The point is, no matter what is added to it, AF2+1 will be better than AF2, so quit looking the gift horse in the mouth before you even know which is the horse you're getting. ¬ .¬
Almost all AF2 is good, it's just there's better gear for almost every piece, so you get people saying it all sucks. Considering the changes to the AF+1 making some of the more useless pieces actually useful, if only situationally, then I would imagine that the AF2+1 would be very good. Actually, I can't think of many AF2 pieces that suck outright. The ones that never get worn are primarily because there is another piece of gear(at least 90% of the time it's god gear) that is better.
Yeah don't get me wrong, some of the pieces are neat, and most are good for macroing, but my prediction is that it won't be worth my time other than to have the white border for the penor.
Yeah, looking at the ones in the other thread, it's not a significant boost to the stats, unlike a lot of the AF+1. Still, depending on the upgrade costs, they might be worth saving up a few items for. I wouldn't mind having the extra guard skill from melee gaiters for soloing/tanking so those might be worth upgrading. I'm also interested in the new cleric's briault, but I'm going to have to wait to find out the changes to that.