I gave up my banded mail to take on a bloodstained mantle only reluctantly. I refused to equip my savant's cap, preferring a banded coif instead. And now I could buy a silver or platinum ruby veil, but I find it hard to get rid of my ornate chain mask. Any other TLP clerics have a tough time giving up their AC? And I think I'm being slightly irrational.
Are you going out of mana frequently? Would you,make the group more efficient one way or the other? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, you are making the wrong choice, if the answer is no you are fine. AC especially pre softcap is one of the most important stats, but if your group is suffering a net loss that is another matter entirely. Are you taking hits frequently enough to justify the bias to begin with, is another important question.
On live servers, this question doesn't have "1" correct answer (several are correct), so there won't be only "1" correct answer on TLP's as well. I know things on TLP are a bit different than current servers. Initially mana usage/preservation usually is a bit of a concern early on. But as chaosflux said there are some questions to answer: What is your typical play style? (For example, I always pulled so looked toward AC + Mana/HP whereas one of my good friends only healed so looked toward Mana only). Are you always good on mana or are there times the group has to stop pulling to let you catch up? Are you guys fighting low level or higher level mobs than you're geared for? (Lower level means you aren't fully using your mana; higher level means more chance that you need mana more often).
Mostly I sit on the ground, facing the wall, at between 10 and 20% mana. Having a larger pool wouldn't actually help too much with that. I'd get one more heal off at best, and then be at the same low mana level. When I get hit(a lot), I take hits like a boss. Maxxed defense and high ac pieces really helps. It was hard to get 6 wis rings over 5ac/55hp rings, i'm glad no one was selling the hp/ac rings or I might have bought those isntead.
If you are never in a situation where you go from FM to OOM in a single fight, then wisdom matters hardly at all. Wisdom doesn't help your mana regen rate, so if you are always sitting at 10% mana, a few extra wisdom points won't matter much. Where mana pool becomes important is if you are doing a named (or raid) that will push the limits of your group, where you'd start the fight fm and end the fight oom. In your situation I might keep the ac pieces but have some wisdom pieces bagged for those situations where you'd need a bigger mana pool.
Being heavy ACd also let's you tank in a pinch or perform the pulling duty if your group is filled with bads (likely on Agnarr, Lotta clueless folks just coming in from the cold) So that's a plus as well.
With the exception of shield AC (and its aug) which is exempt from the AC softcap, it is irrational. But then again, not everyone plays this game to min-max, if you think hoarding AC is fun on a cleric, then hoard AC. If it isn't compromising your ability to keep your tank alive, who cares. The nice thing about EQ is that you can contemplate and make these choices without it drastically impacting your character.
As a tank (Paladin), I have zero qualms with a healer giving up some mana pool for some extra safety. A dead cleric doesn't heal as well as a live cleric. Not to mention cleric soaking up a few hits here and there generally will offer more use in normal grouping than a single extra heal. But, I am not a min/max kind of person. If we are alive and the enemy is dead at the end, that is all that matters to me.
Adapt to how you play. Myself I will generally be the puller and manage my mana well... So I prioritize ac. However having a bigger pool helps if goes wrong... Doesn't really add anything when operating business as usual
You forgot the unofficial Agnarr motto: "It doesn't matter." Do what you want, it won't make a lick of difference
Rules of thumb for Everquest. 1. At some point, you will probably die, and a bit more AC *might* have saved you. 2. At some point, you will probably die, and one more heal *might* have saved you. The odds that either one of those happen, at some point in the game, are pretty long. It might happen to you once in thousands of pulls. Don't lose much sleep over it. I personally like AC, on all my characters, except for the ones that are only going to get hit when I screw up (like wiz). Chanter, healer, ranger, anything that's likely to draw agro regardless of good play, I love AC. The other way to look at it is, you *know* you are going to get hit, and hit pretty often as a cleric. That AC helps you every single time you take a hit, and actually serves to save your mana a bit. A bigger mana pool only effects you when it makes the difference between that last heal or not. I.E., AC is something that is in effect on most fights, where as mana is a much more specific situation. The above is why I tend to stack AC in classic on my characters.
When you start raiding, your raid will never wipe because you didn't have enough AC to take one more hit. Your raid may very well wipe because you didn't have enough mana to cast one more heal.
For pug, AC Guild groups, wisdom I never understood why pugs liked to run at 10-20% mana that are just as easily run at 50%, more easily actually. After the initial break running a camp consistently is a function of regen and it is illogical to be vulnerable when the unexpected occurs.
