Armor Rework Wishlist

[VANTABlack2000]

I am currently trying to get caught up on what all has been suggested here, but I just started playing VS again this time trying as the hunter and realized that there aren't really as many options for hunters since most armors have stat penalties to ranged damage.

It could be interesting to see some hunter focused armor or more options for late game that don't decrease ranged damage options. It could be interesting to use Sturdy Leather as a sort of Leather Armor Upgrade to give variety, but I trust the devs to make good decisions on if and/or how to add options like that. (I mean that genuinely not like "I trust them to make the right decision which is my suggestion exactly")

I am not sure how Leather Armor will work with the reworks though too.

[CorvidCrusader42]

Personally, I'm interested in whether or not Maximilian and Gothic styles of plate are included, or even fluting, bluing, and gilding for all the fancy varieties. Helmet variety like Bascinets and Sallets would also be nice.

I really like my plate armor as you can tell.

[LadyWYT]

On 8/3/2026 at 5:16 PM, VANTABlack2000 said:

but I just started playing VS again this time trying as the hunter and realized that there aren't really as many options for hunters since most armors have stat penalties to ranged damage.

I think this might potentially be where an armor rework is warranted, in part. Things like plate breastplates or shinguards should be perfectly viable for an archer to wear without interfering with the ability to draw and fire a bow. Same goes for an open-face helmet. It's generally things like arm/shoulder armor and closed-face helmets that interfere quite a lot(bowstring can get snagged, full range of motion unavailable, limited visibility, etc). Now that's not to say that individual pieces would have individual stats attached to them...but I could see it being a thing, potentially.

[LigerTitan]

I don't think anybody has suggested this yet on the wishlist for the armor but personally I think Roman armor would be pretty cool legionary and older Roman armor Maybe being able to attach horsehair onto the helmet of your legionary armor to look a bit more like a a centaurin

[MKMoose]

Though it is late for new ideas for the armor rework wishlist, I still wanted to share a link to a channel which is an absolute gold mine of references for historically accurate armor, including also a lot of details about individual components, weapons, armor functionality and the broader historical context: Alex The History Guy. For a while now this has been my first recommendation for anyone interested in historical armor or reenactment.

 

On 8/23/2026 at 6:56 AM, LadyWYT said:

I think this might potentially be where an armor rework is warranted, in part. Things like plate breastplates or shinguards should be perfectly viable for an archer to wear without interfering with the ability to draw and fire a bow. Same goes for an open-face helmet. It's generally things like arm/shoulder armor and closed-face helmets that interfere quite a lot(bowstring can get snagged, full range of motion unavailable, limited visibility, etc).

Something like this is a very nice example of relatively heavy armor suitable for an archer, using a brigandine and plate leg harness (endgame, since it's late 15th century)  - it would certainly slow down movement somewhat, but it indeed would not interfere significantly with shooting the bow:

 

On 8/23/2026 at 6:56 AM, LadyWYT said:

Now that's not to say that individual pieces would have individual stats attached to them...but I could see it being a thing, potentially.

I generally would like to see this, though I'm not necessarily confident that it would work well.

Excessively particular per-piece stats generally have the potential to enable extreme hyperoptimization. If the effective number of armor variations due to the upcoming customization becomes too high and differences between pieces not sufficient, then people could just get bogged down in a balancing hell instead of properly enjoying the variety that the system provides. Even something that is not mathematically advantageous can be seen that way if it's misinterpreted or just weighed with different priorities. If the devs manage to prevent that, then by all means, but I'll need to see it before I believe it.

I would certainly be very interested, either way, in armor which more meaningfully differs in its function to match the theming. As it stands, almost all armor could pretty much be approximated with two values - protection and debuff severity - which tends to make armor selection very uninteresting in practice when you just know that one stat should be high and the other should be low. We know that the visual and crafting side of it ought to be improved greatly, so we'll see if the gameplay side of it is up to par.

[MacIsCheesy]

Quite late to the party probably, but I would love to see something akin to early Germanic warrior adornments: shoulder capes, cloaks, full on smaller pelts horizontally across the back, etc. Like the stuff you see on Vendel period, Anglo-Saxon and early Danish reconstructions and reenactments. Also, metallic crests would go hard kind of like Turin's dragon helm in the Silmarillion

 

[Mac Mcleod]

It's lovely but I hope you have it properly gated and perhaps even have flags for each type of armor so server operators can disable suits on an individual basis.

The greeks were not in greek armor for 3 weeks and then on to full field plate.

Perhaps server operators could set a year that each armor type would be available.

For example, the first year could be primitive wood armor and leather armor only.
Then the second game year, copper armors opens up but not copper plate mail.
Then the third game year, bronze chain and copper plate become available but not bronze scale and plate yet.

Maybe in the 5th year, you are up to steel chain.. the 6th year steel plate mail (steel plates attached to a leather and chain under garment)
and so on through...

The 10th game year, full steel field plate (not plates on a chain and leather undergarment) becomes available.

You could have reasonable "rushed" default settings (year 1 to year 3 before everything is available).

By turning off a bunch of armor types, a server could basically top out at 1100 technology for armor.

You could also add some kind of research chain to complete to open up certain armor types.

 

[Mac Mcleod]

Also, there shouldn't be just one perfect top suit.    Just like you balance movement, healing, and movement, and armor tier now - you can balance armor (and weapons) for particular kinds of drifters.

There is a reason there were so many types of polearms, swords, maces, flails, spears.   They had particular strength in particular situations.

Likewise, wearing certain metal armors may not be the best thing when it's -13C outside.
 

[Mac Mcleod]

On 8/27/2026 at 2:46 PM, MKMoose said:

Though it is late for new ideas for the armor rework wishlist, I still wanted to share a link to a channel which is an absolute gold mine of references for historically accurate armor, including also a lot of details about individual components, weapons, armor functionality and the broader historical context: Alex The History Guy. For a while now this has been my first recommendation for anyone interested in historical armor or reenactment.

 

Something like this is a very nice example of relatively heavy armor suitable for an archer, using a brigandine and plate leg harness (endgame, since it's late 15th century)  - it would certainly slow down movement somewhat, but it indeed would not interfere significantly with shooting the bow:

 

I generally would like to see this, though I'm not necessarily confident that it would work well.

Excessively particular per-piece stats generally have the potential to enable extreme hyperoptimization. If the effective number of armor variations due to the upcoming customization becomes too high and differences between pieces not sufficient, then people could just get bogged down in a balancing hell instead of properly enjoying the variety that the system provides. Even something that is not mathematically advantageous can be seen that way if it's misinterpreted or just weighed with different priorities. If the devs manage to prevent that, then by all means, but I'll need to see it before I believe it.

I would certainly be very interested, either way, in armor which more meaningfully differs in its function to match the theming. As it stands, almost all armor could pretty much be approximated with two values - protection and debuff severity - which tends to make armor selection very uninteresting in practice when you just know that one stat should be high and the other should be low. We know that the visual and crafting side of it ought to be improved greatly, so we'll see if the gameplay side of it is up to par.

I agree pretty strongly with this.    

There should be broad categories of very different looking armor that basically have the same / very similar stats.

But the flip side is player agency and *some* ability to make a meaningful choice.   Leather for traveling is something I've seen.   Gamboise armor for light caving and travel.   Mixing in a piece of chain (chest or head) as you delve deeper.

On the high end, I think some kind of gear powered crafted armor that reduces (but doesn't stop) stability loss would give high end players something to pursue (instead of hitting the top and then quitting as so many do).

Armors with percentage reductions will be more powerful against powerful drifters(-10% of a double-headed is 5.4 damage) and not as powerful against weaker drifters (the same -10% might only stop 0.5 damage in that case).