That's right STR = more dps+ more aggro + more selfheal. you should heal more by using blood bath and clemency.
if you wish to use STR accesories it just mean you will have less vita offcourse.
what a pld can do to take less damage as possible, if you are not already doing it, you make shieldtron just before every cleave as possible in a fight.
sit less on CD, you must know when you can throwing CD to be more easy to heal, or when you need to keep absolutely for tank busters.
This is how it work.
This is logic, many tank do it for savage but also for everything. Because the str tank need to have some training to get better with CD rotations and be as tanky as possible with str accesories. But it's absolutely not needed and not a requierment.
And Tank is not bad because them is wearing Vita or Str, it's requiered on Savage that's all