Just curious what others might think about this...

Currently I am training for armors during my "normal" training:

LC (Chain Tunic from warrior mage shop, it appraises at g/g. g/g, g/g)
HC (visored chain helm from Haven)
HP (steel greaves from Haven)
LP (Bronze gauntlets from Haven)

I put this together without much thought, just grabbing random pieces at different times. I was only looking to get all four metal armors on at once.

I am thinking I need to switch it up in some areas. I am thinking of switching to HC greaves, HP helm, and LP gauntlets. here is my thinking:

HC is my second highest armor behind LC, and in my current setup it learns slower then LP and only slightly faster then HP. It takes a minimum of three leucros to lock it, which means it has been falling behind LC and LP. Since legs learn better, I think putting this on my legs will benefit this skill, plus hits to the leg aren't all that significant since stuns are rare to this area.

I am going to get an HP helm. I am thinking this will provide maximum protection to the most vunerable areas. It will also improve my HP learning compared to LP, which is good for me since my HP is currently behind my LP by nearly 70 ranks).

I am going to get some LP gauntlets. This will give me a fourth metal armor without adding any signficant extra hinderance. It also offers a little better protection then chain for a body part that can cause stuns.

As far as specifics armor items, I am thinking I will stick with my chain tunic and get the accessories from Haven. I don't know of any better store bought armor accessories?

Any thoughts?

<<What is your total armor hindrance with and without your shield of choice?>>

I don't use shield (short bow is my primary weapon so i never got in the habit of practising with a shield). With full leather I am unhindered, with full LC/HC I am lightly hindered, with mixed chain/plate I am fairly hindered.

<<Are you able to mind lock all those armor skills in a single combat session?>>

As it stands, I can eventually lock all armors, but only with a minimum 3 red leucros. Not always easy to come by...hand armor seems to be the toughest to lock, which is why i am thinking of sticking LP there. I'll still pick up some ranks, but LP isn't an armor I ever see becoming used for anything other than TDPs.

<<I moved Ren to a forged HC/HP combo because I found LP to be lacking, and with some LC thrown in I could no longer mind lock all my armor skills.>>

I can see why its tough. I mentioned before I am moving the armors in leucros because luckily leucros are one of those critters that attack constantly. When i fought with Fendryads I had trouble moving any armor other then LC. I generally try to stick to natural critters when possible specifically because of this type of issues. I also like to train MO as heavily as possible, and natural critters seem to train that better as well.

<<Heh, I have to admit that the penalty from mixing plate and chain is pretty substantial. I go from being insignificantly hindered to fairly hindered, up to moderately hindered with my large shield. Thankfully a capped YS brings me down to lightly hindered without the shield, and fairly hindered with. I'm thinking even with lightly that is still a 10% penalty. Sure feels like it.>>

Yeah, hinderance sucks. Whenever I know we are having an event or if I am going on a quest or something I move back to leather. I know it doesn't protect all that well (as far as I can tell shard leathers are about the best we can get), but I prefer not to get hit in the first place. I use chain/plate when "training" because the hinderance is actually helpful for training parry. I'm surprised you can get insignificantly hindered in chain. I haven't seen even just a chain shirt I can get less then lightly hindered in...? I am guessing you are using forged chain...? I'm certain I am well above whatever skill is needed to train down chain hinderance to minimum.

As far as the mixing penalty yeah it definitely significant. I can evade leucros ~99% of the time in chain only, and only ~50-60% of the time if I add just one plate accessory (which is "unhindered" by itself). Still, I find a min prep cast of SW is just about enough to offset the hinderance.

I'd be curious to know if anyone knows what %'s the various levels of hinderance represent.

<Its too bad we don't have any plate armor forgers in Plat. It really makes the difference.>>

I'd kill for some of the capped armor pieces I see that people in prime have! Its amazing what these forgers can do. I am really, really, really hoping we eventually get a merchant that sells better then storebought armor. OTE has some awesome weapons (I picked up a bunch of the great impact maces), I would love to see an armor merchant equivalent.

For now though I am just trying to get some standard armor that will maximize learning/protection while keeping hinderance to a relative minimum.

To even out your learning you might try a chest armor that just covers chest, abdomen, and back, this frees up your arms for a different type of armor.

The chest armor always seems to train the fastest, then leg armor is second. the rest is harder to move with just one piece.

Wabo is wearing a LC chain lorica (chest, abdomen, and back), HC greaves (legs), HP claw guards(hands), and HP vambraces (arms) a LP helm (head eyes and neck)

If I did not like my claw guards so much, I would swap wear I put the LP, and HP

This setup will lock all my armors, but the hinderance is pretty bad, (about the same as you described). I also found a fairly light weight silver leucro vest in the haven armor shop. I keep this vest in my pack and swap it out for the lorica when LC locks.

For events where maximum protection/least hinderance is needed I have been switching back to a full set of my primary armor LC. But I am probably going to get a full set of HP to use sometime in the near future.

Not sure if anyone else has found the following to be true. I find that my buff spells play a big role in how fast my armor trains. If I can, I normally hunt with just sure footing up. If I am getting hit too much I put up YS but armor training seems to slow down a bit. If I get a burden and start getting hit again I add swirling winds.

I always try to focus on training multi, which means I dance with 3 or 4 critters most of the time. When my Multi locks, usually all my armors are locked as well.

Not sure how far red leucros and caracals on mriss are apart in difficulty, but if you can hunt caracals in the trees you will find the gen rate much more to your liking, a couple of the trees generate 3 caracals per hunter in the tree, and one generates 4 per hunter.

Just for reference:
Shield Usage: 323, Leather Armor: 213, Light Chain: 364, Heavy Chain: 275, Light Plate: 280, Heavy Plate: 326

Wabo

Its actually been a while since I hunted caracals, if I am not mistaken they cap out in the low 300's, from caracals I moved to bristle back peccaries.

Wabo

Caracals are okay at 250-260 ranks of defense?

I will be moving on from leucros once I get my new armor set up figured out I think.

>Caracals are okay at 250-260 ranks of defense?>>

I think you can, I was back training weapons when I hunted in there, so my stats were probably higher than the average caracal hunter. You may want to buff up a little more than you are use to on your first try.

The real trick to hunting there is to be the only person in the tree, and hunt the center room. The silvery cypress and the vine covered cypress each gen 3 caracals per hunter. So if you can dance with three, and are the only person in the tree, it makes for a great hunt.

One of the cypress trees, I believe it is the young cypress only gens 2 per hunter. The Oak in the bristle back area gens 4 per hunter. Some of the trees are safe areas, as well as across the log on the river bank across from peccary island.

Watch out for the hunters on the ground below the trees, they use staff slings and can stunn ya on the way thru.

Wabo

As a general note, when mixing only the four metal armors, heavy plate is best on hands or head/eyes, since they stun easiest and plate naturally resists stuns the best, as well as those places hindering least, so...

Heavy plate gauntlets
Heavy chain helm
Light plate greaves
Light chain arms and torso

Would be my suggestion, if you don't get forged consider the Riverhaven shop to find most/all of those things, there you can get:

Lightened chain shirt (light chain back/abdomen/chest/arms)
Visored chain helm (heavy chain head/neck/eyes) which It seems you have
Etched steel gauntlets (heavy plate hands)
Hammered bronze greaves (light plate legs)

Hope that helps some.

Thanks guys. I see where yer going with the torso plate call. Don't think I handle the burden right now though. Will keep mixing things as is for a little while yet then