I posted this reply in another thread, it also applies here imho:
My suggestion to you is that you choose Armour based on the actual Mobs you are hunting.
This may sound obvious however your target Mob is determined by the Skills your Avatar has, which determines the weapons that you can use, which determines the Mobs you can kill with 6-12 hits.
I advise that you do some research using Entropedia
http://www.entropiawiki.com/Chart.aspx?chart=Mob
Once you have a list of a few mobs that you can kill fairly easily, you can see which if any, has a Mission associated with it, again using Entropedia, then look at the loot they drop and hunt the Mob that has the Loot with the highest Weekly MU and ideally a mission with a reward.
Only once you have all this detail can you choose armour/plate that defends against your chosen Mob.
So, Skills --> Weapon --> Mob --> Armour.
Of course if you have lots of PED then ignore all of this and fill 'yer boots with whichever Weapon/Mob/Armour combi that your heart desires
Best of Luck
Dirk