[2.5.18] Platemail

[Grangerer]

Quick overview:

-1400 Gold
-Grants 10 Armor
-Builds only into Frostfieldplate

Since the Implementation of the all-around-tool for Armor, Sols Bulwark, this item is no longer part of the buildup for Daemonic Breastplate.
With Sols Bulwark granting 5 Armor for yourself and +/-4 Armor as an Aura for 2000 Gold none really considers getting 10 Armor for 1400 Gold.

Players are only interested in getting Platemail if they are going to buy a Frostfieldplate, which is a rarely used item in itself.

Note that this item shares some similarities with Snake Bracelet(only building into one item) but contrary to it it has no real own usage, because there are better alternatives for getting Armor and there are no alternatives for getting Evasion.

Should it be used more often? Does the Problem lie in itself or in other items(FFP or Sols)? Should it have another possible usage(for example building into a new item)?

Discuss

[Gorb]

Approved!

[`11411181]

Ideally, it should be in Sol's.

[man_guy]

Ideally, it should be in Sol's.
That or drop the recipe and Ringmail in Daemonic for Platemail. It was fine when Platemail built into both end game armor items. :/

[Rosgath]

I think the biggest problem is that it builds into an endgame item that is mostly over-shadowed by other items. It needs more items that it can build into. The item itself is actually fine for both cost and effect.

[ApolloFeed]

The item is fine situationally entirely by itself. It doesn't have to build into a big item for it to be useful. Is grave locket bad b/c it doesn't build into a $5000 item?

This item gives you 10 armor for $1400 for 1 slot. Most other armor items are a lot more expensive and only give you 5 armor. The only items that give ~10-15 armor are sol's, deamonic, and frostplate, but they are much more expensive.

Getting other armor items does not mean you can no longer buy this item. You can have both sol's and platemail at the same time.

[Rosgath]

The item is fine situationally entirely by itself. It doesn't have to build into a big item for it to be useful. Is grave locket bad b/c it doesn't build into a $5000 item?

This item gives you 10 armor for $1400 for 1 slot. Most other armor items are a lot more expensive and only give you 5 armor. The only items that give ~10-15 armor are sol's, deamonic, and frostplate, but they are much more expensive.

Getting other armor items does not mean you can no longer buy this item. You can have both sol's and platemail at the same time.

You use a poor example. Grave Locket is the end item in and of itself. It's such a great item because it's silly easy to build and gives great stats really early in the game. Plate Mail is an ENTIRELY different story. It's a basic item that has no exceptional bonuses and no decent items to build into. A BETTER example for your argument would be to use void talisman but even then your statement falls apart as void talisman is a situational, if very strong item, that is reasonably difficult to build. Plate Mail is a situational, but not very strong item for the slot itself. You don't buy ringmail for the bonus armor alone. You don't buy Grave Locket because you plan to build it into something stronger later.

[ApolloFeed]

Platemail has the most gold efficiency for 10 armor in a single slot compared to any other item in the game and it isn't an armor aura. It's a situationally good end item in itself.

[Rosgath]

Platemail has the most gold efficiency for 10 armor in a single slot compared to any other item in the game and it isn't an armor aura. It's a situationally good end item in itself.

If i was looking for ONLY armor and it was already late enough that the difference between 550 gold and 1400 wasn't substantially significant AND i didn't have 2 item slots seeing as I've already finished all my core AND luxury items already, then sure I'd get Plate Mail over building something else with Ringmail. Problem is that you buy armor to increase your survivability against physical damage (typically carries) so WHY would I ever spend 1400 gold on Plate Mail and get maybe a second or 2 more of survival time after which I'll die anyway during a teamfight when I could always buy a void talisman which gives me physical immunity for 4 along with +7 to all stats? Plate Mail is NOT a good item in and of itself. If it WERE an end item in and of itself it would naturally be BETTER as all items that are single purchases and don't build into anything else WHATSOEVER are much more gold efficient or serve a unique purpose. Plate Mail does NOT serve a unique purpose. It is meant to build into another item and as such become greater than the parts.

[Blaity]

Platemail + 600 recipe = sols

That way platemail builds into 2 items.

and the 550 armour still builds into 2 items (barbed, armor boots)

[SomethingOdd]

Yeah, needs a new item to build into, messing with sols would make it much harder to build early game. Two 550 Items are much easier to buy than a 1400 item.
I doubt adding it into deamonic would help, Afaik sols is often gotten first when built into deamonic.

[Grangerer]

I think adding a new item it builts into is not needed, because there are enough ways to stack armor. I believe bringing it back into Daemonic is the way to go.


Either make Platemail + 600 = Sols. That makes building Sols harder, but Sols is still a incredible good item, thus chaning the buildup wouldn't put into dumpster tier.

Or make Sols + Platemail +(50 Gold recipe)= Daemonic. You can drop the recipe if you like to.

[Apolon94]

If i was looking for ONLY armor and it was already late enough that the difference between 550 gold and 1400 wasn't substantially significant AND i didn't have 2 item slots seeing as I've already finished all my core AND luxury items already, then sure I'd get Plate Mail over building something else with Ringmail. Problem is that you buy armor to increase your survivability against physical damage (typically carries) so WHY would I ever spend 1400 gold on Plate Mail and get maybe a second or 2 more of survival time after which I'll die anyway during a teamfight when I could always buy a void talisman which gives me physical immunity for 4 along with +7 to all stats? Plate Mail is NOT a good item in and of itself. If it WERE an end item in and of itself it would naturally be BETTER as all items that are single purchases and don't build into anything else WHATSOEVER are much more gold efficient or serve a unique purpose. Plate Mail does NOT serve a unique purpose. It is meant to build into another item and as such become greater than the parts.

Apples and oranges. First of all, Void makes you vulnerable to magic damage, you can't activate SH (that's why you won't ever see it on someone like Torturer, but instead a FP), AND it doesn't ANYTHING against physical spells (Armadon, DW as popular examples).

[Uroefl]

If I'd need armor I rather take pick ups like tablet/nomes etc etc since the tiny bit of agi givesenough armor + the items gives an effect.

[Rosgath]

Apples and oranges. First of all, Void makes you vulnerable to magic damage, you can't activate SH (that's why you won't ever see it on someone like Torturer, but instead a FP), AND it doesn't ANYTHING against physical spells (Armadon, DW as popular examples).

First point, it is true that it makes you vulnerable to magic damage and is not activatable during SH, but the reason someone like torturer would pick FFP isn't because of the armor. If he has that much farm he's getting it for the bonus int and the large area AoE slow. Odds are at that point he'll have a lot of bonus mana regen so the int gives him even more and he should already have a SH if he's farming up FFP. The armor and reduced AS aura are handy for keeping those carries from tearing him apart, but if he needed defense against a carry specifically he'd still rather get a void talisman.

Second point is false entirely. It does block both those spells. They are physical in nature and are blocked by void talisman. They are not NULLED like most people would assume it just works like a SH for those spells and you become an invalid target. Armadon's spines just don't hit you for the duration, though his snot storm will because it's magic.

TL;DR my argument is based on 2 items you would pick up for defense against physical attacks so your "apples and oranges" argument does not apply. Plate Mail is obviously inferior in every way in and of itself behind void talisman.

[`11411181]

Except on any hero that wants high EHP. Also, comparing Void and Platemail ROFL.

[Amdyn]

Except on any hero that wants high EHP. Also, comparing Void and Platemail ROFL.

Agreed on void vs platemail.

That is the problem though - for 1400 I could already have a shield and a beastheart towards my hotbl.
Why would I spend 1400 on a 10 armour item which slows down my progress to sols -----> Deamonic

There is just no time when platemail is a useful pickup on its own instead of another item.

[`11411181]

Agreed on void vs platemail.

That is the problem though - for 1400 I could already have a shield and a beastheart towards my hotbl.
Why would I spend 1400 on a 10 armour item which slows down my progress to sols -----> Deamonic

There is just no time when platemail is a useful pickup on its own instead of another item.

The only time you're ever picking up a component on its own is if it's batshit imba. Of course you're not going to go Platemail when you want Daemonic, that's so silly it's not even worth mentioning.
Also, timeframe of the game is important - nothing Platemail goes into (or has ever gone into) has ever been at the same price range as hotbl. It's like saying why go Firebrand when I could go straight Slayer.

Components aren't designed to be cost-efficient by themselves unless they're hella cheap (see: minor totems, +3str/int/agi components), and generally anything past that is meant to be picked up for items past your "core" set - what you need to really function in the game.

[vorsgald]

Platemail serves little purpose. For 600 more you can get a Sol's. If FFP had platemail replaced with two ringmail and had the recipe cost upped accordingly, nobody would even notice. In fact, we might see more FFP, since you could pick up the ringmails earlier for more survivability while farming up the acolyte's staff.
I personally feel that void talisman is ALWAYS a better pickup than platemail unless you're building a FFP, given that the 7 strength is 133 health, plus the 7 agility translates into a bit of armor, plus 4 seconds of physical invulnerability that you can toggle whenever you see fit... Platemail won't save you from a predator or a swiftblade ult, but a VT will, and that's why you pick an item like that up. Either 1-2 more items need their recipes to include platemail (and I'm having trouble thinking of anything other than daemonic, which doesn't seem like it would make a whole lot of difference anyway, since that's a pretty expensive item to begin with, all things included...maybe drop the ringmail and add to the recipe cost?), or it should be scrapped and FFP should be refactored to use ringmails and have a higher recipe cost. Alternatively, it could be a little better for the cost, which might make it more valuable as a standalone item. But I agree that as it stands, it serves no useful niché.

[Isis]

Platemail is a horrible pick, because, like mentioned above, for 600 more you can get a sol's and give your entire team armor, or take away the enemy team's armor. Platemail builds into one item, and that item isn't very good. Furthermore, a void talisman is far more effective than platemail will EVER be. If you're playing against a physical dps heavy team (let's say panda and predator, wtih DS thrown in), the void talisman is going to be more effective anyways, on top of giving you +7 to all stats. Frostfield plate is also garbage, Demonic is better for armor, sheep / hellflower are better int options.

Make it build into demonic again, remove the chainmail from the recipe and throw in platemail. Reduce recipe cost (or eliminate it) to make the end price exactly the same. If you don't make it build into a new item or buff frostfield plate, it simply isn't useful.

[Amdyn]

The only time you're ever picking up a component on its own is if it's batshit imba. Of course you're not going to go Platemail when you want Daemonic, that's so silly it's not even worth mentioning.
Also, timeframe of the game is important - nothing Platemail goes into (or has ever gone into) has ever been at the same price range as hotbl. It's like saying why go Firebrand when I could go straight Slayer.

Components aren't designed to be cost-efficient by themselves unless they're hella cheap (see: minor totems, +3str/int/agi components), and generally anything past that is meant to be picked up for items past your "core" set - what you need to really function in the game.

I understand your point about components being "less efficient", and those cheap items are efficient.
I guess as the OP stated, you can only choose platemail in 2 scenarios :

1) You need armour - inefficient as there are many better choices
2) You want to build frostfield plate - in which case 1400 gold for 10 armour isn't a bad price

Seems fine to me.

Eseentially it comes down to using platemail vs two ringmails +recipe cost to make an item easier or harder to get as a buildup.
So if you wanted to make Sol's a bit harder to get you would replace the two ringmails with a platemail and make the recipe cheaper

[ApolloFeed]

If someone else provides you with a ROTT aura which is very common, sol's could only effectively give you +6 armor. Platemail does not have an armor aura component. Options for cost efficient 10+ armor stacking in a single slot are actually pretty limited, especially once you consider auras cannot stack and teammates could provide the auras for you.

Platemail is not mutually exclusive with other armor items. You can get both platemail and another armor item for armor stacking. Stacking large amounts of armor in this way can potentially be the most efficient way to spend money for survivability against -armor debuffs, especially with healing. Strength heroes with low starting armor/agi gain are good candidates.

Getting a platemail does not mean you cannot replace the slot with something else lategame. Getting it midgame situationally when you need survivability is perfectly fine.

Void talisman and platemail serve completely different purposes in much the same way shaman's headdress and shrunken_head/BKB do.

Having platemail build into a new strong armor item will create nightmarishly tanky heroes with good buildup to that extra tankiness.

[Hubaris]

The only time you're ever picking up a component on its own is if it's batshit imba. Of course you're not going to go Platemail when you want Daemonic, that's so silly it's not even worth mentioning.
Also, timeframe of the game is important - nothing Platemail goes into (or has ever gone into) has ever been at the same price range as hotbl. It's like saying why go Firebrand when I could go straight Slayer.

Components aren't designed to be cost-efficient by themselves unless they're hella cheap (see: minor totems, +3str/int/agi components), and generally anything past that is meant to be picked up for items past your "core" set - what you need to really function in the game.

Actually, a notable mention should go to Glowstone and Slayer; both which are extremely efficient for what you pay.

Platemail doesn't need a buff or a change, its a component item and should be kept as such. When have you ever seen a Platemail being stacked just because its a Platemail?

[Amdyn]

If someone else provides you with a ROTT aura which is very common, sol's could only effectively give you +6 armor. Platemail does not have an armor aura component. Options for cost efficient 10+ armor stacking in a single slot are actually pretty limited, especially once you consider auras cannot stack and teammates could provide the auras for you.

Platemail is not mutually exclusive with other armor items. You can get both platemail and another armor item for armor stacking. Stacking large amounts of armor in this way can potentially be the most efficient way to spend money for survivability against -armor debuffs, especially with healing. Strength heroes with low starting armor/agi gain are good candidates.

Getting a platemail does not mean you cannot replace the slot with something else lategame. Getting it midgame situationally when you need survivability is perfectly fine.

Void talisman and platemail serve completely different purposes in much the same way shaman's headdress and shrunken_head/BKB do.

Having platemail build into a new strong armor item will create nightmarishly tanky heroes with good buildup to that extra tankiness.

Sols gives the bearer +9 armour, and your allies +4 (unless you switch to debuff, but then you didnt really need the armour did you ?)
Also getting 10 armour : Plated Greaves + Ringmail (which feeds into Daemonic), 2 x ringmail (10 armour for only 1100) which feeds into a number of items
Helm of the victim + Ringemail (10 armour) which feeds into Shamans, barbed, whispering etc

Also the difference between +10 armour and +5 armour is only around 10% damage reduction.
The only thing going for platemail is that it takes up 1 slot just like Sols. Against it you have .... sell it or build frostfield plate.

[ApolloFeed]

Sols gives you +6 armor and your allies +1 if someone has ROTT.

Slot efficiency is incredibly important. The difference between getting 10 armor in 2 slots as opposed to 1 slot is huge.

Plated greaves is another way to stack even more armor. Once again, plated greaves is not mutually exclusive with platemail. You can have BOTH sol's and platemail for a huge potential +19 armor for ~$3500. Whether or not this is a good idea depends entirely on the situation.

The difference between +10 armor and +5 armor depends greatly on your current armor and -armor debuffs. Throwing out a random % without any context is completely worthless. Stacking armor in a very cost efficient way is a situational decision.

[Grangerer]

Sols gives you +6 armor and your allies +1 if someone has ROTT.


Second time you are assuming that the aura of ROTT(Abysal/Nomes respectively) is not stacking witt the Sols aura, which is just wrong.

Sols + ROTT = 2500 Gold => 5 Armor for you and 7 Armor for your complete team


Question is if it is worth it having Platemail as an Item. Either replace Chainmail+recipe in Daemonic or replace Platemail in FFP(The Halberd-treatment)

[Rosgath]

Second time you are assuming that the aura of ROTT(Abysal/Nomes respectively) is not stacking witt the Sols aura, which is just wrong.

Sols + ROTT = 2500 Gold => 5 Armor for you and 7 Armor for your complete team


Question is if it is worth it having Platemail as an Item. Either replace Chainmail+recipe in Daemonic or replace Platemail in FFP(The Halberd-treatment)

^This as far as auras go.

Read the aura descriptions and RoTT specifically states that it only does not stack with other auras which have a basis on RoTT (i.e. Nomes, abyssal).

All it really comes down to is that Platemail suffers from most of the same problems Icon of the Goddess does. They both build into only a single item and both items they build into are mediocre or have the role they are supposed to fill generally better filled by other items. Sure FFP is situationally strong on certain heroes, but generally speaking it's considered a tertiary item at best. I can't think of a single hero that you'd ever want to build FFP on as a first big item, or even a second big item and since Platemail is a component item and is supposed to be combined with others to show it's true potential, it's rarely seen. I'd honestly like to see it combine with another less commonly used item (such as energizer). I think if it was a strong enough item, we'd see it more.

Really the problem isn't with platemail itself. In and of itself it's good for the cost. It was removed from Demonic because S2 wanted to shorten the meta and introduced Sol's and Sol's replaced platemail in the demonic recipe.

[Amdyn]

Second time you are assuming that the aura of ROTT(Abysal/Nomes respectively) is not stacking witt the Sols aura, which is just wrong.

Sols + ROTT = 2500 Gold => 5 Armor for you and 7 Armor for your complete team


Question is if it is worth it having Platemail as an Item. Either replace Chainmail+recipe in Daemonic or replace Platemail in FFP(The Halberd-treatment)

Sols gives you +9 armour (you get the aura too).

But you are right - question is about whether platemail is worth having as an item.
I say no - people vote with their gold - platemail gets purchased rarely (see item usage stats 110th of 121 items) - Sols Bulwark gets purchased 6 times more often (50th of 121)

So either it is an item which doesn't fit the meta (which I believe to be tanky - yet nobody wants platemail - there is too much other stuff like hotbl/sols/shamans to buy) or it isn't effective for its cost OR it doesn't build into anything you really want (which is the real reason)

[MacroHard]

Lower price of Plate from 1400 to 1200.
Increase price of Frostfield recipe from 600 to 800.

By shifting the cost to the final product the sub-component will be a more viable option as a stand alone item. 1200 gold for +10 armor is not a bad value.

[Imbisill]

Hey guys.

What if.

What if Sol's Bulwark + Platemail auto-assembled into Daemonic Breastplate?

With a tweak to bulwark's recipe cost because it's way too easy to build right now.

[man_guy]

What if Sol's Bulwark + Platemail auto-assembled into Daemonic Breastplate?

With a tweak to bulwark's recipe cost because it's way too easy to build right now.Daemonic would be a shitty final item then. Unless you mean you're throwing in the +40 AS / +15 Aura for free, then its just stupid overpowered.

[Good_Apollo]

I've gotten platemail loads of times just for the armor. It sounds like OP has more of a problem with Frostplate than this item.

[ImmaYeti]

Platemail + 600 recipe = sols

That way platemail builds into 2 items.

and the 550 armour still builds into 2 items (barbed, armor boots)
Actually you still even need the 550 chainmail for demonic.

[Imbisill]

Daemonic would be a shitty final item then. Unless you mean you're throwing in the +40 AS / +15 Aura for free, then its just stupid overpowered.

Oh **** I forgot about the warpcleft.

[HonchoBob]

Rework Barbed Armor to use this. Neither are used much, Plate is essentially removable from the game in its current state. Frostfield could be tweaked to use 2 lesser armors and might see more usage.

Proper answer though is to create something new using this item, something that is highly beneficial to tanky heroes or makes anyone else into a semi-tank.

[TheHypocrite]

I don't know if anyone have suggested it(haha post above have>.<), but, what if they modify the barbed abit instead? What is it now it is 1200 for the blade thingy 450 for the robe and 550 for a ringmail. What if they switch the blade for the platemail, and then you could swap the ringmail into another 450 +6 something?
Or you just have it so it gives you +15 armor, because that would be really usefull i think and it would be used more than it is today. Because i would rather have +15 armor +10 intelligence than have +22dmg +5 arm and +10 int. But that is just me.

Also, couldn't you make a new item with it? Something that gives you health and armor, like if you would get the platemail+breastheart and than a small recepie or nothing else? So you can get both hp and armor in the same item? Maybe a bit too OP idk.

[NubbyMcNub]

There's no reason for 'components' to be cost-inefficient on their own. This is why recipes were invented.

It's hard to say what price platemail alone should be when you're comparing it to a seriously OP bulwark. I think 1200 as Macrohard suggested would be the point where players start buying it for it's own sake.

At 1200g it could replace the chainmails in Bulwark and go a reasonable way towards balancing that item.

A 200g-cheaper FFP might get picked up a little bit more.

The only other item affected is Daemonic. I don't think it'll make much difference to that as the upgrade price from Bulwarks remains the same.

[skeloperch]

Buff FFP and introduce a new item that uses Platemail. It's one of my favorite items because of the way it looks, so I'll often just pick it up for the hell of it.

Besides, it adds +10 armor, whereas Sol's can only add +9, for 600 less than Sol's. Of course, Sol's is easier to build and acts as an aura, but it costs more. Fixing the problem of Platemail not really turning into anything desirable will make it a viable pickup over Sol's.

[Lethe]

nothing wrong with it, problem is it only builds into ffp.

not rly hard to see

[supply_depot]

Plate mail is pretty fantastic in certain niches / situations. It's one of the best value per slot items. I think it's a great pickup, especially on tank characters for late game. I will often pick this up on Legionnaire or Moraxus after I have completed Blink / HotBL / Shaman's in hopes of building a FFP (which I think is a wonderful and punishing item, as long as the rest of your team has some disables.) These tanks tend to have high GPM early game that tapers off significantly in the end game, and completing an item can be out of the question in late game. Platemail gives them armor to counterbalance the poor scaling of HotBL at an affordable price.

Sure, it might not be bought every game. But we don't want items that must be bought every game.

[PlayeroJ]

In my opinion what needs to be done is making the second item in FFP not be an acolyte staff and change the price of the recipe as needed (maybe give it a small price buff). I think too many of you guys are assuming this item needs to be good as a stand alone item and that it's completely flawed in that demonic is a better choice for armor but the item that Platemail builds into (FFP) isn't even primarily used for its armor increase. That being said, this item probably sees less play because the build up into FFP is just killer, and that's mainly due to acolytes staff.

[NubbyMcNub]

Sure, it might not be bought every game. But we don't want items that must be bought every game.
As Amdyn said, Platemail is the 110th least bought item out of 121.

There are many items which are bought every game. Chainmail, the most comparable item is bought multiple times a game.

We don't assume that Platemail should be cost-efficient in its own right. It's just basic good game design.

[`11411181]

Go figure Chainmail that goes into several more items, all of which are more useful than Frostfield Plate, is picked up more often in total!

[PlayeroJ]

Go figure Chainmail that goes into several more items, all of which are more useful than Frostfield Plate, is picked up more often in total!

Honestly a small buff in FFP's function or price and a change to its build would probably go a long way.

[`11411181]

Honestly a small buff in FFP's function or price and a change to its build would probably go a long way.

It actually got a major indirect buff with sheep becoming much less attractive overall as an item.
On an absolute level, I think the item is exactly where it should be. It offers something unique within an activatable, and it has several side perks that justify its price. On a relative level, the item falls under the shadow of a few things - most notably sheepstick and mana ring. As a pure armour+other benefits alternative, I think it stands well in its own stead, but in terms of "what active can i buy with an acolyte staff component" and "do i need mana pool", it loses out horrifically. The first was once upon a time solved by item restrictions on sheep/cyclone etc. (which I think were incredibly necessary, much like there is a recipe limit and cooldown on Puzzlebox), but the second has never really come up for the kinds of heroes that would want to buy it. Those that like FFP have never had access to cheap mana and mana regen like they do in HoN, and so the relative difference between FFP and other competing items was blown vastly out of proportion.
Both those key components are why we don't see FFP anywhere near as often as we likely should.

EDIT: "there's no reason why component items shouldn't be fairly cost-efficient in their own right"

lol....

[NubbyMcNub]

Go figure Chainmail that goes into several more items, all of which are more useful than Frostfield Plate, is picked up more often in total!
Yes, just countering supply_depot's point that items bought every game are bad design.

I think when balancing all items, you should start with these component items. Add in recipes when necessary and it reduces contingencies when balancing/reworking the bigger, later game items.

As I said in my uncountered point, there's no reason why component items shouldn't be fairly cost-efficient in their own right and at least two reasons why they should be (a) more potential builds --> more points of skill differentiation and (b) ease of balancing other items.

Again I agree with Macrohard that 1200 is about the right price for the item if it didn't build into anything else. It would then make FFP 200g cheaper and could replace the 2 Chainmails in bulwark.

Straightforwards.

[Rkey]

Ideally, it should be in Sol's.
Still think this is awesome.

[PlayeroJ]

It actually got a major indirect buff with sheep becoming much less attractive overall as an item.
On an absolute level, I think the item is exactly where it should be. It offers something unique within an activatable, and it has several side perks that justify its price. On a relative level, the item falls under the shadow of a few things - most notably sheepstick and mana ring. As a pure armour+other benefits alternative, I think it stands well in its own stead, but in terms of "what active can i buy with an acolyte staff component" and "do i need mana pool", it loses out horrifically. The first was once upon a time solved by item restrictions on sheep/cyclone etc. (which I think were incredibly necessary, much like there is a recipe limit and cooldown on Puzzlebox), but the second has never really come up for the kinds of heroes that would want to buy it. Those that like FFP have never had access to cheap mana and mana regen like they do in HoN, and so the relative difference between FFP and other competing items was blown vastly out of proportion.
Both those key components are why we don't see FFP anywhere near as often as we likely should.

EDIT: "there's no reason why component items shouldn't be fairly cost-efficient in their own right"

lol....

But couldn't changing the build up of FFP alone address both of these issues?

[KillBei]

I think Plate Mail could be a tad cheaper. FFP is not core on any hero I know. It is too situational. You need it when opposing carries are going to get out of control and you as an early/mid game hero (I'm thinking pebbles/bubbles/behemoth?) are starting to fade and are just trying to help your own carries win the teamfights. All the heroes I mentioned need their other items, PK/Boots, before even thinking about FFP.

At the end of the day nobody is buying Plate Mail unless they are going towards FFP. Sols/Abyssal/Nomes/Plated Greaves all offer better early/mid game armor solutions and other benefits other than just pure armor. +10 armor ONLY is pretty much a wasted slot, IMO, and at the cost of 1400 the incentive to buy is minimal.

I would even argue that if it was as cheap as 2 chainmails (1100g) it would be balanced because chainmail builds into useful stuff (Sol's, Greaves, Barbed) very quickly early on, while if you get platemail your options are limited to only FFP, so you trade slot efficiency now for limited item utility a few minutes later.

[D0ri]

Making it part of Sol's makes Sol's become a bit harder to build, which is probably a good idea, seeing how easy it is nowadays to get -armor on enemies. At the same time, buffing this item or making a new item that benefits tanky heroes with it is probably not exactly something we want, as tanky heroes already dominate the game as is.

The item is still a very cost/slot efficient armor item, that's a situational pickup and is not being bought because Pubs are bad and do not digress from their usual item builds.