Chainmail armor rework

Chainmail armor is one of if not the most useless items in Minecraft. The 2 main reasons why that is

1.) Chainmail armor isn't craftable and very hard to obtain

2.) By the time chainmail armor is obtainable, you have armor that is just better than it

So I propose a solution to this conundrum; What if chainmail armor did not operate off of a set damage subtraction, but instead reduced damage by a certain percent? This idea would make chainmail a viable tool early game and late game. instead of a quick fix by making it craftable, this idea would add new layers into minecraft exploration, pve and pvp