It's pretty situational which one of these you're stacking...what you're doing should dictate which gear you're wearing, and I keep a set for each.
I have a set of HP/mana stacked gear that I normally wear in raids (PKT, Djarn's, HBC, etc 1450 hp 2350 mana, mid 700s ac? unbuffed), a set of high ac high hp gear with a shield that I use for full roles in planar where I'm getting hit by a ton of 48-52 mobs (drops me 200+ mana?) and I'm working on a set of high dex gear that drops mana for dex / hp as I recently got a Barbarian Spirist Hammer which is just silly DPS.
I get use out of all three sets. Using a shield and stacking anything but mana in the top end raids is a joke. Stack all the AC you want, the bosses in Sky are going to shred you if you pull aggro before anyone even lands a greater heal. I make sure I have ~200 wis, a couple shy is no problem, and crank straight mana/hp afterwards. Most of the fights don't last long enough for me to run out of mana, but hp doesn't do much for you either as you simply don't NEED to canni and there aren't AEs going off in Sky. AE Mobs you're stacking resists so it throws a whole 'nother wrinkle.
I'd say your best bet if you're trying to build a well rounded set is to stack wis to about 185 or so if you're a barb and then just take whatever piece gives you the most of either hp or mana. If I have the choice between 30 hp and 30 mana I'll generally take the the hp. Due to the relative size of the pools, 30hp is a larger upgrade than 30 mana. I wear a Djarn's and an HBC full time because it's just difficult to find that much HP in other slots.
-Jayko
50 Barb Shaman <Dark Ascension>
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