Couldnt care less* thats my bad, but HONORBRU is intentional.
I never felt any immersion in this game, theres so many things that bring you out of the immersion, but instead you are, well i guess you could say immersed, into the combat, and the mechanics. Balance above all, and currently, its not that bad. People play agi builds because they are more fun, it feels like you are actually playing well when you do well, instead of plate spam which is basically just out tanking opponents.
I went to NA for a couple of maps a bit back, and i did fine as str build with quite heavy armor. I really cant remember if it was much different armor and build wise compared to eu.
I could see a upkeep drop on heavier armors being a decent change, but it might also spawn a new age of tincans. But then again, people dont need gold anymore, most are swimming in it. Except for the price, i do think plate is balanced. If you manage to do bad with it then do not blame the armor because its not a free win, but it does make things a lot easier.
Partially at least.
I am probably playing NA1 more often than EU1, and -at least with my ping of about 130- I find using heavier armour much easier indeed.
It is more forgiving, in my Heraldic Mail & Plate I can take about 3-8 hits, while with lighter armour about 1-4. That makes hell of a difference.
Though, if I play with a normal ping (24ish for me) I find using plate incredibly difficult. Simply because I am way faster in light gear and the incoming hits are blockable with that ping. (With 130 blocking is not difficult either, it only gets bad if you fight a feint-/spam whore)
So I'd say plate makes it easier to survive if you tend to get hit fairly often, but it doesn't necessarily make it easier by default.
What it does, though, is making it much harder for the person fighting the tincan.
And I have to admit, I definitely despise plate wearers.
I know without their armour they'd probably die 5 seconds into the fight, but instead they soak my hits as if I was using a pugil stick.
