Quote Originally Posted by noneo View Post
I understand it may not a direct correlation, but having better armor does increase your survival duration. If you have 18.35% better armor, then you can withstand 18.35% more damage points. if the dps of the mobs remain the same this does lead to a correlated survival rate, and in my opinion (which could very easily be wrong) this leads to a 18.35% longer survival time. I'm not sure if this is a 1:1 ratio, but would be intrigued to find out more.
In practice, having that extra armor leads to significantly more survivability than you may think. First, you will take 20 damage less per hit. That is big news for int mages that don't have a lot of hp. Considering how hard enemies hit, that scales dramatically. Furthermore, as mega mage has a higher base spell damage, your heal is stronger when you are hit - good for not just you, but the entire team.

I don't expect you to trust me entirely, but let me say this. I own both sets. I worked long and hard to get my build to 56, then to get full mega mage. I bought every piece except the helm (lucky drop). I use mega mage as my main and for good reason over shadow.