Just because the design is old doesn't mean the actual gear itself is going to look old, because it's not the gear itself being dug up, it's just the blueprint for how to make it basically. If someone crafted armor and it came out looking dirty like that it would most likely mean there's a bunch of impurities in it that would make it weaker.
If it was actual pieces of pre-made gear being dug up then yeah, it would stand to reason it would look dirty, rusted, dingy, and so on, but it's not. Why would freshly-crafted armor look like something hundreds of years old?
RemanCyrodiil_I wrote: »I see your point but could you not wear Heavy Nord Tier 4 for the grittier look? I think the shininess of the ancestral armour is part of the appeal - otherwise they would look too similar to the old vanilla race styles.