Avian Gamers Network

Reconnaissance Armor
Ubese, Tantel, Mabari, Kashyyykian Ceremonial, Ithorian Guardian, Marine Rebel (Factional), Scout Trooper (Factional)

Certified to use it: Bio Engineer, Pistoleer, Rifleman, Smuggler

Battle Armor
Padded, Marauder, Bone, Kashyyykian Black Mountain, Ithorian Defender, RIS (Quest), Rebel Battle (Factional), Stormtrooper (Factional)

Certified to use it: Carbineer, Creature Handler, Combat Medic, Fencer, Doctor, Swordsman, Pikeman, Ranger

Assault Armor
Chitin, Composite, Kashyyykian Hunting, Ithorian Sentinel, Mandalorian (Quest), Rebel Assault (Factional), Shock Trooper (Factional)

Certified to use it: Bounty Hunter, Commando, Squad leader

Keep in mind, all this is subject to change. Also, if your profession is NOT listed here (most notably Teras kasi), then you are NOT currently certified for armor. In the case of Teras Kasi, word is they will be getting something like Jedi Robes in the CURB, hence their lack of certification.

Now that Composite wil no longer be the most viable armor, I think I may need some help stocking all the different styles, anyone thought about going AS and joining Emissive

In the first pass of armor we had toned down much of the encumbrance to just subtract from your efficiency stats. There was a choice between encumbrance/protection until the HAM system was pulled near the middle of our internal alpha. All of a sudden even the modified encumbrance system didnt make sense after we had removed all the old stats. We deemed that if we reasonably expected most combat professions to wear armor they shouldn't have to suffer a massive loss of combat effectiveness. Hence the removal of "encumbrace".

Looking at Protection and Hindrance we see the following pattern(or should). As a smith raises the protection stats, the Base hindrance amounts will also rise. The hindrance system is a built in mechanism to keep players of the correct advancement level wearing the correct pieces of armor. This built in system prevents players from abusing any potential errant items, slicing etc. How does it do this? The combat professions are granted a series of "mitigators" if their mitigator is below the hindrance on the armor, then they suffer combat effectiveness/movement penalties for it. Smiths can push the envelope, however if broken loot drops ever get into the game, this should prevent players from wanting to use them because it would drive their hindrances up. This means we cannot let players experiment on this facet.

This leaves us with Condition and Protection and a much simplified system of armor crafting. This means a fairly straight forward crafting process. I did convert many of the old useless loot drops into a way to enhance armor, as well as modifying one of the RIS quest rewards so it would be useful on all armor, and you can see the Bio-Enhancement slot as well in there. This means much of how "good" a smith is will be judged on how they fiddle with the small add-ons you can put into the crafting. It should be a vastly easier process obtaining these as they now come in stacks.

Just wanted to give you an answer to why encumbrance was removed.