Garthamatic

My Ice/Spines experiment has been surprisingly fun. Three taunt auras, soft capped S/L and Eng/Neg in the mid-30s. Great aggro control and mobility with mitigation from the slows and -recharge effects. Fire and Psi are more challenging, but not impossible. It's great for gathering opponents and letting your damage auras chew away while you taunt the edges and spam your AoE's.

I've been enjoying Ice/Spines. Having two damage auras plus Chilling Embrace is fantastic for gathering clumps of enemies. The slow/-recharge effects also stack nicely...

Here, you can borrow mine... ;)

There goes the neighborhood... Chatted with Bill Z Bubba the other night, amazing who's coming back. Also blindly ran into folks I used to play with almost every day on Freedom (way back when). Was like old home week. Welcome back PK.

Nice premise, but a free market economy self regulates. I've heard it described as financial PvP, which is pretty accurate. The changes with seeding the market with salvage is already synthetically altering the market dynamic. Nobody is gouging anyone on Luck Charms or rare salvage anymore (also due to market changes in how salvage is handled). Same with recipes and enchancements, since those level adjust on the market, as well. Fortune favors the prepared. Want a fully IO'd build? Learn the market, learn crafting, understand basic economics... It's not rocket science. People who are savvy and can generate influence via market sales will be able to afford better builds. Think of it as a reward for people who put in the time and effort to realize their dreams. Anyone can do it, it's a level playing field for success. We all have the same access and starting point.

Stone is slow with rooted and Granite comes late. SR has clicky mez protection. Willpower has a weak taunt aura. Ice is hard(er) to soft cap. Etc. Shield has limitations as well, was attempting to answer the question asked by the OP. (shrugs) Pick a character hook or theme and choose powersets that support your vision....

This. Super easy to soft cap positional defense in your late 30's with IO sets. Offers resistance for layered mitigation and RttC offers a strong damage boost in large spawns. Plus.... Shield Charge. Shield/Fire can be a real AOE beast for tanking...