I’ve been doing stuff in the outdoors of the PA mountains (Appalachian) since I was a youngster.. flyfishing, backpacking, kayaking, camping etc. It can get really humid and wet.. .and stay that way for long periods of time. It will rain for days at a time. My base line for a rain jacket is something that won’t wet out after days of rain and pit zips. I will take a little hit in weight if needed to get that. I’ve been testing/using the Tushar rain jacket from Outdoor Vitals for the past few months. It has never wetted out on me and the pit zips are awesome for regulating heat while moving. It’s also “ultralight”. I’ve used it backpacking and trail running.
Rain pants – I rarely use rain pants. Warmer weather I just backpack in quick dry running shorts. If I feel like I need rain pants during colder months, I go to cheap frog toggs… mainly because I wear rain paints so rarely that i just don’t want to spend a lot of $$ on pants. For example, this past 12 months I haven’t used rain pants at all. I’m actually thinking about a rain skirt (which someone mentioned above) as an alternative that would probably do me just was well as the pants in most situations.