Rant: the $210 skid plate I almost skipped saved my oil pan in Sedona

I keep seeing new builds on here where guys dump all their cash into lifts and tires and leave the bottom of their rig totally bare, and I get it, armor is boring money. I fought myself on it for a month before a trip out to Sedona. The plate was about $210 shipped for 3/16 steel that bolts to the stock holes, no drilling. Two miles into Broken Arrow I came down hard on a rock shelf I never saw under the dust, and it clanged so loud I thought I killed something. Got out and looked and the plate had a fresh gouge a quarter inch deep, and the oil pan behind it was dry and fine. The way I see it, that scrap of steel owed me its money back on day one. Now I'm eyeballin a trans skid since that crossmember sits even lower. What did you guys armor first, and did anyone here buy the cheap bolt-on stuff and regret it?