Every 21 points of Precision increases critical hit chance by 1%
Every point of Vitality increases Health by 10 points
Why does one point of Toughness have to equal to one Defense point?
Now, base Toughness can’t be altered I would assume. If every point of Toughness was equivalent to 2 Armor (example), it would improve the survivability of all characters and alter the game greatly. Instead, what if bonus Toughness had a higher impact on characters? For example:
Armor = Defense + 916 + ((Toughness – 916) * Multiplier)
I did some rough calculating. It’s definitely possible to obtain 3,400 Armor with a Heavy armor character (possibly more). With a 1 to 2 rate, that 3,400 Armor would become 4,700 Armor. With a 1 to 1.5 rate, the total Armor would be 4050. The number can be tweaked as necessary.
There are a few things to consider:
1. Conditions ignore toughness effectively making conditions more useful (not necessarily more powerful)
2. Higher Toughness means more benefit from healing abilities
3. Tanking (though not to the same extent as average MMORPGs) becomes easier to hold Aggression, but that may not be a good thing if the player isn’t skilled enough
4. Additional Toughness can aid light armored characters by compensating for the initial lack of Armor
5. Berserker gear feels a nerf against heavy Toughness characters, though these Toughness characters often can’t dish out the same damage.
6. Above all, bunker characters are given more opportunity to try new builds as less traits/skills are required to survive (ex. Characters do not need as many Blinds, Blocks, or Aegis effects)
Disclaimer: any change to Toughness does not need to affect PvP or WvW, but it should affect PvE as a minimum as there is little reason to use a Toughness (among other) builds in PvE over Berserker in organized groups.