@waylow If you parent a „Mesh Object“ to an „Armature“ and choose „Armature“ as „Parent Type“ then you don’t need an „Armature Modifier“ for the mesh deformation. Blender in this case uses the „Bone Envelopes“ and acts like an „Armature Modifier“ („Parent Type“ for the deformed „Mesh Object“ must be „Object“) with „Bind to“ set to „Bone Envelopes“:
According to the posting here, the „Armature Parent Type“ is "much easier to export".
Well there you go.
There was a bug, which is why it never made sense to me. There still isn't any proper documentation on Armature type parent.
I would guess that the "much easier to export" is from a software point of view, not a user point of view though.
Exporting with modifiers means the exporter has to calculate stuff in a particular way.
Exporting w/o modifiers means it's easier for the exporter.
Or at least that's my interpretation of that.
Thanks, Ignmar.