What has more impact on loot returns Armor itself or plates?

[mastermesh]

What has more impact on loot returns Armor itself or plates?... i.e. does plate decay have any impact in shrapnel returns or is it all just armor decay itself outside of the plates? Is it better to go with higher stats on unplated armor or go with weaker armor that has better plates in it?

Also, does the personal loot pool really count the actual decay or just the theoretical decay... i.e. if you hunt without armor does it add in as if you were wearing armor even if you don't (to account for fap decay without actually tallying the deacy on the fap tools, etc.?).. or does hunting nude give you worse actual loot and fapping gives you more?

 

[Me Really Never]

easy to answer: which decays more, the plates or the armor? and for what do you pay more decay? generally since loot 2.0 and the armor change you pay for every point absorbed from the armor, which means the higher the cost for this, the potentially higher the loot.