I am sure hoping that Verant changes the graphic for this and other Cultural Leathers. After all the work and expense of learning this trade, it would sure be nice to produce an item that is desired by players due to it's unique look, in addition to the stats it gives.
Made a Set of Imbued Mithril Studded for my Newbie (Level 7) Druid alt. When I got an Excellent Saber Skin made an Imbued Reinforced Tunic and swapped out the studded one. For a low-level druid this is great armour - nice Wis boost, charisma and OK AC.
Not only can this be a nice druid item, it is also a nice bard item. I am told by bards that they need cha, altough i never bothered to ask what for. Even on planar raids i'm required as an enchanter to keep my cha buff on them.
As a Wood Elf Tailor and a Druid as soon as I made this tunic, which was about 1 week ago, I sold off my Foreman's Tunic. I did this for several reasons: 1 - Foreman's Tunic is nice until about level 19-24 when Druid's realize that they should be acting as a caster and not as a tank like so many want to. Let's fact it - Bard's should know from the start that they should sit in the background, along with Clerics. 2 - STR...much better Chest items out there for Warrior, Paladain and Rogue's than this with a lot higher AC. For Druid's, Bard's, Cleric's see item 1. 3 - CHA - What more could a Druid ask for? CHA and WIS on the same item! And it's less than 1kpp. Very nicely done. Bard's love CHA too and considering the price it's not a bad alternative - provided you are not twinked out by your guild with Lambent. 4 - AC - To be honest, since the +STAT changes don't make a large difference until post level 30 +2AC is much nicer than +3STR. Oh, if your still wearing this or Foreman's Tunic after level 30 get into a good group and hunt for better armor.
Blackscale and Ammdar I totally aggree with you on this. This armor is a great alternative. And costing only 40pp-ish to make is a good profit for all the pp sunk into tailoring.
To put it simply, it is obvious you have never played a bard. At the level in which a bard would have this item, he had sure better be in there hacking and slashing with the tanks.
No bard would have this beyond level 20, and pre level 20 a bard dishes out about the same damage as any other class, no to mention he has to be close to his groupmates for them to get the benefits of whatever songs he may be playing.
Even at my current level I still get in there and mix it up quite nicely with the tanks in the group, as does most every other bard my level and higher, including those with epics.
The VERY small amount of charisma that this would give any bard is negligible, considering that charisma jewelry is cheap, and any ac lost due to wearing the jewelry can be made up elsewhere (bards ARE a plate class after all).
You need to take into consideration that EACH piece of this armor adds CHA, so if you happen to have a full suit the "VERY" small amount of CHA you receive is suddenly quite a bit.
And speaking as the guy who submitted it, while it's not as good as a foreman's tunic for wisdom, it's a LOT cheaper to make.
Foreman's is 0 weight, 10 ac, 3 str, 3 wis; It costs around 200pp on one server I play on (Xev) and around 250pp on the other I play on (Erollisi Marr).
Imbued Mithril Reinforced is 2.5 weight, 12 ac, 2 wis, 3 cha; Cost to make it was just over 40pp, and I have sold these for 125pp. As a side note, charisma is rather useful to druids, especially those fighting in Velious, as most of a druid's animal-specific spells (fear, charm, lull) are charisma based (just like with an enchanter).
So it's arguably better for a druid than a Foreman's tunic, if you fight a lot of animals.
I find that most people who post about how crappy an item are usually don't take the time to figure if it would be better for other classes or not. Or for that matter just an alternative. At 125p I would love this as a lower level druid, even more if some one in my guild had the ability to make it at cost. Just my 2cp <smile> have a nice day.