Just tie the damage reduction and 12 bonus stat points to masterworking. It costs way too much to unlock all the energy to be able to slot in the mods for a build to function. This paired with armor sunsetting will just result in a lot of people never getting to experience that the game actually has "builds" to begin with. The barrier to entry for this part of the game is far too high. It should be a basic function, like where people all have the same number of skill points in other MMOs. Bonus points if you let the player decide where those 12 stat points go!