I did a test with Sakuragi where he actually took more damage over several hundred hits with a 40AC shield than without. The min/max/interval hits were exactly the same. If you read Kahvok's post, 40 item AC should be something like 10% less damage.
http://www.project1999.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=118766. That being said, Byrjun, it seems that AC wasn't quite as effective against raid targets with very high attack values:
http://www.thesteelwarrior.org/forum...hread.php?t=13
Also I don't understand these 'you have to gear up for Velious' comments. We know from Kahvok's post that AC was hard capped at 289. As Danth said, that was achievable in Kunark if you really wanted to. So basically Velious means that Warriors will go from 250 item AC/5800 HP (with Velious buffs) to 289 item AC/6300 HP. 40 AC/500HP will certainly make a difference, but you can easily compensate for that with another cleric as long as you aren't getting one-rounded.
Also I want to add that no one here is flaming. It's a free server and we appreciate the work you do. Isn't giving feedback the whole purpose of the beta?