I may not agree with
crazydodapie about casters needing chain (although the rarity of leather makes it more expensive than better tiered armors, which I think is absolutely absurd), but the way everyone verbally assaults him as opposed to explaining/discussing things is just sad. Seriously, some of the feedback here is really 4-year-old material. Grow up, use words, and have a discussion people.
As far as the price of armor, crazy, it really has less to do with the actual value of the armor and more the value of the materials. However absurd it is, leather is harder to come by than iron (in general), and thus iron and chain armors are far cheaper than leather armor. Even diamonds seem to be in circulation more frequently than leather, and as leather has far less durability than all of the above, you tend to spend a great deal of money on leather armors over time compared to other types.
As far as boosting caster armor to chain, I agree with most of what people are saying (albeit with a far more level-head than most of them). For one, the lore/rpg aspect of wizards-in-chain just isn't there. For two, chain is better than leather defensively, and while it has defense comparative to gold, no one wears butter armor. It's simply a waste of money. To give casters cheap access to upgraded armor would tip balance (and as I see it, casters don't need much more of an advantage than they already have).
I don't pretend to be an expert on all things Herocraft, especially where the classes are concerned (trust me, I'm still trying to figure out how best to play a Ninja who doesn't get any decent combat skills until lv40+). It takes a long time of playing with the classes, spec'ing and respec'ing, testing and trail to fully understand the ins-and-outs of a system like this. Give the guy a break.