haven't played for a while...but i think there were no major changes in progression.
i usually went straight to troll armor. then depending on the position of the mountains(and silver nodes) either picked up wolf cloak(or whole silver set, thus skipping bronze and iron). or if unlucky - then padded(which was the best armor at the time).

iron is more useful to craft weapons, then armor imho. that 2h hammer is a beast.