I don't quite like the idea that i should stack hybrid stat for mitigation. When i see weapon skill on Archmage items (alot of them), i think 'ok, parry may be nice but armor penetration and hit is worthless for me, so i'm essentially wasting a significant part of that stat'. Same for melee, give them disrupt and magic resistances (with focus on spirit and corporeal for order), not willpower.
But generally yes i agree that ppl should pay more attention to their own means for survival.
It's just pissed up itemisation. Every game has it. Warhammer has it in spades. No caster should ever in their right mind intentionally stack weapon skill, nor strength. No melee should ever stack int (though I am willing to bet there are melee items, especially set items, with int) nor willpower imo (as you say - disrupt and resistances are there for spell mitigation).
It's just a question of how quickly they will fix it. Of course the danger is when classes get their itemisation fixed, it's effectively a buff (more stats for all). All the dps metrics they're measuring now are invalidated if they pull all the wp and ws off sorc/bw gear and give them all int instead (same goes for all other classes).
It should be a priority.