Originally Posted by azraelck
I've not had any issues just ignoring AC entirely; takes a lot more damage, but I'm also not having to sacrifice elsewhere to get AC to the 80-90 or so you need outside of epics.

Pretty much the same conclusion I came to, but even with DDO store healing pots to fill in the gaps you tend to be a resource hog. Not the end of the world by any stretch, but something to consider. Although the game isn't perfectly balanced, they did do a pretty good job of giving each class legit plusses and minuses.