Well a lot of good armor has HP in it, it's not to be discounted, but also has other important stats mixed in. I've always been the mindset for a melee to take a few hits, but lay out DPS as best as can be done, along with some avoidance. Especially in the case where often times a ranger can root and back off to heal up some. Or even just soften a target before going melee.
And yeah, bandages can help a lot, but to a point. When you reach say ~2500 HP and max bind wound gives you 80pts per at max, well that's almost a stack to get you from ~3% to 50%. Lotsa bag space
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But heck yeah, early as I can jump off a platform in kelethin and work it up.