i'm pretty sure the item system at the moment is just a placeholder - wait until beta 2 before worrying too much about it.

Sakhapoo, you should start a new thread if you have a bug no one else has described.

The -cooldown helm isn't so useless

+energy =/= -cooldown

Although one of the helmets actually adds weapon damage, which is very useful to the Rook.

Good job labeling this a bug. :/ [/sarcasm]

While it doesn't make sense, it'd be detrimental to game play, in my opinion, if i was forced to pick one boot, one glove, one breast plate, and one ring for my character due to how the items stats are.

If anythign liek this is implementd then the entire item system needs to be reworked to simply not be gloves and boots, but upgrade enchants or crystals or something.

Personally, i'd be too busy killing you with my two boots, gloves, and two rings, to be questioning why my character can wear two of something.

In this area, items are more patterned after DOTA, then WOW or other RPG's.  In DOTA, you can have whatever combination of items in your inventory.  Some do not work together, some are unique, but if you wanted to have 4 great axes when it is apparent that your hero is carrying around a staff, then so be it.  There's quite a bit of supsension of disbelief since obviously DOTA creators are not able to code in each item in as a graphic, representation.

I'd like to see Demigod show the items with a graphic represenation (the advantage of making the game from scratch).  However, if they do, they would need to consider limiting the items (2 gloves, 2 boots, 1 helm, 1 breastplate, 10 rings, etc) and re-working the system as Innociv has said. 

Who knows, its too early to tell. The whole item system is subject to change.