Quote Originally Posted by Litegrace View Post
Why should a tank have to stack VIT (which doesn't help any of their abilities in any way) in order to make the healer's life easier?
I know I'm taking this out of context, but this sentence leapt out at me and made my spine crawl. The whole point of being a tank is to make the entire party's life as easy as possible so everyone can do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Ideally this will result in a run with highest possible total party dps but also one that's -safe-. Knocking 10 seconds off the speed of a run is fine, but if it gives your healer a heart attack and has heavy risk of wipes then it's probably not worth it.

Of course, as always, advocating additional Vit is purely something for those who are low geared. DF 4mans are tuned for people in 145-150 gear, so 180+ is far beyond. Yes, no point at all having a single Vit accessory when you've got 16k health from left side alone.

But don't dismiss healer dps as unimportant. Your whole post comes across as so selfish sadly. The damage a Scholar can do to a pack of mobs by just putting up 3 dots and Baning them is immense, and if a low geared tank is at so much risk of dying in 3 seconds that a scholar has to stay in heal-mode for a full pack then that tank is making the party do less damage even though they might have strength gear and do more themselves. +20% or so damage on a tank's output is significant, but if it causes a healer to do -zero- damage then it's not worth it. Of course, it's a balancing act, and that's an extreme example.

I know it's not how you necessarily meant it, but that sentence sounds like someone who only cares about their own DPS parse rather than the overall success of a party. That's not the tanking mindset. Tanks should do as much damage as humanly possible and make a run as swift and painless as can be, but if the best way to do that is to facilitate other members of the party doing higher damage, so be it.

DPS is important. The best tanks maximise it. But don't forget that a tank is primarily a "support" class, in a sense. Your role is to control the battlefield and ensure your party can do their job.