Unwashed ranged classes are a waste of time?

Ew, that's just like saying "Cygnus get 6 AP, so why not put 1 into HP"

Why should we have to treat melee class DPS is a benchmark and lower ourselves to that? Our superior single target damage compensates for our inferior mobbing abilities.

That's irrelevant, though; one would conclude from all the peaching (I don't mean you specifically) that your "superior single target damage" doesn't compensate at all for your inferior HP. So if you need HP, add to it! It's that simple.