Just a minor rant on the lack of ac on Imbrued platemail. I honestly
believe some kind mistake was made.

The warrior-only platemail from PoF is ac 36. Ok, cool, warriors are the
ultimate tanks, they deserve that much ac.
The ac on the Paladin-only and SK-only breastplates is 30. They're
hybrid classes, so its understandable why they'd have less ac than
warriors.
The ac on the cleric-only breastplate is 28. Clerics arent designed to
tank (at higher levels, mind you), so they dont need as much ac as a
natural plate-wearing, tanking class. Understood, no problems there.
The ac on the ranger-only breastplate (and i suspect the same for
rogues) is 26. Why 26 and not 30, since rangers are hybrids/tanks?
Well.. (this is the key point to my rant) rangers are natural chain
wearers. Meaning Verant from the start designed rangers to have less ac
than their hybrid counterparts, thus they limited them to wearing chain
mail, not plate. They *can* wear plate of course, but only *magic*
plate.
So why am I ranting and raving you ask?
The ac on the bard-only breastplate is 26. Same as a ranger, who was
designed to have less ac than the typical plate-wearing classes. The
bard however, was not designed that way. We are a natural plate-wearing
class so that we can have higher ac to make up for our lack of defensive
skills, or whatever Verant had in mind when they created the class.
Now look back.. clerics, who are not a tanking class, (much like bards),
have 28 ac on their breastplate. I would expect the same, if not better,
on the imbrued breastplate since we are a fellow plate-wearing class
that wasnt designed to be tanking. (At higher levels, mind you). So why
are bards penalized I ask?
I think there's a chance that an error was made. It seems the ac on each
piece of our armor is the same of rangers/rogues who although are melee
classes, they are also natural chain wearers, who were desgined by
Verant to have *less* ac than any type of plate-wearing class, not
*equal* ac.
Now to clarify a few things.. this isnt a bash against rangers to get
them nerfed. This isnt a bash against clerics to get them nerfed. This
isnt a discussion about a bard's role in a group. This is not a
discussion about anything other than the AC on the class specific armor.
And if you think my case is just is only limited to the breastplate, it
is not.

Here are some more examples: (When I say 'Chain wearers,' I'm referring
to Rangers/Rogues/Shaman).
Cleric-only greaves: ac 15. Bard-only greaves: ac 14. Chain wearers-only
greaves: ac-14.
Cleric-only vambraces: ac 15. Bard-only vambraces: ac 13. Chain
wearers-only vambraces: ac 13.
Cleric-only boots: ac 15. Bard-only boots: ac 14. Chain wearers-only
boots: ac 14.
I can list more and more pieces, but you get the point.
It is my belief that bards deserve to have as much, if not more, ac than
a cleric. The fact that we do not, boggles me.

Now unfortunately I'm not aware of the proper way to bring this to the
attention of the dev team. So please, let me know how. Or, if you also
agree with me that this is a mistake, and you do know how to bring this
to the attention to the dev team, please go on ahead and do so. It'd be
a great favor.

Maev Lorekeeper
Tarew Marr

PS: Our lambent greaves (which require killing lvl 30ish mobs): ac 14.
Our Imbrued greaves (which require killing lvl 45+ mobs): ac 14.
*boggle*