Okay to stray off the emotional or passionate appraisals of the new cosmetic kits lets break the topic down to what players want and how the "kits" address this.

First the goal, or primary concern or motivation of the player base, I base my take on players "goals" (motivators) for cosmetics on reading and participating in the "DDO Devs: Pls allow us to change the look of Armour!" thread that finally got their attention:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=253849

I feel the following goals/motives are fair and accurate generalizations of what MOST players want customized appearances for.

Goal: have our characters look like we envision them in our imaginations

The new system: fails to address that goal, only allowing us to look like the vision of a limited number of texture artists.

Goal: allow us to look unique from one another (or differentiate what our character's role/flavor is) via appearance.

The new System: fails to address this... in fact it takes a step away from this, as all the skins are predetermined so they are less unique and individualistic than the random generated robes/armor. There will literally be MORE players running around looking the same as random armor gets replaced by everyones favorite from the store.

Goal: have our characters look like they might typically be expected to look. A Paladin in shining armor even if they are wearing a monk outfit (because heavy armor is a bad option for most builds past Giant Hold)

The New system: fails to address that, because the skins are based on the armor type you are currently wearing. Never mind that game mechanics make many paladins into pajama wearers, any "appearance customization" should at least be able to make the character look the business.

Goal: allow us to maintain what our characters look like from early levels to late levels and even when TR'ing. For running around town recognition and flavor purposes. (this game has near zero recognition of other players due in large part to the sameness of everyone's random appearance)

The New System: perhaps partially addresses this if you like the pre-determined skins available and decide to keep buying the same kits as you outgrow your old clothes or armor... However it fails to address this if you wear different types of armor, or switch between robes/outfits or light/medium/heavy armor. So in other words it only addresses that goal for some players.

Goal: allow us to use cool looking random armors and outfits we've found that we already like the looks of, but the effects are not useful or would keep us from wearing much better gear.

The New System: fails again, it doesn't address this in the slightest... If there's a kit that accidentally looks a little like the item you've been keeping in hopes of a LOTRO like costume slot then congrats on the great coincidence.

So based on a fairly unemotional examination this new customization kit system is not very effective at addressing the main concerns of the players. The question is, will Turbine address any of them after they put these kits in, or will they view further (actual) appearance customization as a detriment to store sales and thus sticking everyone with a system that fails on most counts?