I wouldn't like to see this type of armor being made into a UI. For the reason mentioned that it is a tremendous hassle to keep UIs in a reliable state of repair. As well, an ornate, and useful, set of armor isn't going to be given to a low born adventurer to be repaired by some wandering wizard using boar feathers and dragon whistles. Nor would it have originally been taken off the body, or from the hoard, of a hulking monster.
I don't have any problem making it costly because it should be costly.
