AC is much better whenever you're not getting blasted by constant complete heals. It's a good idea to have a few hundred HP from gear, which you pretty much automatically will if you haven't geared your tank like a retard, but don't prioritize HP over AC until you start doing things that demand a CH chain. Definitely don't sacrifice AC for HP in any sensible amount while just leveling. If you're a caster, HP might be better since you won't be able to get enough AC for it to matter anyway, and it'll be helpful to be able to survive an extra hit or two. As a tank, 5/55 rings and a HBC is all the extra HP you need until raids.
Look at it like this: heals, especially from druids and shamans (who will be far more common than clerics as group healers while leveling), heal for a small portion of your total health. What does it matter whether you have 1500 or 1700 HP when you're getting healed for 300 at a time and mobs hit for 50-100ish? The AC will reduce the damage you take, resulting in less heals required which can be directly translated into mana regen for your healers. You'll simply level faster if you go for AC. Any tank class gets enough natural base HP that they won't need any extra to do their job, and it doesn't do you much good except make you feel tough.
There isn't a lot of HP gear that doesn't also give good AC, of course, but don't buy into the "HP is king" crap. It isn't particularly important until the very endgame, and even then, you'll want to avoid actually paying AC for more HP. The situations where extra HP would have done you more good than extra AC are virtually non-existent until you're doing content that hits hard enough where dying between heals is a risk and you get CHed enough for it to make a meaningful difference in the cleric's mana efficiency. CH isn't even mana-efficient until it heals you for 1200+, and it isn't worth the 10sec cast time until it heals you for 1500+. You don't have enough HP for 1500 to be less than half your total until you're like 55+ and fully raidbuffed, and you don't want the cleric to attempt to land CHs on you at 20% HP. The people who CH level 45 tanks in Dreadlands groups are doing it wrong.
Personally, I wear 2x 55/5 rings on my tanks (on all my characters, really). They give 8 actual AC while Djarn's gives 3 from the agility. 5 AC > 25hp when you're tanking sarnak berzerkers or whatever. I don't own a Djarn's ring, it's a hugely overrated item and isn't worth the price unless you're at the point where money is inconsequential. If I played a high-level enchanter or wizard or something, I might bother getting a Djarn's ring when I couldn't upgrade anything else with buyables. Any melee as well as shaman and probably cleric, I'd wear 55/5s.
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