I've seen a lot of fuzz lately about this topic and I would like to give my opinion and see what others think, in a civilized way.
Currently, the only penalty Heavy Armor has is point investment; armor penalties only affect mana regen in a noticeable way, you can still perform all the other tasks with ease:
Riding > As far as I know, no penalties for riding or for your horse while the animal carries you, he only has a penalty to speed if the animal has armor or bags equipped, and also stamina, but as far as speed for carrying an armored player, nothing. Mount can even swim indefinetly with easy when fully burdened.
Foot or Mounted combat > The only noticeable penalty the armor has is a mana regen one. You can more at 100% speed, there is a stamina regen debuff, but not very noticeable since the stamina pools of the players using armors are high so you would only notice this if the fight is long. There is no swing speed, casting speed or MOVEMENT speed penalty AT ALL, which should be there considering the amount of weight being carried. You can also swim with 0 penalty , jump with almost no penalty and so on.
Temperature / Interaction with spells > This is coming to some extent, it was in game if I recall correctly but once again, people didn't like it since they want their armor with no penalties.
So, in my opinion, we need MORE penalties to the use of armors. I'm not saying make people unable to move while in Heavy Armor, but some penalty to speed , swinging and casting speed is needed. It doesn't make sense that a guy in full heavy armor can swim normally and match the speed of someone underwater , even when he's with unsheated weapon swimming only with 2 legs. This also happens while on foot, a full heavy armored person is running at same speed or even faster than someone naked.
Having some penalties would even things out, people would have to use other materials to craft armors and they would have to decide if they want the protection at the cost of some penalties; I think the reasoning behind 100 Armor Training and 100 Heavy armor complely negating the penalties is wrong, and we all should have some, not just mana regen.
Currently, the only penalty Heavy Armor has is point investment; armor penalties only affect mana regen in a noticeable way, you can still perform all the other tasks with ease:
Riding > As far as I know, no penalties for riding or for your horse while the animal carries you, he only has a penalty to speed if the animal has armor or bags equipped, and also stamina, but as far as speed for carrying an armored player, nothing. Mount can even swim indefinetly with easy when fully burdened.
Foot or Mounted combat > The only noticeable penalty the armor has is a mana regen one. You can more at 100% speed, there is a stamina regen debuff, but not very noticeable since the stamina pools of the players using armors are high so you would only notice this if the fight is long. There is no swing speed, casting speed or MOVEMENT speed penalty AT ALL, which should be there considering the amount of weight being carried. You can also swim with 0 penalty , jump with almost no penalty and so on.
Temperature / Interaction with spells > This is coming to some extent, it was in game if I recall correctly but once again, people didn't like it since they want their armor with no penalties.
So, in my opinion, we need MORE penalties to the use of armors. I'm not saying make people unable to move while in Heavy Armor, but some penalty to speed , swinging and casting speed is needed. It doesn't make sense that a guy in full heavy armor can swim normally and match the speed of someone underwater , even when he's with unsheated weapon swimming only with 2 legs. This also happens while on foot, a full heavy armored person is running at same speed or even faster than someone naked.
Having some penalties would even things out, people would have to use other materials to craft armors and they would have to decide if they want the protection at the cost of some penalties; I think the reasoning behind 100 Armor Training and 100 Heavy armor complely negating the penalties is wrong, and we all should have some, not just mana regen.