stampy

This is an excellent argument in the case where we are considering the ability to design our own gear, but doesn't do so well in the face of actual itemization. Item choices where we can actually use a weapon skill vs. hit vs. block value comparison are not happening.

As far as weapon skill goes, its Mallet of the Tides and Gauntlets of Enforcement, off the top of my head -- unfortunately, no item sites can search on weapon skill, so please let me know if I am missing something. There are no weapons with block value, and the gauntlets have very high block value anyways. There are no decisions to be made concerning weapon skill vs. block value.

There are more items with +hit than with +skill, but in the end the decisions between block value and hit are still rare. I dont think anyone is going to be choosing to wear the T4 chestpiece over T5, regardless of the hit vs. block value. Granted, if I had them both in my bags, I would keep the T4 for for farming aether rays and night elves -- but that isn't a tanking discussion.

The closest there is to a reasonable gear choice question would be the Shield of Impenetrable Darkness vs the Aldori Legacy Defender, and whether or not 18 more (unimproved) block value is better for aggro than 15 hit. Ignoring the armor and stam differences, I think you are correct in valuing the hit, unless the player has gone completely mad with +8 hit gems and is up around 8% hit already.

The reason block value is frequently considered the "best" way to up TPS is that the actual itemization makes block value plentiful, easily available, and stackable without too terrible an impact on mitigation and stamina. Bang per Item Budget is not a valid argument when we are simply not given to option to select the more efficient stat.