Yup, old outfit was actually rather good besides the Hatchet thing (I like the hammer more now).
The change in gear was due to me trying to increase my speed and milk my athletics further after being caught by several people in a row (now I can barely run fast enough to turn shoot run and repeat, or outrun the average ninja-esque blitzer and get back to the safety of my squadmates, though I do also have one more athletics then I used to as well). I am considering going back but I am still tough enough to survive many shots, so if I do switch back I may grab the gauntlets and just ditch the boots (I rarely, very rarely, get shot in the foot when playing my Archer).
The arrows are because with my bodkins I was two-shotting my average opponent, and now switching to arrows I am still two-shotting my average opponent. I still bring down coursers in an average of two to three shots (or one if the lunatic is running fast enough right towards me), so the extra 60% increase in ammunition is pleasing me greatly.
Also I have picked up a few tricks from a few clan mates on making long distance shots easier, so I find that I am sniping far more often then usual, and providing "harassing/suppression" fire more then I usually do.
If I am not playing on a larger server pop', I do admit that I often swap out for Bodkins.
I do, however, also admit that now I need an average of four arrows to take out Transitional targets, where as I used to only need three. But since I am getting better with headshots, I find that I don't really care.
EDIT: The Old outfit is very much in line with the typical warbow user for upkeep costs, I do agree. Oh, and I do get a perverse pleasure in knowing that the average archer can not use my arrows without triggering the "reset to 1" glitch when sniping back at me.