I don’t know about too quick to make. It’s a bunch of clothing expertly rigged together by talented hands (needs high tailoring.)
I mean one idea to have a “progressive” survivor’s armor. Maybe because it has so many parts, make it poorly fitting from the start. Make the defenses not so fantastic. Make it so the player has to wear it and do things to find kinks in it. Another plate here, some more duct tape here, take off this bit here, etc. Same thing for all the other survivor things. Weapons don’t deal as much as weapons you might find in pawn stores or randomly in the world, and survivor storage limits you more than traditional.
That way, it’s more rewarding overall and it balances it out. It would also complement a more customizable clothing system, as the pinnacle of a tailor’s skills would be to make something truly theirs in every way.
Also, I worded that poorly. I mean more character-focused as in more focused on themeselves. More character specific bits would do wonders. Something more special than just traits. I don’t know what, but something more I can’t really place.