Open GCW Combat Revamp to Armor Rating Values & Innate Armor

The current armor values are listed here, this is the change I propose.

Armor Rating Table​

The second part of this proposal is optional, but a unique idea I had to basically add to classes that give you innate armor. The idea is very simple. I would sprinkle in innate armor across several classes like Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, and Commando and add a unique effect to it if you equip any armor. If you have any armor equipped, you still benefit from your innate armor, but it is reduced to 10% of it's total value.

I am honestly unsure of Innate Armor's total value it adds to armor, but lets assume Teras Kazi Master is 5000. It would mean you would get 500 additional armor to your character.

The first reason I propose this idea is it makes the Armor Rating system more linear, thus not only easier to calculate mathematically but also easier to balance since for example you can simply say every 1 point of armor is equal to 0.008 damage reduction and or 1% damage reduction is exactly 125 armor.

0.008*1000=8%

There are several reasons why I think this is a very good idea. For one, it fixes a lot of class buffs that are currently underperforming compared to their counterparts.

In the current system, the following skills do this. I did this calculation assuming you are wearing 6.5k RIS Battle Armor.

Call to Arms (Squad Leader)
Your Damage Reduction goes from 50.25% to 54.25. (A 4% Increase.)

Toughen (Squad Leader)
Your Damage Reduction goes from 50.25% to 58.5% (A 8.25% Increase.)

Both Call to Arms and Toughen (Squad Leader)
Your Damage Reduction goes from 50.25% to 60.0% (A 9.75% Increase.)

5/5 Resistance (Entertainer; assuming +1000.)
Your Damage Reduction goes from 50.25% to 54.25. (A 4% Increase.)

Master Smuggler (Underworld; assuming +600)
Your Damage Reduction goes from 50.25% to 52.75% (A 2.5% Increase.)

There are several benefits you can do when you change this, for example you could add more armor rating to abilities like Center of Being or Duelist Stance, giving them a sort of cap overall to how much damage reduction your character can have for the sake of game balance. For example instead of granting tons of defense, you can calculate Center of Being and Duelist Stance to be like this.

Examples Below:

Duelist Stance I
+1000 Armor Rating
+65 Defense

Duelist Stance II
+1250 Armor Rating
+90 Defense

Center of Being I
+1250 Armor Rating
+150 Defense

Center of Being II
+1875 Armor Rating
+225 Defense

Center of Being III
+2500 Armor Rating
+300 Defense

You can now grant a significant increase in armor (and) damage reduction. The second part also insures that there will always be a nice hard cap of 80%, making stacking these buffs be still worth it but you have to watch how much you stack.

The final proposal I suggest to Armor Rating is allowing armor itself to mitigate damage over time effects, but only from it's secondary statistics. I would of course suggest we change the values to compensate for this, but honestly it is just adding and subtracting values and math in the end, isn't it?

Add additional Special Protection values, and update current ones.
Heat: Now works to mitigate damage over time effects like "Burn".
Poison (new): Reduces the damage over time effects of Poison.
Bleed (new): Reduces the damage over time effects of Bleed.
Lightsaber (new): Reduces the damage of Lightsabers.

You can also fold absorption into this somehow by redoing it to just be armor for those Special Protections. You can also make it so armor has special values that come with these effects or just have them by base. Ubese armor for example which normally has little value may have a special bonus that grants it additional armor against poison.

Of course, Beskar Armor or any armor imbued with Beskar would have a small armor bonus against Lightsaber damage.