i agree with the shield clickie that lasts longer than 5 minutes. i always farm a couple 'protective gloves' from korthos, especially on a HC server. i try to keep 2 or 3 shield wands on hand. even in epics, +4 AC doesn't hurt.
and when, exactly, did Vorpal almost completely disappear from RNG loot? I don't play DDO that much, but for a month or two each HC season, and sometimes I get on a kick and average about 2 or 3 hours a day for 4 months straight. but in the last couple years and maybe 500 to 1000 hours of gameplay, I have not found a single vorpal RNG weapon from a quest or as an end reward option. I have plenty in my stash from past lives going back to the mid 2000's, but in the last 3 years or so, I don't even see abysmal weapons (think kama or returning throwing axe) with vorpal. I need to check my gear mules, but I'm pretty sure I have RNG vorpal/keen BIS weapons (longbow for ranger, hxbow for inquis, falchion for 2HF, etc...) put a festival bonus and attune them and a ML7 weapon like that can run you into low epic content.