So I played last night in VL and ran into a dead warbird at the Overlord. Well, he would get revived, but died almost immediately afterward, so he was pretty much always dead. Meanwhile my bear (I did use health pots) stayed alive the whole time until I got tired of waiting for the warbird to figure out how to stay alive and use break armor. Finally he asked, why is the bear staying alive and I keep dying??

Mage: "Because his equipment has high armor"
DeadBird: "But I am using STR equipment"
Mage: "....."
Me: "Because all my skills are made for me to take damage and survive (Evade, Taunt, IronBlood, Hell Scream, Crushing Blow) and your skills are made for you to keep distance and attack a single target"
Me: "Moral of the story = Don't be a warbird"

Why would a mage go pure Dex and an archer go pure STR? Seems like all you end up with is a weak version of what you try to become. To lose your skill damage is HUGE, why oh why??

Maybe this guy was just a worthless warbird, but the one's I've seen don't seem any better.

I understand more of dual specing (bow bear, pally), I am referring to pure builds that favor a different class.