Quick Question About Warrior Armor

I was looking at the armors available in Droknar's Forge since I've been wanting some plate armor pretty bad I really made it a goal to get here. But when I saw the stats on the plate vs. the stats on the gladiator's I couldn't imagine why I would have purchased the plate other than for the look. When I pushed north from the Forge to The Granite Citadel the plate armor's were the exact same stats.

My questions is why would I choose plate armor with only 5 more armor and 10 less vs. physical attacks? Wouldn't you be more protected with 80 armor and 20 vs. physical with some energy bonus thrown in?

In other words which would reduce damage more? The 85/10 or the 80/20? If I understand it right (and I may not) 85/10 gives you 95% chance to save against a physical attack while 80/20 gives you 100% chance, plus you get energy bonus from the gladiator's armor. What's the incentive to purchase the plate armor or dragon armor over the gladiator's other than appearance?

It depends on your preferences and skill set.

Remember, that "+X amount vs. physical attacks" will only kick in when someone is up close and slicing, bashing or chopping you.

It will not kick in against spells, arrows, magical staff/wand blasts, etc etc etc.

Depending on your complimentary skills, you may want extra AL rather than a bonus against physical attacks that simply won't help at all against certain enemy attacks.

In addition remember that most spells that aren't visibly targeted will hit the "chest" area of your character 100% of the time. This is where damage reduction comes in very handy over bonuses to AL or bonuses against physical attacks.

Ulric explains it pretty well. Gladiator's got boosted some time back, without any change to plate or knight's, so really, imo, Gladiator's is the best armor out there.

Ofcourse, Plate LOOKS a lot better

Creston

Someone else mentioned this earlier today and I thought they had made a mistake...I hadn't realized that the Gladiator's Set had been altered. I'll have to take a look at it tonight and see for myself.

Personally, I thought the Gladiator's Set had inferior armor levels due to the fact that it gave you such a good energy boost. This seemed an acceptable trade-off in my opinion. I'm not sure why it would have been altered...although now that I think about it, I have seen a large number of gladiator-clad warriors running around lately.

Me, I'll keep my Knight's Cuirass combined with Platemail accessories.
They just look too awesome to abandon.

Frankly I find the idea that gladiator armor with all of that exposed flesh will provide a comparable level of protection as a suit made up almost entirely of metal plates is rather...

But you have no problem with Aeromancer "armor" providing 60 AL whereas ringmail only gives 50, right?

Yes Gladiator's got boosted, I'm not sure from what, but it's 80 +20 now and it wasn't always like that apparently.

Creston

I remember how great I felt the first time I got to Yak's Bend and bought myself a brand spanking new Gladiator's Set.
I remember meeting up with some guildmates to show it off.

Ulric: Hey, like the new armor?
Guildmember #1: Dude, I can see your nipple.
Ulric: What?
Guildmember #2: Yeah, man...your nipple is totally exposed.
Ulric: C'mon guys...new armor! Awesome, huh?
Guildmember #1: Um, could you put on a shirt or something?
Guildmember #2: Yeah, man...it's kinda creeping me out.
Ulric: You guys suck.

Needless to say, I was immediately eager to move on to the Knight's set and Platemail.

Thanks for the response guys, Ulric I'm interested in what comments you have after taking another look at the Gladiator's armor in-game.

lol, you *can* see your nipple. Hopefully this isn't a half-time show and the FCC isn't trolling around...

I'll check it out this evening.
I seem to remember the Droknar's Gladiator Set AL being in the 70's.
But if I recall, each piece gave you something like 1-3 extra energy.

Once I've taken a look, I'll try to come up with some justifications for different armor types based on their attributes and warrior play-styles.

Or, maybe I'll just buy a new Gladiator's Set for my character.

I think they made Gladiator Armor the best in the game because someone at ANet thought it'd be really funny.

"I know, let's see what happens when the statistically best armor makes the wearer look like a total DORK. heh heh."

I know I'd do something like that, if I were in their shoes.

I'm not quite sure what you guys are talking about...maybe Gladiators got boosted from beta or since very early since the actual release of the game..? But Gladiator's has been 80 +20 physical for as long as I've known which is a month and a half+. My gladiator armor hasn't changed from that. The debate is that other armors offer damage reduction, but personally I find the extra energy very worthwhile.

I rather swap off-hand item to a good foki if I need more energy.