AC or HP?

[Grombar]

My main was an SK starting in 2000 for 6 years on live.
AC > hps > everything else. Back on live in this era the accepted formula was 1 AC = 10-12 hps. Since I was an AC whore, i skewed it closer to 1=15.

The more you mitigate the less you have to be healed. At 39 when the cleric has CH, the more you mitigate the less spiky your damage will be and the easier it will be to time those CHs for max effect w/ lower hps.

Maxing hps is for warriors tanking top end content where the damage bonus is so high that the only way to reasonably mitigate damage is with their defensive disciplines. That said, you still need enough to do your job, but no reason to over stack on it.