Yeah, Bronze armor made me wish gear could be deconstructed to get some of the base materials back. Even upgraded, it only offered a tiny bit more protection than troll leather at the same level, despite slowing you down and lacking a set bonus (maybe that would make up for it, something like a set bonus to guard armor or something).

There's so much stuff to spend bronze on during the bronze age bracket, and you're pretty much forced to contend with trolls anyways, and troll leather isn't used for nearly as much. If you go out of your way to make and upgrade bronze armor, you're basically just doing it for lulz. It's not worth the trouble.