All around armor

I currently have shogun and adj pixie, and a couple low end plates.. but im looking for a good all around armor with more protection, i hunt mobs anywhere from 300-1k hp and just looking for a cheaper(something that isnt crazy in MU) but good all around armor upgrade.

if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

5b plates is most likely all you need. Otherwise gremlin or mahketta are your next steps up

Gremlin is an armor that probably everyone should have. It's very adaptable, it has very good durability for it's level and is quite affordable. You can add a set of Mark.3B plates and hunt robots with it, you can add 6B plates and go hunt Allophyls, or just add the 5B plates and hunt a wide variety of low level mobs all over the universe. It's one of the most useful armor sets in the game. The Avatar bound Viceroy armor on Arkadia is essentially the Gremlin armor but with a different skin.

Jarhead seems to have gained in popularity since Loot 2.0 came out and people realized that armor decay is compensated for in the loot (Jarhead has a very nice distribution of damage protection but has low durability, like Ghost).

Or you could go the Bear route like I did long ago. Bear would definitely be an upgrade from your current Shogun and it has a nice distribution of damage protection, everything but shrapnel and electric, which can easily be added with armor plates if you ever need that. Bear also has very nice durability (2950 like Gremlin). Only thing is Bear will probably become too small for you more quickly than Jarhead would. Jarhead is also still cheaper then Bear at this time, which doesn't really make sense to me since loot 2.0 and especially when you consider that the blueprints for it haven't dropped in a couple of years now either. It's only a matter of time before Jarhead catches up with the Bear price.

If you like to mainly hunt robots, you could get yourself a set of Mah'ketta which is great for those. It doesn't have Shrapnel protection but the Burn/Pen stats are essentially the same as Adjusted Nemesis for about 1/3 of the cost. However the armor looks a bit odd, especially the Helmet.

Another option of course, if you often like to hunt robots, would be to get yourself an Adjusted Vigilante armor. It's less versatile than Jarhead or Bear but it's a very nice set with a 20% increase Dodge chance buff (like Evade but for long range damage types: Burn/Pen/Shrap). It's more geared toward hunting bots though, so you might find that it's not so practical for hunting animals or mobs that deal close range damage (Impact/Cut/Stab).

So to sum up, here's my recommendations, ranked from most strongly recommended at the top:
1. Gremlin
2. Jarhead or Ghost (Ghost is cheaper but Jarhead is better)
3. Bear
4. Adj. Vigilante
5. Mah'ketta

Cheers o/

Legends

gremlin or ghost and 5b will get you there... there are other options of course... the trade in Arkadia Armor (similar to gremlin level), or some of the slightly higher end L stuff might work nicely... If you go after Vigilante, and higher type stuff, L versions are going to be way cheaper than UL versions unless you can justify the long term use cost of UL.

Ghost set.

Thank you all, ill look into the recommended armors. I appreciate everyones time to answer my question.

I agree with ghost and gremlin. Between those two sets you'll have the majority of your bases covered.

If you are looking for mid-level nice armor then buy Nemesis suitable for many mobs.

Surprised no one had suggested viceroy yet.

I own or have owned most armors of low-medium level. I have around 50 sets nowadays. Absolute champion in terms of usage is adj nemesis, followed by viceroy and then vigi sga/adj vigi mix. with 5b and 6a unbeatable. If you only want one armor viceroy is the one for you. Maybe in the future the upgrading materials will be cheaper and then you can get adj viceroy or further up. No regrets in buying it.

I agree with the plate comments.
First buy the right plates, use them and see if you need to upgrade armor, if you do you will need the plates anyways and they make you more versatile.

5b = your all around cut/stb/imp mobs
6a = your burn/pen bots
6b = imp/electric demons

The first two sets I have had since my pixie days early on, the last is more specific to my hunting grounds now.