[quote]...or we should be allowed to change for free at level 10 affinity.[/quote] I think that’s specifically what they are trying [i]not[/i] to allow. They don’t want affinity-switching to be trivial. Especially not when it’s a fully levelled up piece of gear. Rightlly or wrongly, they’re designed to be powerful in one aspect. If you want to make change what it’s powerful in, they want that to still have some level of investment. [quote]I get why affinities exist, but having the cost be so steep? Might as well just grab 3 of whatever armor you'd run and core them before levelling them.[/quote] I guess that’s kind of the point. It’s going to be [i]less[/i] costly than having three of any piece of armor but they still want it to be [i]more[/i] costly than having a single item that can be all three at any given time. And if powers and (non-kinetic) weapons have elemental affinities, it actually makes sense in-universe for armor to have it as well. But with weapons, it’s (mostly) fixed - and switching weapons tends to have an effect on your ammo stocks. And changing your subclass resets all your cooldowns. Going from one element to another is not ever designed to be a “free move” in D2. Why would armor be any different?