Armor upgrades at level 40 an obsolete idea

Armor upgrades at a higher level used to be a big part of MMOs. It was used as a carrot, a reward for characters getting to a high level. However, I think that this mechanic is quite obsolete. I also believe that loot drama is something that this game has far too much of and should be limited; hence, letting classes only use one armor type will go a long way to solving this issue.

Below are reasons why I would like to propose that:
(a) people should get their level 40 armor at level 1
(b) people should only be able to equip one armor type

- The developers are redoing the old world, there is no better time than to redo the drops/quest rewards to take into account this change. This is probably one of the best reasons to do this - making a change of this magnitude requires an expansion, and we have one coming that's not even out of alpha!
- It's confusing to new players. Level 40 does not take much time to get to anymore. Players may get so accustomed to using different armor types that they may do it well into the endgame until enough people have sent enough hate tells. It also makes for a subpar leveling experience when players choose leather DPS items and then wonder why their "Warrior" is so fragile.
- Level 40 does not mean much anymore. One could argue that this change makes level 40 mean something, but that argument is pretty circular ;) There is no need for a carrot at level 40.
- It would limit loot drama. Going on 6 years into WoW, MMOs have become mainstream, and we still have to deal with BUT YOU'RE A WARRIOR WHY ARE YOU ROLLING ON MY LEATHER! or somesuch. Yes, the loot roll system has limited this in pugs, but this kind of loot drama happens in guilds.
- Changing the stats on items is not enough to limit the downsides. Putting agility on leather and mail while putting strength on plate is workaround of a very broken system. Nevermind that before level 40, you need to design items differently, again under this obsolete system of item/character progression design. The very fact that this change has been considered and discussed must be done should send alarm bells ringing that something is wrong ;)
- Debating armor types is not an interesting decision. It is a min/max decision that only a few players appreciate. New and inexperienced players act unpredictably.
- The covergence of armor levels makes the proposed changes all the more urgent. What is the downside of Holy Paladins wearing cloth when it provides almost as much protection as plate?
- It will considerably simplify item design. Developers won't have to sit around and try to "work around" the fact that an item may be too attractive to one class that wears an armor type that provides more protection.
- It will make item selection more interesting to the players. If characters can only use one armor type, there is no danger in making agility or (in the case of plate) or strength (in the case of leather or mail) attractive. Yes, one stat will always be better than another, but Warriors could enjoy some more avoidance with agility, and Rogues still see a benefit from strength.
- It will also simplify weapon design. Making strength one handers just for DKs and Warriors again shows the weaknesses of the current system. Think about it: there are 30 specs in the game, and the two specs that use strength-based one-handers (tanks use one-handers with tanking stats). Furthermore, both Fury Warriors and Frost DKs have those same trees viable using two-handers (Titan's Grip, 2h Frost). Hence, it will be difficult to get the balance right as to how many of these strength one handers should drop, because chances are these items will not be optimal for anybody in a raid; if they are made rare to compensate for this, these two specs (within specs) will have a hard time getting optimal weapons (and thus start loot drama rolling for weapons with agility on it).
- Items will be more diverse. Imagine what tier armor is going to look like in Cataclysm: for warriors, strength, stamina, crit and hit. If you threw agility into the mix, you could for example have one tier provide a lot of agility at the expense of crit and strength, but that agility will still provide DPS. Tier armor currently looks like "OK this new tier has x% more of each of these stats I need" which is quite boring.

The only possible downside of this change is the art concern. I do not believe this to be an issue: one, there is a lot of art in the game that is going unused (old tier armor and weapons, for example), which could be (and should be!) recycled for 1-40 items. Secondly, as a worst case, one could simply duplicate mail items and label them plate.

If there is any one change I can make to World of Warcraft, it is this. In summary, this kind of change will get rid of so much drama and make the game a lot more interesting to everyone. While it may appear to limit choice, this choice is done by very few (min/maxers) at the expense of the many, and in fact allows developers to create items that are not all the same.