I feel like they just need to balance the values better.
General Rule: More specific bonus = higher % bonus. More generic = lower % bonus.
Its kind of ridiculous that we get 60% to all damage to zombies on one set of gloves, but another is only the radiated zombies. Another is 60% to all melee, another 60% to all range, but still others are limited to specific weapon types like rifle or axe. All of them at 60% means you'd never want to pick anything but the most generic, widely-applied bonus. (Though i wonder, does melee dmg gloves apply to block damage, or is it just entities?)
I'm just throwing numbers out now with little thought, but If you're restricting to just axe or .44, 60% is fine, maybe even more. If its all zombies, I can't see justifying having it above about 30%. Perhaps 40% for all range/all melee, and 50% for rad zombie bonus. But they need to vary so you don't have a go-to for everyone.
Same with the better barter stuff. How is one 20% buy/20% sell, but another is 20% on buy only? Shouldn't you get a bigger bonus if it only affects one half of the transactions? Another is severely restricted to only buying and only consumables, but is still only 20%? Why not 40% if its so restricted?
Finally, I agree on the set bonuses being too weak. They shouldn't be super powerful, but keep in mind that to get them you're giving up potentially better piece bonuses on other sets. So they need to offset that to be desirable. Having zombie damage to preacher set bonus is a great idea, but rather than moving it (because +dmg is clearly intended to be a 'gloves' bonus) reduce the glove % in line with above guidelines, then make the set bonus an additional stacking %. Or make it additional rad zombie damage, again stacking with base zombie damage. Something that gives you a % bonus that moves beyond what you'd get mix-and-matching. So you can use preacher to specialize in only zombie damage, but be giving up xp boost, etc to get that extra damage not available any other way.
Personally, I really dislike xp boost. That leads to higher levels, more skill points sooner, and reduces the grind you'd have to do any other way. While I'm not pro-grind, having it, but then making a shortcut past it, is bad itemization. I hated the nerd glasses before, too. You don't want to be the person several levels below the rest of your group, because even 5 skill points can be a huge power difference until probably level 70 or 80, when most of your core build stuff is bought.
Same goes for extra skill points. Most of these bonuses are about "get x bonus while wearing". Skill point gains, you retain that bonus after you've read the magazine and take the clothes off. You keep it forever. You're talking about reducing the skill mag grind by as much as 50%, which is absolutely huge in the new learn-by-looting world. The only other bonuses even close to that are the extra yields, but that's not nearly as big a deal for consumable resources like food and wood that get used up.
Maybe i just don't like the idea of "put on my smart clothes to read a magazine", though. I'd much rather see it as an Int-line perk, than as an armor bonus.
