[devonin]

I know alot of people that are def capped by level 74 [like my ex's pally was].
Def is easy to come by.

Getting to 540 is easy, staying at 540 is not as easy.

All the "starter raid gear" for tanks has a ludicrous amount of defense on it. The Tempered Saronite gear tended to have upwards of 50-80 defense rating.

The issue is that all of your improvement pieces switch out defense for avoidance. You go from 80 defense to 50 defense, 40 dodge, etc. Your overall avoidance starts to climb, but at the cost of actual defense points. I peaked at close to 570 defense, but I'm sitting right on the edge of 540 now that I'm starting to get my epics.