1: that is a pleasant change then, I did in fact notice it to be a problem long time ago. Was the main reason I never went heavy armor - necromancers with a small army of mobs and T4-5 briggands with rooms of 2 kiting mages were a problem for CC/tank builds.
2: I don't mind it being dwarven/nistrian/elven gear, but unique wouldn't work. As long as it exists and I can get it if I'm patient. Sometimes my build isn't a mage, but it suffers from fatigue, and I really would rather give up on some helmet protection rather than boots, especially if I have Leg Sweep and Mighty Kick.
3: Not as weird if they're the only ones who wreck you late game. 😉
Hell, I wouldn't mind having it in my Caravan Stash and swapping just for the Crypt. Frost stacks ridiculously fast if you stumble upon Wraith Templars or 1-2 casters with a small army of undead.
4: Sure, on CC builds, Maces, 2H Sword, some Athlethics but this requires heavy investment. What if I'm using a 2H Axe and my main defensive tool is to kill them fast enough? Gulon aside, there are now more enemies with high bleed chance or multi-hit skills on top, such as Double Lunge, or Flurry, or whatever the Impaler uses since it feels like it's a guaranteed bleed.
5: Not dumb if it works. 😉 And not always useful, as I already gave examples, why would you say that?