So I broke down today....

[Archon_Wing]

My Monk has 14.8k dps which seems fine for act 2 solo(though lately it's been 13.5 when I wear some mf), and I've only spent more than 1mil on 3 pieces of gear. My lovely shield (2 mil), helm (2.8 mil), and armor (1.2 mil). I never felt like I HAD to buy these items even pre-patch and bought these all on a whim after I made a big sale.

Stacking primary stats is key, me thinks.

As for Redradical, you have sacrificed way too much dps for defense. My monk has 6000~ base armor/800 resists and caster classes shouldn't have to have that much.

Maybe so, but when I do get that nice DPS weapon, I think I'm going to be sitting quite pretty. A couple more upgrades on jewelry (currently using level 57 and level 60 rings, I'd like to get ilvl 62 at least), and maybe a better helm, and I think my char is going to be quite a force to reckon with. Right now I want just enough to help me get through Inferno "comfortably". Once I do that, I will focus on making my char as close to perfect as possible, so I can FACEROLL Inferno with no problem and use her to farm for my other chars. I'm not even sure if such a thing is possible, but I guess with the absolute best possible gear or close to it, it would be.

Gearing for defense is what helped me beat Act 1 though. Now I guess it's time for me to get my offense back up, which will be my primary focus after I level my Monk to 60 tonight (58 now)

lawl, in that case hope your ROI (selling back to the RMAH) will help. But it's just that the stuff on the AH is poop unless you want to empty out your wallet. I feel that it's just far inferior to the GAH. In fact, my RMAH sales were my gold auction house rejects! I'm just warning you, because like I said before, I realize that greed is a strong motivator for sellers.

Defense is nice. It really is. But since you're not playing hardcore, as soon as you can survive comfortably, you should sport more dps. I've actually reduced my health pool quite a bit to get more damage, since it's actaully that which is holding me back. It's about balance, and lopsided builds tend to result in frustration.

Each to their own.