What's the impetus behind limiting respecs? When every class can use any weapon and any armor type, shouldn't theory crafting and build variety go hand in hand with that in being just as convenient? The design philosophies for armor and weapons seems to be directly at odds with limiting people from switching builds up easily. One need look no further than quest rewards. For example, when a player finishes a quest they should get a choice in armor or weapon rewards. If my Nightblade is wearing all heavy armor and the only reward I get for a certain quest is a light armor head piece, what good is that to me? There should be a choice between a light, medium or heavy armor piece. It's a no-brainer. That's just one example of myriad design choices that seem to fly in the face of other design choices.
I understand players that want to just run one build and be locked into that choice. It's not my cup of tea, but it's understandable. That type of player doesn't have to change anything up ever. Players should have the ability to change up everything, anywhere, any time when out of combat. Otherwise, letting us where any type of armor and use any weapon is pointless. Why give us total freedom in one regard and take all of our freedom away as it pertains to build diversity in another? It makes zero sense to me.