The problem with making it the premo ACT 1 set armor is that you then have no reason to use anything else you find. It's a double edged sword, because then you have people complaining that they pretty much have to get this best-in-slot armor set and gathering the pieces becomes a chore, rather than something that is fun for those who want it.
I agree the set is incredibly underwhelming for when you find it (especially when you consider you get some of the pieces really early and they are massive out-leveled by later pieces).
I'm hoping that having the set somehow plays into later in the game (such as early to mid ACT2) and you can either upgrade the set via some quest line (like you can turn them in for some sweet class specific armor at a certain NPC), or there is some other mechanism for upgrading.
If not, then it is a big waste of time to have such a set even in the game. Part of me doesn't want to believe they'd take the time to put the set in the game if they didn't have other plans for it later on down the line. I'd be pretty pissed if they don't have other plans for the set.
I'll reserve my judgement for later I guess.
