ Pretty much why would a ninja be able to play his prefered style but a plater couldnt?
Ninja and samurai are forking out tons of cash as well so it's not just you plated-platingtons, just wearing my daisho (to mark me as a samurai coz Im so weaboo and ghey) is making me pay ridiculous amounts of cash, katana costs me 663 and it's not even close to being able to compare stats-wise vs a heavy bastard sword or longsword.
So, can I play my prefered style? Fuck yea, but it's costing me an arm and a leg and I'm not even wearing heavy armor or using decent weapons so at least you're paying an arm and a leg for decent equipment.... I'm just paying for 'exotic' gear that is sub-par to any europeon equivalent that would cost less to upkeep.
IMO upkeep is fine I guess, it's a little too random for me especially when you start a new character and you're forking out 460 bucks for a lamellar vest 3 times in a row on a x1 (low-medium tier armor)
Only reason I'm posting is coz, yeah platers pay more, but their equip is decent and actually worth the cost, I'm forking out 663 repairs for a daggar that bounces off of anyone not in cloth, 968 for a shorter, slower, non stabby great sword, 500+ for my wakizashi, which is one of the most useless 1 handers in the game.
in conclusion, upkeep means, you pay to look bad ass. Deal with it.
I like Spartan's idea of balancing heavy armor's advantages and disadvantages and making heavy armor more sustainable on the battle (but not an instant win button obviously), but it seems next to impossible to balance something like that. (which is why upkeep appeared)
Just my dumb ass opinion, just speaking my mind.
Again, to Bobthehero, ninja and samurai are paying shit tons for crap equip, at least your equip is decent and you can
pretend that the cost is worth it...........