Warboss

Actually I did, on several threads and sent comments as well. Unfortunately with life you don't always have time to visit the test server. That doesn't mean feedback after a rollout is wrong. The Devs should be will to reevaluate the change and community response based on feedback provided at several different points in the rollout. For many players, myself included, it was the first time I encountered them. As the game is community supported, you have the right to provided feedback at any timen. As I recall "Freem" wasn't extremely popular in the original game when it was initially tested/rolled out (April 1st or such iirc), so I'm a bit surprised it got pushed through here.

A couple a few things off the top of my head: 1) You can help mitigate stealing aggro by NOT slotting Taunt Enhancements into your aggro auras. If you want to be "aggro king" do it, otherwise you'll likely not need them (and based on what I've seen of the aggro mechanics, you'll still probably grab and maintain aggro over other toons, unless someone else has specifically slotted for aggro). Chilling Embrace's slow effect and slow degradation make it idea for holding aggro and difficult to down play. 2) Yes, you will grab aggro, be aware of this on the early levels of your toon as your Def and Res won't be high enough for the incoming damage. Not to mention there's something like a three minute recharge on your Heal. If you're teaming, it shouldn't be an issue. If you Duo, it might be depending on what AT the other player is running, If you're solo, it will be at some point. 3) Although you say your concept is for a Spiner, if you want a good back up Tank, maybe look at Dark Melee, or Electrical Melee. Dark Melee provides a "Combat Heal/Damage" power in Siphon Live, an additional End Management power with Dark Consumption (which you can add procs too - such as the self heal from Power Transfer), and a pretty fun To Hit/Damage buff power with Soul Drain (very procable as well). Switching gears, last time I ran my Electrical Melee toon he seemed be be reducing the enemies End more than I remember (did I miss a buff/rework of the set?). I think I only have the equivalent of one End Mod in every other attack (roughly speaking). Elect Melee also provides many options for procing. 4) Maybe look at SR for your primary and use costuming to make an "Ice" look? I don't know about Stone, Rad would work as you can play up the team heal from Ground Zero and use costuming and coloring to make it an "ice/cold" toon. 5) All said and done, I usually have a lot of fun running my Ice/Spiner, so whatever you decide, Enjoy!

I always called it "Ice Stomp"....

I'm trying to get my head around this. If I understand what you're saying, because they did it, it was the correct thing to do? Or, because they did it, it was just worth their time? I'd like to point out that just because you do something, doesn't make it right (and perhaps, not worth your time). As I've already said, the change disproportionately effects certain sets over others. Based on that alone, if that it was known, and the change was done anyway, it would imply that their intent was to impact those sets. Does that seem like a well thought out change? Really? Impact all set but the top tier ones? Seems like set choices to use when running said content just got trimmed down.

I'll take your word for it, but based on what little testing I've done (I don't have a lot of free time these days), I don't think the change/bad will was worth the cost of a developer's time. As you state, they will become routine again. Base on other aspects of the game that are "farmable", I have a hard time understanding why these changes were needed. One other thing I forgot to mention is that these changes disproportionately affect Resistance sets vs Defensive sets (for armors, I would image it's the same for other power sets as well). With Dark Armor and Fire Armor taking the major hit as they have no to little KB protection to start (FA now haw a whopping 1 KB from Temp Protection now). While at the same time, the recent buffs/changes to Invuln and Stone move them to the S+ tier (arguably to the S++ as they were already pretty awesome to start) as the KB doesn't affect them due to the KB Resistance the sets have (10,000 mag (?), sorry don't recall the exact number/increment). Seems like the other Armor sets should get some level of the Resistance as well, or have there base level raised so you don't have to commit extra slots to more KB protection. Overall it seems like this was rushed, and not fully tested. As I stated before, did anyone really care that players were enjoying the game running Council. After all, there are other ways to do basically the same thing.

I don't care for the changes, but you can mitigate them by building with certain sets. What I don't understand is "why"? If you can offset the issue with a base buff or change your build (which I don't like because it limits build options), and I doubt this slows teams down that were running Council only mission, was the change worth it? I mean, did anyone really brag about having an amped out build that could defeat Council? If so, did anyone really take that seriously? The change just makes the group a pain, and didn't really move the game forward. I would have rathered the dev time being spent on something else, new content, new costume pieces, new groups, pretty much anything... So, did it really solve the problem? If the rez'd boss/Lts (or whoever can rez) grant additional xp and inf... then, ummm... did it work?

Not based off the feedback I just received. It seemed tone deaf and displayed a lack of understanding of game mechanics. I think we're stuck with the changes. I don't like them as they seem to impact Resistance based sets more than the Defense based ones. I'd like to add that not every enemy group needs to be "A" tiered (or above). Having enemy difficulty diversity allows for players to advance in the game at their own speed. Upping difficulty of all the enemy groups limits the enjoyment of people casually playing, or just getting into the game. Also "more debuffing" is a pretty bad way to "balance" a game. From what I can tell, the only way to make your voice/option heard is "vote" with your donations...

True, but you can open with KD (FSC (Avalanched)), then hit them with a proc'd out Combustion, Epics, Incarnates. Works pretty well, and you get to see them on their backsides at the start. Plus FSC fires pretty quickly and you can get a fast recharge on it (atm).

Did you ask to see the build/toon in action? If you ever get it, post it, I'd love to see FA with those kinds of numbers.

Back to slotting FM for KD for me...

That was my thinking as well. So anything that interrupts the attack process would achieve the same "results".

Hmmm, an interesting thought, but I don't see any documentation that indicates that Particle Shielding would be providing that, unless there's a rather LARGE allowance to the term "Absorb" meaning KB as well as damage... could be, can't really say. But with the number of Rads I've run, I don't find that power to prevent the issue.

Understood, I just don't see the reason for the change or the power/s being deployed the way they were. It seems like stealth nerf, or poorly research/tested (again, unless the intent was to punish Resistance sets over Defensive sets). The change basically forces Stone and Invuln back to the top of the Armor tiers (arguably Defensive sets as well (haven't had time to test)), and that is my frustration with the change. Why shouldn't there be other sets that compete with top two "classic" sets?

Okay, but why should we have to? Other than GMs and AVs no other group can really do this, and there are no way to compensate for the KB (other than running a Stone Tank... or maybe that's the goal). Sorry, but this one to me seems ridiculous. I have a lot of respect for the folks that saved this game, but this is a swing and miss to me.

I don't care for either affect, and not sure what the thought process was that pumping both affects up to the levels they're currently at would add more fun to the game.

Don't look at me. I didn't change the friggin' mechanics of the game. I was running a Rad. Recent changes are the issue. I've already stated multiple times how I feel about them.

Fun times on Excel tonight. I think we had five teams total. Thanks for leading: Cit PLV, Eden PeP, Teams Ronin and MsA, I took a Cit team as well. Much leveling and fun was had. Also welcome to the first time TTer's (I think we had a few) we didn't have time to properly say "welcome" so, we're saying it now. 5/14 we're back on Torch! Meet in King's Row by IP gate at 6:00 PM PDT/9 PM EDT and we'll get rolling from there!

Well, I've already stated how I feel about the whole "FREEM" thing... strikes me as just another poke at things you can't resist... Which for a Tank is just silly. I also don't care for the fact that there's little way to compensate around it. I'd still like to know if it affects Stone and Invuln.

I think I have CJ and SL for travel (need to swap into T-port at some point). I think I may have started with the Fighting Pool as well. Likely have Kick with the +Recharge chance and Maybe Tough already (don't recall). I have been noticing that OG is affecting more than just the minions (could be because I'm duoing and they're stacking. Or possibly that Stone Fists is stacking). Anyways, Target build options, add the other "mallet", use Fault with many recharge. Debating trying to Take Tactics for the +To Hit, would help with several powers, but will be an added load to End Management. So, maybe PSi Mastery will be a good Epic level choice. I also ended up with a Disorient proc, but it only fires twice per min. Anyone try this out? Is it worth dropping into either OG or SF?

Got my guy up to 24. Here's his current build.

Yeah, Invuln/Dark has been a monster from way back. Invuln/Stone with Fault recharged up is pretty tough too. Elect/Dark is pretty nasty too (especially with the End Drain thrown in).

Lol, I'm going to have to run that now to see... where did I put my Rad/DM....?

Wasn't Shield/DM one of the original AV killers? Drag the mobs over to power Soul Drain then pound on the AV (use SD maxed, I think Hover + CJ to max Def (might be able to modify that build now)).

Shadow Maul on Tanks is incredible fun, you can hit the guys all the way in the back while they're still trying figure out how to get into melee. Dark Consumption (oops meant) Soul Drain a Tank is pretty awesome as well (but DC works well too. I think I proc'd it on one of my DMers... gotta' remember which one). I can see leaning Brute, iirc, they can really become an ST buzzsaw (in fact wasn't that FotM build back on live....?).

Tanker forum, so I'm going Tanker... But I guess it's more a matter of what you want to do. Overall I enjoy playing Tanks more than Brutes, so the choice is easy for me. The two do play much differently though.... more ST damage and have the ability to build to Tanker level defenses? Go Brute. Better AoE effectiveness and built in ability to cap Defenses? Go Tank. Attending Tanker Tuesdays? Go Tank. Attending Brutal Thursdays? Go Brute. And, I guess more to the OP's question - Tanker! I've played the set on both ATs (and Scrapper), and (as previously stated) it's Tanker for me.