Does the ring of wealth improve the chances of receiving a piece of barrows armor from the chest? Sorry if this seems obvious, but I could not find a clear answer anywhere.

Yes it does.

 

Wearing a ring of wealth greatly increases your chances of receiving the more impressive Barrows items.

Source

haha thanks can't believe i missed that

The way you asked the question, I believe the answer is actually no. From what I understand, the way it works is that the ROW affects the normal item rewards as it normally does, without increasing the chance to receive a Barrows item; but if a Barrows item ends up in your rewards chest, it's more likely to be a better (more expensive) one.

That depends a bit on your interpretation...

 

It could either mean it increases the changes of improving the Barrows items (which are more impressive than normal drops) or it increases the chances of gaining a better barrow item if you would get one anyway.

However, I believe that Barrows items are equal in the game (players may value one higher than the other, in the game they're the same level) so I believe it simply increases your chances of getting any Barrows item.

The way I've always understood it more like Beaumonde, the RoW affects how many racks/runes you receive or how 'good' the piece of barrows armour is but it won't increase your chances of getting barrows gear.

I always thought the game took the GE prices into account as to how 'good' a piece of the armour was rated.

RoW does not take GE prices into account.

It works on the rarity of items, not on their value.

Row gives a better chance of any barrows armour (as long as you've killed the brother)

It also adds a few potion drops like prayer potion, defence potion and restore potion that you would not get without it.