BUT I've also heard stuff like...

2.Most MMO use a "hit table"

Something like:

0-5 = Dodge
6-30= Blocked
31-40= Parry
41-45 = Critical Hit
46-100 = Normal Hit

and then, the game rolls a single a number and find where it is on the chart. Increasing one number simply push the remaining out of the way. So if you increase say dodge for example, it would only lead to diminishing returns on block and parry.

Does anybody REALLY know how the hell does it work? If it's number 1, parry is a good secondary stat for a PLD, if it's number 2 though, parry is useless.