Why do you believe it HAS to change? Armor didn't look different on the warden compared to Sten other than size. There's been nothing in the trailers or concept art that leads me to believe armor will look one way on an elf but drastically different on a Qunari. That would mean there was variations in the look of armor based on race, gender and possibly class. If that's true it's wayyyyyyyyyy more work than they've ever put into armor customization for a game and kudos to them. But I don't see any reason to believe this is the case.
You're saying this game wont have different styles of armor for races because of DA:O. This game is really focusing on customization and different armor capabilities for different characters and races. They've said this multiple times and have given plenty of examples. The reason you dont believe it is because you havent been looking.
Examples: Same armor, different design for race and class

Another example: Same armor different design based on the companion
