You are not required to use or craft the swords, armours and weapons.

If you play on the Valley map, you can just turn the bandits off in the customisation.
If you play on the Oxbow map, you cannot turn them off, but you can just avoid them or turn their hit points to almost zero in the customisation and their damage to 0 so you can just ignore them.

Don't worry, it's still not a combat game.

Have you looked at the settings you can change for the game? They are pretty extensive. Go there first and see what is available for you.

Hey, if you play in the Valley, you can switch off the bandits in the settings. You can't do that in Oxbow, but there are settings for how much damage they do and how many hit points they can take, so you can disable and largely ignore them. (There are now unfortunately very large bandit camps that really aren't pretty or easy to ignore).

Shield/Sword/Armor are simply additional items in the forge and sewing hut that you can easy ignore. (Or alienate them for decoration, some shields are suitable as a fruit plate).

??? So is it just bandits that get armor and shields and swords? The videos look like you're towns are being attacked by a small army, which would require you to arm yourself up as well.

Originally posted by LeBurns:

??? So is it just bandits that get armor and shields and swords? The videos look like you're towns are being attacked by a small army, which would require you to arm yourself up as well.

I don't know own what video you are watching, but bandits will never attack your town.

It is far from a combat game. As others have said, on the valley map, you can turn off bandits.

Originally posted by LeBurns:

??? So is it just bandits that get armor and shields and swords? The videos look like you're towns are being attacked by a small army, which would require you to arm yourself up as well.

The video you are probably thinking of shows the player and a group of friends attacking a bandit camp. Bandits will never raid you. They are still only present in a few random bandit camps around the map, still the same amount of camps as before, although some are a bit bigger now and they are better armed and a bit smarter.

Even if you are not interested in the bandits, I still would take a look at the armour though, some of it can be helpful when dealing with wild animals. If you pick the leather or padded options, it doesn't look out of place for a peasant.

3 seasons of the year my laddie wears the excellent padded set filled out with rich hat and jaunty rich leggings. Besides being a true fashion plate, looked upon with awe by his mates, he's warm and toasty with excellent defense against the most vicious of badgers. Bunnies swoon before him. Most importantly, he never once beaches and complains of the cold, worth any price. No other set comes close in both utility and sheer good looks.

MD hasn't turned into some other combat oriented game. See a camp and don't want to get involved, just side step it. There are plenty of empty small camps that also have good pickings and no cranky bandits. Plus you turn their damage down and there's not much to worry about if you accidently run into them. You can also just turn and run away. Game couldn't care less.

tldr: Non issue. Game's still great.