I am planning to make T7+ to make it that you don't need to combine with your previous armor, BUT you do need a full suit to enter. That way if you lose an armor by accident doing augs, you wouldn't have to go back to Qvic and farm that 1 slot on up. And after that I plan to go back and polish old content to make it the same
I both like and dislike this idea. I have lost a few pieces of gear before and gone back to farm what I lost. I like the idea of not having to go back to farm a lost piece of gear if it happens. Unfortunately, the RNG strikes sometimes and there's something that just doesn't want to drop.
T5 wrists come to mind. My crew visited T6 long before they all had T5 wrists. Would it be possible to have bosses drop a mold and have a vendor in the zone that sells a component which the toon can only see if they have the appropriate piece of gear in their inventory? Something like this would allow a group to move on, but still keep people from skipping gear.