I don't get the tier system for weapons and armor

[Kiwith]

it’s all in the title. At first, I thought the different tiers followed a classical build: when you reach a certain level, you unlock a better armor tier, with better stats altogether. So a piece of armor you can craft at level 40 is supposed to be better than one you can already craft at level 20, right?

I quickly realized that it isn’t the case.

First of all, all armor sets give you different bonuses (Agility, Strength, etc…) and different thermal protection.
I can understand why it is so, and I do not really mind it.

But then I got to Lvl 60 an I finally tried the exceptional armors. Why is it that what was a T4 armor, like the Nordheimer armor, now offers less protection than a T2 armor, like the stygian intermediary, when you craft the Lvl 60 corresponding sets? Where’s the logic behind that?

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The same can be said for weapons: how come an acheronian battleaxe deals LESS damage (42) than the hardened steel one (44)?!?

And it’s not a lone example, it’s the same with other items (shields, daggers, etc…).
Is this an intended feature, or am I missing something?

[THEDUDE]

because i think there are going to be balance updates , to armor or perk system or weapon dmg , or maybe all of those , if not i quit this game , right now everything is so mixed up i spend sometimes 2 hours looking at conan wiki and thinking how to build f*** hero so i can play solo and not reset stats every 5 min … game is unbalanced , not fun atm when you start looking deep at number , perks , stats etc.