Just so everyone is clear, when we did some internal restructuring and brought in new people, this meant that we actually created an Item
team that would be dedicated to solely getting new items or mesh/texture improvements added. People in this position have the forum title "Item" in front of their name. So
Item Advisor means he's on the Item Management team, while simply
Advisor and
Balancer mean you're on the Game Balance team (Notice Macropus and San no longer have the
Item part).
With that being said, I think it's worth noting that at this point it seems silly to ever
stop the recruitment process(even if you're not actively seeking them out), be they for the Item team, the Events team or even the Balance team. Just keep in mind though, if you're interested, showing initiative is generally the best way to get our attention.
Does that mean that armor difficulty will remain unchanged? I think weapons AND ARMORS should be overhauled, because they are also abusable with large stacks of agility and weapon master.
The reduced WPF penalty for strenght will not change the issue of AGI plate fighters. Not changing it gives more armor choices to more people but with the very large number of armors available, I think its no longer a problem of taste, but a balance problem.
I think I made it clear in the past that raising armor difficulties isn't the only means to the same end. The weight penalty changes were made with this among its top objectives.