I personally like the way it is now. I don't think you should get to pick and choose what you are able to craft in strategus without any stipulations. What equipment you use in c-rpg should give you benefits to crafting in strategus (for that equipment). If you want to get bonuses to cheaper gear in strat, you wear that gear in c-rpg. seems logical to me.
From my experience the more equipment I leave the same and spawn with the more likely I am to get the message. When you change out items it delays the message (not sure the specifics). For every gear you have on you when you get the message, you get 3 quality (which means you can craft 3 at a time). For every time you get the message and you're not wearing an item that was previously on the list, those items will lose 1 quality, the items you have in your build will get 3 added to it. So you could potentially have lots of items, I can't check right now, but I have mail shirt, heraldic mail with surcoat, long war axe, knightly arming sword, elite cav shield, knightly heater shield, mail chausses, black boots, wisby gauntlets, mail gloves, courser, heavy lance, great helmet, and some nordic helmet all at varying levels of quality.