You're going to see that your needs as a ranger is going to change quite a bit throughout your little ranger life. In the early-mid levels, HP and AC actually make a difference. You can be called on to tank in a pinch, even in the dreadlands. Once you get near lvl 50 though, you're not going to want to be taking a hit, because even if you have "high" AC and HP (for a ranger), it'll be low compared to a knight class or warrior. If the mob has worked its way through all the real tanks and you're being MT at this point, things have gotten real ugly. That's when I started concentraing more on damage output then AC while still keeping an eye on my HPs. HP's still matter b/c even with all the methods of aggro control, you ARE going to take it once in a while, if for only a few seconds, wether you like it or not, but you can take a LOT of damage (both from mob hitting you and from riposte damage if you forget to turn autoattack off, you're swinging 2 weapons very fast!). Improving DEX will help with damage output, especially as you work your way to the 60's and you start to use archery more.
As Cobra said, silver chitin handwraps are a good way to go for haste at your level. Once you get to the 50's and can hunt in Veksar with a group, you can try camping a soulscream and hope to win the roll. They go for around 26k on Povar IIRC.
STA doesn't apply to fatigue effects anymore, but it does apply to your HPs. You get more HP/STA at higher lvls, but it's nice to have.
I tried the Swarmcaller thing with my ranger... found I didn't like 2hs (you're usually in a group for your DPS, and using 2hs when you have to good 1handers isn't the way to go, at least IMHO), plus I notice the swarmcaller has a terrible proc rate. Being around 80 pct hasted (spell and worn) we had a bad pull in PoN. Had 4 spiders, took us about 15 mins to kill them all and that silly sword proced once and was resisted then procced again and I couldn't shake aggro, and my dex was around 210 IIRC. That being said, if you want to work 2hs, 1hb, or piercing, by all means, do it. Have fun and play YOUR toon. Good luck.