Its more likely they are retconing their own retcon in Fallout 3, where the Enclave armor we see in Fallout 3 was stated to be the same as on the west coast, but looks totally different for no real reason.

It would make sense given how they changed the vault suits and super mutants in Fo4 to look closer to the original Fallouts.

This makes sense; could be the case too.

It would also make sense as to why we haven't seen the Fallout 3 style Enclave armor in the PA crafting menu yet, when we have seen all the others PA types, and even material mods that go from models A to model F for them.

I did find it odd that the old-school design for the Adv Mark II is present on the East Coast when in Fallout 3 we find that the Enclave "redesigned" that model aesthetically and wore only the re-design in the Capital Wasteland. Personally i think this is just bethesda taking the fan-feedback into consideration, the old design is far cooler looking than their re-design. HOWEVER i do feel it would be a waste of the new PA mechanics for them to not include every design possible (Hellfire anyone?)

In-game i cant imagine what explanation they will have for the model being all the way out on the opposite coast of where it was previously seen. My guess is that we will find an old Enclave cache of equipment, we will get it from a Enclave vet who traveled from the other coast (there was a guy like this in Grayditch in FO3), or it will be a "remnant" of equipment from the Capital Wasteland but "retconned" to be the old design

I don't know why, but I thought it was implied that the East Coast armor was built with inferior materials than the West Coast Enclave power armor? Or maybe it was a fan theory that I took as canon. Regardless, part of me hopes we get to see the F3 power armor. I actually enjoyed the look of it, and I hope that Bethesda doesn't just retcon that armor into oblivion. It bothered me that the armor was worse than the T-51b, and I'd like Bethesda to give me some explanation.

I don't recall that myself.

I do recall the Fallout 3 game guide saying The Enclave in Fo3 built their weapons, armor, and vertibirds at Raven Rock, but it never said anything about having to use inferior materials as far as I know.

If it still exists it will likely be a material mod for the armor.

We have seen material mods A-F for the T-45, the T-51, and the T-60 series, and the concept art for Fallout 3 labeled the Fallout 3 Enclave armor as "T-52a", so it might be the A model of the Enclave PA in Fo4, while the Fallout 2/NV west coast is used as a later model, like B-F.

It was half-retcon in FO3. People like Casdin would remark "Advanced Power Armor Mark II, it's been a long time since ive seen one of these" as if he had seen the "new design" before, and even one of the terminals (or maybe Lyons said it...cant recall) in the Citadel said "The Enclave at the Purifier are identical to the forces encountered on the West Coast years ago" even though their weapons and armor are different"...so really take your pick as to what Bethesda is sorting through

I do believe you are thinking of this

http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Citadel_terminal_entries#Enclave_Tactical_Assessment

Honestly, I'd be completely satisfied if they did it that way. That would help to clear up some of the confusion regarding the differences in the armors, and fit in with what I thought on the matter. To me, it doesn't make sense for Bethesda to make completely new power armor, make it inferior to T-51b, and then turn around and pretend like none of the variants ever existed. The part about it being called T-52a is really interesting. I wonder how (or if) that will fit in with the X-01 designation.

It being weaker was likely just a gameplay balance thing. Since you fight so many Enclave soldiers in Fo3, making it better then the unique T-51B armor would destroy game balance far too easily. The NPCs in Fallout 3 still act like its the best armor ever made, showing that's how it is in lore.

And I personally dont think the T-52A thing will be brought up in Fo4. tons of things in the concept art were never used and aren't canon. It will likely just be called "X-01A" if it is in-game.

Well every Enclave variant is supposed to be superior to T-51 hence the purpose for it's creation. However since they made 1 set of T-51 for FO3 (not counting the one in Op Anchorage DLC) they had to make it worth getting so they made it the strongest in the game. In lore the Adv Mark II, Mark II Tesla, and Hellfire are superior to the T-51 in every way. Just a situation of "gameplay > lore" which Bethesda are consistent at doing

for those going on about the dr of the enclave Armour in fallout 3 I always figured that was a balancing thing so that bos and enclave were of equal strength. The t-51b was made better as it was unique in that game. You can even see that beth didn't care to make their armors to lore by the fact that the well preserved armor you get at the end of operation anchorage is weaker in comparison to the one you get out of the other quest. I personally always went by how obsidian had the armors in new vegas. Even though it was not in the actual game they had given the enclave power armor a dt of 32 if i recall correctly, making it slightly better than the remnants power armor.

I do believe they did it for gameplay purposes, but I feel like there would have been ways to balance that out, like give the BOS the T-51b. Although the cut FO3 Enclave armor having higher DT is interesting, I'm not sure it's indicitive that the armor was meant to be better. For example, the Enclave Hellfire armor was on par (I believe) with the winterized T-51b armor. Although the initial reasoning may have been for balancing, I do believe the two armors are different. I can't imagine why Bethesda would only give an appearance overhaul to the one armor that deviates from established lore. But then there's the dialogue indicating that may have been the "original" armor's appearance. Ugh, I don't know.

This is what i mean, it is like Beth cant decide if they wanted it to be a Retcon or just progression. I mean if the enemy faction had the absolute strongest gear on ever single trooper the game may have seemed wonky (even though in lore they do have the best gear) or even difficult to play, so instead they opted to give the Enclave "decent" stats but give the player access to a "unique" suit that was better than everything else via a quest. In terms of balance i guess it worked, but in terms of lore and believability...not so much. It is the same with NV, the Remnants are the only group with Adv power armor but they are not an enemy faction so the player never has to fight them meanwhile the BoS has "decent" stats and weapons that make them a different flavor of NCR and Legion instead of outright superior... i really hate balancing acts

Also something interesting: In FO3 at Fort Constantine where you get the T-51b armor, the terminal that controls the stasis field for the armor actually says "Medic Armor Prototype" so that leads me to believe that originally T-51 may have been intended to be more common while the Prototype Medic Armor was supposed to be there instead of in the Old Olney sewers

if the enclave is in this game at all, i hope to god it's just a small remnant of them. they've been wiped out, what, 2 times now?

Three if you count the Raven Rock/Project Purity, and Adams attacks as separate incidents.

I think I remember something about that. Honestly, that makes more sense. So I think we actually agree on it. So we have zero idea if it was a retcon, or if the Enclave was using crappy armor for some BS lore reasons.

AFAIK the Enclave have always had the best armor and weapons, and vehicles in the series. I can't think of a lore reason that would see them using lesser equipment.

Having their primary base blown up, and being forced to relocate to a pre-war base that wasn't designed to build the newest models of PA, which were only invented later, is a reason.

But Enclave gear is supposed to be the best, lore-wise, even in Fallout 3. They managed to get through the radioactive death field and enter Vault 87 via its main door, something not even the BoS could do.

As Possum said, I assumed it was because they were forced to use inferior materials, or that they lost the blueprints to the original armor. Either that, or they couldn't physically equip enough soldiers with the superior armor. We may find out after Fallout 4 is released.

I hope we find out that they don't appear in FO4.

Hopefully they've retconned the Enclave's use of the armor in Fallout 3, and will just say that the traditional APA has always been in place.

And even more hopefully, they did this because they intend to eventually bring back the Midwestern branch of the BoS wearing their proper armor, and regret giving the design for it to the Enclave.

Hope one better, and hope they (optionally) replace the FO3 Enclave armor in the re-release sets with the GOTY edition.

That's a mighty big stretch, but what the hell, hoping is free!

But that's the issue, then we won't know what the heck that armor is. Is it meant to be different? Is it meant to be the same? I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it does.