No piece of gear should change your playstyle except sniper to shotty change. The gear in this game is just stats too hate to break it to you armor gives perks that you grind for the ones you want. Weapons you grind for perks by re rolling till u get a god or near god roll. The fact is that yes were attached to our weapons but if the upgrading contunies there will be only a few optimum loadouts like in diablo or borderlands 2 and as its seen people choose the optimum loadouts for what ever activity they do