-1 to any changes to Cobalt armour for a few reasons.

1. Cobalt armour is free, as are the recipes leading up to Azure Guardian.

2. You don't have to upgrade it to Azure Guardian. Don't forget it can be upgraded to the Vitasuit Deluxe, as well as the Almirian Crusader set.

3. It would still be majorly outclassed. Ever heard of the Skolver Coat + Divine Veil combo? Almost everyone knows that damage output > defense in Spiral Knights, and changing it won't give it any exceptions. There's also the fact that the Skolver/Divine combo ALSO gives +4 Fire, +4 Shock, +4 Freeze, and +4 Curse resistance.

4. It would be the only non-GM armour in the entire game that resists more than two defenses without UV's. Why should it be so special?

5. It is armour. Literally. Most armours that resist elemental are sort of cloth-like, free-flowing, or something of the like. Most armours that resist shadow are somewhat dark or spooky, or look very heavenly as if they could fight against shadow damage. The Cobalt armour does exactly what it looks like it should do; protect against both normal and piercing damage.

Cobalt armour is anything but all-purpose. It's just some cheap armour that coaxes newbies into getting disappointed when they fully upgrade it because most just use it thinking it's the best-of-the-best. IMO, the most all-purpose armour is Grey Feather, since Normal resistance is a must, Elemental resistance is probably the most useful, and it protects against Fire and Shock, arguably the two most annoying status'.

"And while offense may be more important than defense, perhaps newbies which have not yet gotten the hang of the game would benefit from a full spectrum armor that keeps them alive from damage better than the offensive and stat resistant armors."

This is where ASI armours (and in the case of bombs, CTR) comes in. Faster attacks = you can shield earlier.

Newbies need to learn that just because it's free doesn't mean it's good. They could very easily ask people for their opinion on the armour, multiple people in fact. When you continue getting the same general response, you should realise whether or not what you're doing is a good/bad choice. And if that person refuses to listen and makes the armour set anyway because they "think it's cool", then they can regret it once they've lost out on their Orbs and Crystals.

Azure may already be balanced

it's just that everything else is unbalanced

don't take me seriously, that is just a random thought I randomly came up with

For me, I loved the Cobalt Armor. It was the first armor I got that I found viable for use, and then fully upgraded it along the way up to the Azure Guardian Set. Sure, the armor itself is completely outclassed by the other armors in the game. I've spoken about this before, but as I said last time... I feel like the best way to make the armor set more "preferred" or at least have it maintain viable use for a fair amount of time.

What I suggested was that the Cobalt line of gear (excluding the shields, for obvious reasons) provided +1 more amount to the health bonus the piece originally provided, and then perhaps the Azure Set can provide a low universal CTR or something along the lines. It'll give the armor a better edge in combat, since it really only has a use before the other Champion missions.