Would this work?...

EpicRekkoning

Something I've been hearing a lot of thoughts on, and a personal opinion of mine, is that crafting sets underperform too much compare to drop sets (PVE). When you consider the amount of time it takes to get 9 traits, crafting sets should have some impact in end game. Take TBS, this set could be viable if it wasn't for the 2, 3, and 4 piece bonus. 

This got me thinking and I'm curious what the community thinks of this idea. In my opinion, sets should be define by their 5 piece bonuses for drop/crafting sets, 2 piece bonus for arena drops, and 3 and 5 piece bonuses for trial gear (major slayer). The other bonuses should be attributes to help fine tune a build.

What if crafters were allowed to craft the 2, 3, and 4 piece bonus for each craft set? This could allow crafters to customize builds and play styles based on the class and race. Take these examples:

High elf, sorc with TBS. Sorcs have a natural high affinity to max magicka, but they struggle with resource management. You could create TBS as your second set, add recovery to some of the bonus pieces, and run shadow and thief. Your main set would more than likely be a trial set as they do, and should naturally, overperform. This just gives a good option for an off set.

Torugs Pact for a tank. With the changes to enchantments on items, torugs will be more beneficial than it already is when tanking. What if you could create your 2, 3, and 4 piece bonuses for max health or resistance?

Hundings and julianos are pretty optimized as is, but depending on race/class, you may want to switch out a bonus or two with penetration, crit, regen, or max stats.

I would propose you can only use bonuses that are currently available for any of 2, 3, or 4, piece craftable sets in the game. Not ever crafted set would work for all roles and that's okay. Some sets would be stronger for certain roles even with this type of customization, and I think you want that as a game designer and player. 

I think this would add some flavor to builds and I don't think it would break the game, just make more craftable sets viable. I could be crazy, but I'm curious on the communities thoughts.  

Gnortranermara

Let's count:

Max Health
Max Magicka
Max Stamina
Health Recovery
Magicka Recovery
Stamina Recovery
Spell Damage
Weapon Damage
Physical Resistance
Spell Resistance
Weapon Crit
Spell Crit
Physical Penetration
Spell Penetration

Ready to research all of that for 21 armor types, 7 weapons, 4 staves, bows, and shields?

Ooh, don't forget the grindy new token system. Ready, set, grind!

I mean... it'd be cool in theory but if JC is any indication then you can expect the implementation to be absolutely gorked.

EpicRekkoning

My thought wasn't to learn all those traits, that would be painful. We've already learned 9 traits for everything. My thought would be for ZOS to develop gear and stay focused on the 5 piece bonus for crafting sets and to let the crafters decide what 2-4 would be.

tmbrinks

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/452089/custom-stat-sets

Something similar to that had been shared here. I personally also shared it (with OPs blessing) in another forum that has a more direct line to the devs. I think it is an idea worth exploring, and we will see what, if any, reaction ZoS has to it.

Skullstachio

There is also the PvP aspect which OP probably didn’t point out. True most craftable sets aren’t as good as most sets (and could use a bit of tinkering) but most of them merely serve as a crutch until one can find a better set to help them build up their playstyle and stand out from the rest.