Stats

[Kevin]

You can't always get items with the best possible stat allocation (especially in hardcore). It may not be the optimal configuration, but that doesn't mean someone won't be curious about the comparison.

This is exactly right. I've already used this thread to help choose between some gear on my WD.

Also there are quite a few WD skills that require you to be in close. I'm only 35 with my HC doctor but looking at it I'd say at least half of the WD skills are useless if you don't get in close. There are mods on mobs that make getting in close make more sense than trying to stay at range. So I don't just grab the highest DPS gear I can get. I'm always looking at the tradeoff between survival and damage and I've run into high strength high int gear and I'm currently wearing high int, low vit gear. Now I can easily see if I'm getting more EH from the str, or if going up to the higher armor level and dropping a bit of int gives me enough to survival returns to be worth it.

I absolutely care about what str, dex, armor, and vit do for my WD. With the way some skills work, it might even be true that a build focused on defensive stats and the short range skills could do more DPS than a high damage stat long range skill build because of the high base skill damage and the self buffs that require you to be up close and personal. I haven't tested on that yet though, but first blush makes it seem possible.