The customization of your character in Mass Effect and Dragon was almost nonexistent, which is to be expected when it's mostly randomized loot. Most armors and weapons in Dragon Age were palette swaps, and your choice between 'civilian' clothes were pretty limited; but that shouldn't mean other games can't do better.
You could have all the artwork character designs be what the Origin characters like to wear 'off the clock', make it customizable, it shouldn't matter because unless we're getting random encounters at camp, we'll never be dealing with combat there.

I'm not understanding most of your other points, so I'm not sure I can comment. A transmog system divorces the aesthetics of an item with its stats.