You do know the defender's melee grants a personal over shield right? It is just as prominent as the flame shield (if not better) and has the potential to absorb even more damage with a perk that lets it regenerate (and if it wasn't stronger before, it will be after the update). Titans have always had the ability to upgrade armor to the maximum (the whole bar being full) since the beginning of the game, and I'd like to point out it is definitely higher than a what a Sunsinger can have. Sunsingers really didn't become tanks until the ram was introduced and it was used with radiant skin. By your logic a super shouldn't count, if you are going to exclude the bubble, you cannot count radiant skin either. I think this evidence points toward Titans naturally having more armor originally.