Technically, Critical Hit Rate got an additional effect added to it with Heavensward, which also has it improve Critical Hit damage. Critical hits are still random? Kinda... Bootshines, Kassatsu, Life Surge, Heavier Shot, etc., there are a number of skills that force critical hits and Critical Hit Rate just straight up improves their output now.
That said, by far the main allure of Critical Hit Rate is the additional critical hits it earns you, this is why it was the primary secondary stat even before Heavensward. Scaling is definitely a contributing factor to that, but assuming they worked Counter properly, it's essentially the same as Critical Hit Rate, just for tanks... It's RNG extra damage, and that's never a bad thing... RNG mitigation sucks, just because you ideally want mitigation to be dependable and RNG just isn't... The only other way to solve that, is to give Parry a defensive Determination kind of effect, so it improves mitigation by a little bit overall and grants some lackluster RNG mitigation. They'd have to make that extra mitigation required for anyone to still bother with it though, and f*ck SE if they do that... The Vitality changes were irritating enough... I want freedom in how I gear my character, isn't that the whole point of even giving us stats options? Foregoing HP for offense was the last reasonable piece of itemization in this game, if they then turn around and opt to make me weaker again, by forcing Parry down my throat... F*ck it, I'll stop playing tanks...
