i think pretty much everyone in STO would agree with me that the personal combat armor in the game looks dam awful and everyone just dissables it, i wouldnt mind enabling it if it looked some what semi decent and didnt have to grind the nasty ground STF's for MK XII maco/omega gear for something that looks somewhat good.

I have armor visuals enabled when say, I'm in combat and alongside the kit. They tend to look the best with the high-end Tac kits which look like armor plates (So you have the kit = armor, armor = undersuit).

But yeah, they could be improved.

Also, not everyone can use tactical kits.

I would say that people disable it more because the Armor itself doesnt offer enough "individuality" as does a uniform. Also, Many of the armors in the games have no differing visualizations whatsoever! (Diburnium Personal Armor, the Jem Hadar Set, etc...)

I can't think of any time I would want to be seen running around in what looks like a glowing onesie.

Agree with the individuality aspect.
They have many different types of armor and all looks the same!
During the last featured series, I really hoped that the Jem Hadar set would look somewhat like a Jem Hadar armor.

The armor looks that way because the kits attach to the base, skin-tight character model. Notice that putting on the set-unlocked costume pieces (which is the only way to show visual repping of the set armor) kills kit visuals entirely.

In a way, if you want "bulky" armor visuals, that's what the kits are for.

Sure, adding sets that unlock costume pieces would be great (when Terradome finally gets added to the STF queues a cool anti-Undine set would be cool, or adding costume unlocks to the Jammie or Tholian sets.

Besides, most of the "canon" armor of the TNG era (besides the standard soldier gear of Enterprise MACOs) looked like a padded jacket or maybe an EV suit. Prior to the Dominion War most of Star Trek was a post-armor society, because of the rarity of Personal Shields and the ability for even tiny handheld weapons (remember pocket phasers?) to disintegrate people.

Therefore it makes canon sense that modern armor not be as chunky as today's gear, and the bulk be mainly in the stuff that enhances a person's abilities. Portable transporter beacons for Fabrication specialists, holographic wearable interfaces for Science types, and exoskeletal enhancers for Tactical officers. A combat vest with straps and whatnot doesn't quite fit the fiction, much as I like the SWAT look of the Omega armor.

If I were to make a request, I would want more kit visuals to distinguish the upper-level kits from each other. I want to be able to tell the difference between a Bunker guy and a Fab specialist, and between a Support Tech and an Equipment Tech, etc. Basically for the Mk IX kits and above, I want 6 looks instead of 3.

Oh, and kit visuals for the KDF races.