Why do I hear multiple people saying essentially "any defensive stat will not be valued"?
- What, you don't see crafted accessories being valued? They have less offense than more easily obtainable Slaying accessories.
- You don't see tanks using defensive cooldowns to open up DPS stance and/or healer DPS? It's same for gear.
... Seriously, these people need their heads checked.

There is also the simple value of defensive ability on it's own. If I'm progressing on a tough fight, I would gladly increase defensive ability just to avoid the random turn of a good attempt into a fail. Less random fails = faster progression.

Point being: defensive abilities still matter, in general. Unfortunately parry is entirely ineffective right now. Were it implemented better, parry could become worthwhile - and by "better" I mean completely differently.

Random idea would be that parry could trigger a "Riposte" ability that automatically strikes back when parry happens. Vaguely similar to Vengenance. PS. "Riposte" was in original Everquest - there's precedent for it. Just a thought. *shrug