Originally posted by Nerevar:

good chance the level 3 forge upgrade will be added with the hildir update around may/june.

the level 4 sadly probaly wont get added till ashlands is out.

carapace armor is total boost of 4 armor. not 6. people forget youre also gonna use the feather cape. face it : YOU WILL USE this cape its effect is just too good. so you lose 2 armor on cape. so the total gain over padded is only 4 armor currently.

and yes. thats is bad progression and therefore make carapace the last thing you craft. no clue why the devs did this. it makes no sense. but it is is what it is till the next content update which is hildir. if the forge level 3 is not added with hildir theyll delay them till ashlands for certain. aka end of the year roughly.

People use the Feather Cape even with padded armor, the Feather Cape is arguably the first thing you should ever make, so I think the 6 armor increase is still a fair assessment, depending on where you do your calculating from.