Tanks, please use strength gear.. :(

[Sapphidia]

My main objection to the OP's point isnt the point itself, it's his totally incorrect reasoning. Strength on tanks doesnt make the healer's job easier. No healer should be running out of mana on 4 man stuff even on huge pulls. The risk to a tank is the total incoming damage. If making a fight a couple of seconds shorter is making it "easier" for the healer then that healer needs to go and learn how to manage mana.

Vitality is what makes things easier for a healer as it gives them much longer time to react to spike damage, lets them DPS a bit more as they dont have to pop out of cleric stance as frequently, and generally is safer. That said, I advocate Strength as the main focus for 4mans once you're not undergeared, of course I do. But it's simply to make the instance go a little faster for -convenience- not -ease-, or possibly to keep up with some of the threat of the really overgeared DPSers.

The only time Strength is -needed- in preference to Vit for the binary state of "did we beat this encounter" is on Alex Savage style fights with super high DPS requirements. Yes, strength is better on other encounters too, but it's not a make or break situation. Tanks just run Strength on encounters they overgear to make them faster and less boring, but sometimes you meet healers who are super new, undergeared, laggy, or just plain -bad-, and in those situations 2-3 seconds of not needing a heal due to a higher health pool CAN actually make or break an encounter.

Strength is good. But -sometimes- Vit is worth it. OPs blanket statement of tanks ALWAYS using full strength is flat out incorrect and a danger to new tanks who might try and take that advice out of context.