Tradeskilled armor progression for int/wis casters

Haenir

Haenir

Dalayan Master
I just noticed that DRU seem to be left out in the cold when it comes to TS armor sets.

Here are all the tradeskilled armor sets for Druids:
Leather > Studded Leather > Reinforced > Reinforced Studded > Drakehide > Wyrmhide​

Here are the sets available to INT casters:
Silk > Cured Silk > Hopperhide > Exquisite Silk > Shadow Silk​

And Clerics/Shamans:
Iron/Copper > Mastercrafted Iron/Copper > Silver > Mastercrafted Silver > Dalium > Ghostmetal > Deepmetal​

All three groups get:
  • sets of armor that grant only AC - DRU (4 sets), INT (1 set), CLR/SHM (4 sets)
    • However, both Leather and Iron/Copper armor are essentially identical (Copper is lighter) to vendor purchasable armor, whereas Silk armor is superior to the vendor bought Cloth armor.
  • no lvl rec sets which grant class relevant stats - DRU (Drakehide), INT (Hopper Hide), SHM/CLR (Dalium)
  • recommended lvl of 30 armor sets - DRU (Wyrmhide), INT (Exquisite Silk), SHM/CLR (Ghostmetal)
What INT casters and CLR/SHM get that DRU do not:
  • rec lvl of 45 armor sets - INT (Shadow Silk), SHM/CLR (Deepmetal)
  • no lvl rec sets which grant basic stats in addition to ac - INT (Cured Silk), SHM/CLR (Silver)

My suggestion would be the following changes:
  1. Change reinforced armor (made with bear hides) to tribal armor -- leather armor with +mana and +cr
  2. Change leather armor (made with wolf/cat skins) into fine leather armor -- slightly better ac than vendor purchased leather armor.
  3. Change reinforced studded armor to adorned tribal armor (uses feathers or something other than iron studs to make).
  4. Add a WIS caster equivalent of shadow silk / deepmetal -- perhaps owlbear hide armor?
 
Regarding level 45 armor sets, don't forget about Imp Hide Armor. Only 4 pieces contain +WIS, but it still can give +26 WIS points to a DRU's mana pool. (Admittedly, the sparse WIS bonuses were probably only added with Beastlords in mind, given the melee-heavy stats on Imp Hide.)

Imp Hide can also be mixed and matched with many pieces of Shadow Silk, such as the Shadow Silk Shirt, which gives a beefy +12 WIS alongside the already impressive raw mana.

I can't do the numbers because I'm on mobile currently, but I'd guess that between the two armor sets, the +WIS boosts would add up to be pretty useful for a player at the recommended level while also covering most, if not all, slots. It's not as tidy as a standalone set might be, but it could get the job done.

While we're on the topic, it always bugged me that Exquisite Silk Armor bears a rec level of 35 when all the other class archetypes get to jump the gun at 30 with their new sets!
 
A wild Grinkles appears!

I had forgotten you can mix and match imphide and shadow silk to get a full set that boosts wis -- of course with the majority of the pieces being shadow silk that translates into DRU having AC pretty close to an INT caster.
 
Even so, it would be nice to have a standalone set for Druids so they don't need to resort to picking and choosing pieces from separate sets à la carte.

I wholeheartedly approve of your idea of using Owlbear Pelts for this, given their apparent uselessness in game. The only issue is their commonness, which would put them way out of line with the other level 45 sets; this could be balanced either by scaling back their droprate, creating subcombines (e.g. tailoring ten Owlbear Pelts to make an Owlbear Swatch), or making sure the other ingredients for the combines are appropriately rare.

If a developer were feeling generous and adventurous enough to create such a suit of crafted armor specifically for Druids, it could even have special Druid-themed aspects, such as a brown or dark green tint, wrists that can proc Greenbark Tangle upon casting a spell, and a mask with Starshine for a clicky. This might be regarded as favoring a single class too much within crafting, but it's fun to imagine. ;)
 
For druids, and for old world stuff, and to tie into grinkles thing, what about treant bark?
 
Imphide is absolutely a trade in for druids, I used it a ton, and filled in SS where Imp was lacking. How about doing something with those stupid Frozen Orc Skins that have no apparent purpose for mid level gear? Again having the issue of the commonness, but drop rates are easily adjusted.

The issue when you start swapping things to "just" be for druids is that monks & beastlords need to be taken into consideration as fellow leather wearers. So what might seem fine for druids will either be OP or lackluster for those two classes.

Additionally, you're leaving out the fact that all tradeskill armor has two aug slots, not one. So anything lacking in a switch between something like Imphide & Shadowsilk, it's a give and take, aug it for what you need.
 
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