Ubese/Composite what happened to Padded?Follow

I just recently got a full set of Ubesse Armor, it was a difficult decision for me because I was also offered Composite armor at the same time. Although I am not really sure of their overal general quality I was assured that they were of moderatly good make. I however was given the option of seeing and examining the armor befor choosing the set I would use. I looked at both sets and after much a interanally debated period of time, and number crunching I determined that I don't know how anybody wears Composite armor. I then ran into several people wearing the encumbering stuff and they told me about buffying for it. I think that I still made the right decision. My question however is if Padded armor is harder to make is it not possably the middle ground between Composite and Ubesse? So in conclusion what is the deal with Padded armor, is it not worth making, or to hard to make, or just not recognized for its potential. Well hopefully some one here will be able to question from a standpoint of experience.

"G"

-To infinity and beyond-

From my own experience, when the game came out people chose padded over ubese because it provided better overall protection than ubese, but with a higher overall HAM cost than ubese. Once people realized that they were only wearing padded for its kinetic resists anyway, they realized it was smarter to use ubese with its much lower HAM costs. So, now to fight most mobs, which are usually kinetic, people stick with low HAM ubese, or 75-80% kinetic composite. Ubese is just much better than padded both for kinetic resists and HAM costs, so there is little reason to wear padded right now.
Composite is ideal for people who are accustomed to fighting buffed most of the time, or for PvP. With a good buff, the armor's HAM costs aren't as big a deal. I make it a habit to get buffed in coronet or by a guildmate most of the time before i go out and fight. With high kinetic composite and a buff, you probably don't even need any medic skills to just be able to go out and fight mobs non stop for the duration of the buff, depending on your class and what you want to fight. With a bad buff, i might wear ubese instead to help my constitution regenerate my health faster.
So, for many people, having a set of low HAM ubese and a set (or two or three) of composite is the way to go. Despite the imp crackdown, i'd still get the armor sliced by a master smuggler and hope for 40%+ encumbrance slices.
Hope this is useful.