PS3 Heavy armor vs Light armor

[JCD-Bionicman]

So, this is what I know or think I know so far:

100 Heavy armor all perks
-Greatest defense
-Dwarven looks cooler than Elven
-Daedric and Ebony looks better than Glass
-50% less falling damage
-10% damage reflect (better than avoid)
-Unarmed attacks can become your main weapon through perks over one handed or two handed, saving you the trouble of having to invest perk points in either tree.

100 Light armor all perks
-50% stamina regeneration
-Small decrease in stamina cost for sprinting or using power attacks
-Small running and sprinting speed increase
-10% damage avoid

I get anything wrong or miss anything? It would seem Light armor is pretty underpowered.

 

[Skullrattla]

I think you're wrong, as you can improve light armor to exceed maximum armor rating (which is around 550).

It's all about what look you prefer, and playstyle.

 

[JCD-Bionicman]

you can improve light armor to exceed maximum armor rating (which is around 550).

Wuht? So in the long run, Heavy and Light armor have the same armor rating?

 

[JCD-Bionicman]

I think you're wrong.
It's all about what look you prefer, and playstyle.

Nope. I clearly point out the many benefits heavy armor has over light. If light armor, with smithing and light armor at 100 gets you above the max armor rating, that doesnt make heavy armor obselete. It takes a long time to exceed the max armor limit.

 

[MushroomGenius]

One other important issue:

Full Heavy Armor tree = 12 perk points
Full Light Armor tree = 10 perk points

 

[Morgan]

I look at the same set of data and come to the opposite conclusion.

First, I completely disregard the falling and unarmed damage perks. Since falling damage is logarithmic, half damage doesn't mean you can fall twice as far, it means you can fall a little bit farther. So that's only useful if you are habitually falling far enough to almost die, and just really need to fall a couple more feet. IOW not useful at all. Besides, after playing for an hour and getting used to the terrain, who falls anymore at all? Unarmed could be interesting if it were developed, but as-is it's worthless. Since it's not linked to a skill you can't improve it. You lose out on at least one enchantment slot (two if you blow another one on the fortify unarmed enchant). And it would be most useful in situations when you've had your gear taken, like escaping from prison--but you need to be wearing gauntlets to gain the perk effect!

I feel like Fists of Steel and Cushioned are really just there to make Conditioning cost three perk points instead of one. On the other hand, you could just get Steed Stone and save three points. However, this comes at the cost of using up your stone, making you more succeptible to magic (since you would then not benefit from the Lord Stone magic resistance).

As for light armor, you sort of off-handedly dismissed the stamina regen perk Wind Walker in the light armor tree. On the contrary, this is an extraordinary perk for anyone who ever does any shield bashing, power attacking, Eagle Eying, fleeing in terror, or anything else that eats up stamina. If this perk required you to be wearing no armor at all, I would have a clothes-wearing warrior--that's how effective it is. For a non-magic user it is possibly the best perk in the game.

You also somewhat arbitrarily claim that Reflect Blows is better than Deft Movement. This completely depends on play style. Deft Movement is vastly superior if you haven't invested in a lot of health for whatever reason and stay alive by avoiding damage rather than absorbing it. Reflect Blows increases the damage you do a little bit, but doesn't reduce the damage you take at all, which is a bit bizarre for a perk in an ARMOR tree.

In sum, I really wish heavy armor was a more viable track. It's got some of the coolest looking gear, while the higher-end light stuff is just hideous. However, it is poorly implemented and several of the perks are utter garbage. And it really doesn't take as long as you make it out to get light armor to match in damage reduction.

 

[ShadowMage]

You are biased. IMO, Dragonscale and glass look better than daedric and ebony.

If your a warrior or battlemage, HA is recommended.
If your an assassin or spellsword, LA is recommended.

 

[Morgan]

You are biased. IMO, Dragonscale and glass look better than daedric and ebony.

I don't know if that's really bias. It is subjective though.

My favorite armors in terms of looks are the 'barbaric' ones: hide, studded, scale, iron, and steel. I don't think either dragon set is very attractive. Again however, these are aesthetic assessments and will vary from person to person.

If your a warrior or battlemage, HA is recommended.
If your an assassin or spellsword, LA is recommended.

By whom, and why?

 

[ShadowMage]

I don't know if that's really bias. It is subjective though.

My favorite armors in terms of looks are the 'barbaric' ones: hide, studded, scale, iron, and steel. I don't think either dragon set is very attractive. Again however, these are aesthetic assessments and will vary from person to person.

By whom, and why?

Okay, not biased. Could't think of the word for it.

I recommend them.(A thing about me is I've played every class I mentioned on master.) It is obvious why I chose HA for warrior an LA for assassin.
But the battlemage is a warrior(HA), but with some magic use.
Spellswords are LA battlemages for mobility.

 

[Dagmar]

First, I completely disregard the falling and unarmed damage perks. Since falling damage is logarithmic, half damage doesn't mean you can fall twice as far, it means you can fall a little bit farther. So that's only useful if you are habitually falling far enough to almost die, and just really need to fall a couple more feet. IOW not useful at all...

I think the perk is meant for people who want to deliberately jump from a height that would otherwise do an unacceptable amount of damage for the situation they are jumping into. In that sense it's a quasi role-playing perk where the player uses his or her Terminator like damage resistance to approach situations in a different way. That being said...

...Besides, after playing for an hour and getting used to the terrain, who falls anymore at all?....

:: Dagmar stealthily approaches the Troll far below her to take it out with one deadly arrow from above ::
:: Barbas shoves Dagmar off the edge of the cliff ::
Barbas: Arf arf arf!
Dagmar: Stupid doaaaaaaaaag!

 

[Morgan]

:: Dagmar stealthily approaches the Troll far below her to take it out with one deadly arrow from above ::
:: Barbas shoves Dagmar off the edge of the cliff ::
Barbas: Arf arf arf!
Dagmar: Stupid doaaaaaaaaag!

I REALLY wish there were a perk that allowed me to turn, load an arrow, and put one into Faendal's face before hitting the ground. That little elven bastard knocked me off of everything before I finally realized how useless followers were!

 

[DrunkenMage]

I wear dragon bone armour, to show dragons if they attack me, I'll turn them into a nice pair of booties.

But I loved the ancient nord armour, just wish it wasn't so rusty looking, I mean since you can make it, would of been cool, to have it look newer, I do love Nord Hero Weapons, they have a nice look. But that's from roleplay view. It all depends on your play style when it comes to armour, if you run a lot and use bows and want to move fast, go with Light, I tend to go with heavy, because it's pretty mean looking, just casually jogging towards the enemy with a giant axe waving over your head.

 

[Harperlarp]

"Why wear fluffy flutter when you wear some real armour?"

Epic quote.

 

[SGT_Sky]

"Why wear fluffy flutter when you wear some real armour?"

Epic quote.

very hard to capture the epic-ness with just one post so I thought I'd help

 

[ShadowMage]

Bears, I said IMO. That means in my opinion. I like light armor more, problem?

And the class thing, it is just for role-playing purposes.