equipment choice question

as a bear trying to decide on what weapon/armor to equip...I pick the helm/armor/shield that has the highest armor and the one handed weapon that has the highest dps. i basically want to do as much damage as possible and have as much defense as possible.

my question is this...am i simplifying this too much? could i do 'better' by picking equipment that maybe does not have the highest armor or dps or lieu of something that boosts some of the other stats (hit%, crit, dodge, etc.)?

i made it to lvl55 recently and I'm using a lvl 55 helm/armor/shield (all orange) because the armor is better than my old lvl 50 pink equipment. but for a weapon i'm still using my lvl50 limbchopper of destiny because it gives me the best dps for a one handed weapon.

what are the main things that people take into consideration when they are choosing which weapon/armor to equip? i know this is a pretty open ended question and answers will vary based on character class and player preferences but I'm interested to know how people approach this.

thanks!

Well soon enough, class sets for 55 will come into play. These sets will be what you want. They'll most likely have the best stats, damage, so forth. As for the head piece, I'm skeptical about how they'll work it in. Not sure of the level 56 crowns of persistence will be required for the complete gear sets or maybe they'll just be an "add" to wear that will also complete the sets (so 2 possible head pieces to equip for the set) Unsure as of now. As for now, personally I'd just stick with what you're wearing until the sets are known and then you can buy the pieces. Hope this helps.

but if you wait till the sets are actually made then youll be paying WAY more for them. theyre pretty expensive now.. just imagine post sets...

True, but unfortunately there's no way to know which pieces will be for the set, so you could spend your money for all of the wrong things.

To address your question more generally, on my bear I have a load-out for tanking and another for damage (or a couple of each really). Most of the time I use the tanking one -- shield & one-handed weapon with best possible armor. On some occasions (killing Goblin King & Totem, Cockroach, etc.) I'll switch to the damage/DPS choice as tanking is lower value to me and the party than maximum damage.

My bear is still level 51 so tanking is Rift/Scull Shield/Scim and damage is Rift/Hammer for now.

The new stuff has a lot of +damage/crit stuff, at some armor trade-off. Non-pinks are totally wearable.