Originally posted by FTZ35:

Troll armor is more useful than before because the upgrade level requirments have been reduced. This means that isntead of level 2, you can now upgrade it to level 3 before leaving the Black Forest. That means 33 armor.
Bronze can still only be upgraded to level 3 before going to the Swamp, so the maximum you can get from it is 39 armor, but it comes with 10% movement speed penalty.
So bronze isn't really worth it unless you are playing multiplayer and can't get enough troll skin for everyone.

Going by this breakdown of stats it sounds bronze armour is quite unnecessary, it's just for swagger