I like the armor in the game. It fits the Middle Earth setting as far as I'm concerned. Some of the shoulder pads in the raid armor sets are a little to high fantasy for me. This isn't WoW so keep the armor basic and simple like it would be in a medieval setting. I agree about some of the textures but it's mainly a draw distance complaint. Up close things look incredible. If you want to see ugly environment textures, check out Aion.

I can't comment much on the combat changes but it's been confirmed by the developers on the forums so I can't get in trouble for telling you this.

SoM includes a combat response system change. Combat pace is being quickened and made more responsive. You are able to interrupt auto attacks with skills. There is more but I don't think the dev diary has released yet so I don't want to break any NDA. You can get this little bit of info from their forums. I think you would be pleased though so I recommend trying it for yourself on December 1st. I also think the combat changes are part of a free update coming on the 1st so you might not need to buy SoM to get the change. This hasn't been confirmed yet though.