So the armor cap in Skyrim made many top armors have the same defense but more weight. I understand and agree with the reasoning behind this (max armor absorbtion was 80%) but still found it annoying and thought there could be another way
The solution seemed to be to add a perk that counters the weight. Instead, I have a few ideas for alternative armor mechanics
Before I continue, I have not played ESO so there may be things like this already in effect there, I wouldn't know.
1. Armor adds health points instead of reducing damage. This allows armor rating to continue growing with damage output. The magic side of this would be a spell that blocks a certain number of health points and then has to be re-cast (think energy shields from the KoTOR series). And maybe wears off after a certain amount of time.
you could find more powerful versions of this spell. I'm sure the devs could figure out a good way to scale it to level if they decided to do something like this.
The only downside is that it wouldn't really make since for healing potions to also heal armor.
2. Another idea would be dependent on ratios. If your armor point to max health ratio was say 3:1, the armor would absorb 75% of the damage and you would take 25% of it. Notice that this is based on max health and therefor could be easily exploited by not upgrading health (assuming the skyrim leveling system), but I still put it out here to spark other ideas.
I would like this forum to be a place for people to post their ideas about armor mechanics or to piggy back ideas off of mine. I don't claim to have the best idea, but would like to see the best idea put into the game, so please post.
Devs, if you are reading this, I (and probably the community viewing this) would like to know what you are thinking so far for armor mechanics in the next game.
Thanks