csr

Power Surge is probably the best power to put there, but it's a power a lot of people hate. You might be able to run Stealth with Energize and Power Sink, or it could just be used for a LotG special. Hover, Grant Invisibility and Maneuvers also work for that. Hover can mess with Grounded though. There's always Weaken Resolve from the new Force of Will set, but that could really use two slots (Acc and an Achilles' Heel -Res). Lightning Clap also needs two slots (Acc and KB->KD special). So basically I'd say stick with Power Surge for it's occasional use, take something for another 7.5% global +Rech or find another slot (perhaps franken-slot Lightning Field). EDIT: I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly or not... but aren't Regenerative Tissue and Miracle specials implemented as set bonuses rather than procs? If so they work slotted in Aid Other. EDIT 2: Tested that, you'd have to run AO every two minutes to keep the buff, it's not constant. I just don't think anything qualifies as a one-slot "wonder"

I built an En/Inv Brute as soon as Brutes became available a decade ago. I really enjoyed playing her, right up until they changed villain Invulnerability to a dark smudge power set. By the time they added power customization this toon had been relegated to my 3rd server and wasn't played. After the bright/shiny came back I played her to 50 and then pretty much forgot her. Her original build used Aid Self and Unstoppable to bolster defenses. The final build was this... | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1547;688;1376;HEX;| |78DA9594594F135114C7EF65A6401796524A8B6CA56C2D859146DF4D143068CB12E| |2125FB0D26B3B3A199A766AE4C5C46FA0B83D18BF821FC15D3F835FC2E5DDA59E99| |F30727343ED8407EE79EFD9CDEDBE2DDE5C8CBF3F7CF08193E67951A8D9DB3F5A6A| |3BA8B4DA7E4987BB62684086D574DCB5256A952EDA263D2F3D8292A4B2963C556F5| |CA3E1FC6D8B0AC6E2ABBA18C35FB4ED32273E9866999CE7E74CDAEAABAB21DE350E| |8D9DCDBB38C55B352754CBB12F24EDB35A5CA114F2CA8528DF47D8787B2AA37AA66| |2DBE5233770DF4D0DC29961A8EAAEF27A9B11CFD774A814F2B200A84B42E3A8ACCD| |E75E6E40673AE4CCCEB62BED1E1F1951BE6C5B78458605BB7848AF2C9FFCCF7868E| |1AE70B6817A5A7D30BCCCE2233B90E6E3017379992361D40DD00EA76A26EE45F756| |F334394A20BB15D3FB897EE9FE02FE6E06FE66C8B99159AC7D71415E49EB5E03809| |73946F82796292399566A6A948987D6538C7B523A046B61EE4E9419E7EE49946FC3| |4F2BD23AF3EF8F61DF33D5E33428862B628F63280BD0C602F43D8CBEC3DDE655671| |4F3AF514439D589C8424EDA19F7DC663E020D3DD419CEBC838661A02DD99136C138| |95BBCBF21CA3D8CBB338CDC1FE83422A5D7EB0874A3A8377AACDEC9179427467CCE| |7C4F5163C83786BBD84BE709CC3E81D953983D85D95387B3EF724C1677F1A3ABC67| |795462F53A81DA5DE67609B812D8F3EAFD3B5C8A066E601EB161E8207E023CCF098| |997FC2FC8437E9CE90C30C09AA6540678C50F2A02EDED26909B32E254808D37EF4A| |3774C7FF411F36D9AA5364DBE4D73AA4D73DAAFD1783BABFAD1CB6F15FCF649EE7A| |533FFA1510D2CBF225441AF42C17D9EBDB5F9D262FE33D5F02B7B09B0B7C8FBFFAE| |3331CFFDD1FFF8C3BD39F324307CCE914FB06FB85FB62BD8EB742EE37C7F2159F7C| |D5275FF3C9EB314A01F9B34FFE034282E21F| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| That was I21. It was OK, but no better. I've been trying to come up with a build I like for the rebuilt Shillelagh. I'm current at L38 and working on this... | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1537;693;1386;HEX;| |78DA65935B4F1A4114C767641558F0828A48950ADEB00808EA739BB46A6B919696D| |8D88B316B1D61CD6621B034F5B15FA10FEDB7E847E8BD1FA797A40F4D9FE861CF5F| |A46103F9CD9C39B7F9CF4CF1E556F0DDED5737840CDCB28C66F3E866A3E5285FB1E| |5188E59B3057D7AB96A5A96B28C4AD54BD369D7E3A8A82CA5B2DBB66A54CE7912E3| |852D75AAECA6CAEEDA2F5A162D1BC7A6653AE7A15DBBAA1ACA76B21703BD54AB59D| |9725DA9936177B86356AA8E695782EE6C4F19759A8C5E4C4E54A35935EBD1EDBAF9| |BC5BD7683AAA71CE4D4F537329FA0F4981AF3D284A84794D0C3C001F32B532B84F4| |C6A62E880F9BE13E6C6B73D22428318ADAD7B84C86BC2F797998FB1DD27E14A75E4| |017C1E33F527E05366F01978C8FC48511EAEA3790AD2B58D179993F7C0FBCCA9127| |39ED41FE41839B82A780DD4C9EE452FDE21CDB54D7B411FF38A1FD499B301A69F62| |FD1C2BFDC8370B7E2004A04720C77D5CDD0037C175A6A40686D1C330748F43F7387| |48F43F704744F40F7CF8451AE33308ABC09D45B40BD202184FCA18270CF60E10EB8| |CB5C3CE3BE174FC10AB3B387098E15136703AC1DF51B46CD70986B2C17F87C967F3| |33DE413C1FE23E86719FD24D16712FBD7C8378A338D225F7292796D0C9C60AE8D33| |BF92F78C946EFE99F0FFBE29F8A6902342F963D8434CF01E4668690E9ACC418B14B| |44843A334B448438B0C34FAD6390ADCA779D4CEA0969F845EE235B1F4966B85A8FE| |0AB458418F6B88CBA3D73CE2BF90D72AE257D35CEF13210B5B16B620D5C9C196BBC| |EEF6A56EBBE5FFAD127527D965C9F25DF67D9E8B36C6ADDD74DCF8F77B573696BEF| |F54594B4EE1B17D2B5F8C728942DEDEF3AAD229FCCF08E7E5EDA3499E05B34F2885| |519B92BDDDB9ED9877A65E68FDE3C2B9CE7D7A5CD23710263AFC137CCF138FB1EEB| |9D33E49E8C9EF161CFB8D433FE33456118FF03A08DDFEA| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| But the AoE is very weak and the mitigations are just good, not great. I have a build with much better AoE, but a bit weaker mitigations... | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1483;681;1362;HEX;| |78DA6594CB6F125114C6EFC0505ADEB4055A5B5AA02F6CE914DAEACAC444DB9AC69| |2B445DDD651AE30663225301859BA77A50BB73EB76E7CAE7CFBB7B8F291B830C607| |1EE67CC5264C187E73CFE39EEF9EB9778AD7D7028FCFDC382914FF69536F34F64ED| |59BB6EC2F366DDD36F62DB710C257AA1AA6294DBD52F5D270C489D82B4A534A6DDD| |92F54A8B074976ACC92BD26A486DD3BAD634C9AD5F324CC36E4537ADAAAC4BCBD60| |E1E82DBFBFBA6B66154AAB661557CCEA85493B21C701EB7A45E237BF8605096F546| |D5A8C5D66BC6650D1A9A7B45BD61CB7A6B8484CDD2DDA7D05FE7166D8FB84BEA0BA| |A70DD03EF33D507E04366DF23E62BD1CD7589043D2455915B66DFE24FE6EB4E08C7| |B895BCC2F9ABCCFE15F01853A16E75FA47B1C25D168EED0DC1C3F9AA6787E37CBBC| |C40093CC71C3C0F3FC1CBF378BCBF5C6CFBCD1CFE03FE65C6DBA060BD194A1CE07A| |CAC0026B18015DE4F3439F1FFA6ECE081144AD206A85502B845A11D48AA0D6206AB| |DA3AC307A13466F96D09325F4A850C01A0951D4896E1332A46B877964172C31C74F| |1055B7183FCE4C90EE21E81E1AE3DA9D35C6D8A6C4B0BE09D04DF109E84A40D7047| |44D40576A9919A7D851EC81D118B47FE71A85B3CC0FE41D733641DB3D869874041C| |624E0D33559A2F89DA49C4A6109B426C1AB121C2247A3219501DDB74100C3167C36| |0048C323F765A05DD19D499C3BC8B51E645923F83F9679E706FE69E82CF99475F80| |2FC14FBC669D90456E16B9F3C89D7F062227873972C8F553F905BCAF85ABBC67DED| |34863BD42CB71FC5B421EB67C92CFDFB82A70B5E9479798EFB1E47B2C851ECB4A8F| |65B5C7B2A176CF7F7BABC7BBADC24916C5B10C44BAE7BBFDD9D7FD2E086591D7F3F| |5BFCDA5A4B917D317F04E70B6BF1CCECB72DE37DFA16FCC2DEED7D46DF00EB390E2| |D81F710234FF03E315E3D6| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| I'm just not getting a build I really like. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I think the biggest thing preventing me from saying this change is ready for live is the lack of tool tips/detailed info. Capt P posted while I was writing this, but I'll go ahead and post what I believe to be the case, since I'm allowed to be wrong while he, clearly, is NOT. 😄 The general rules are (the first two as you stated): Arcs of 90 degrees or less are doubled (increasing their area 100%) Radii of 10' or less are increased by 60% (increasing their area 156%) Cones have target caps of 10 Spheres have target caps of 16 Note that the last time I checked the first two of these weren't listed anywhere in game. Presumably it will eventually appear under the Inherent description. The exceptions to these rules that I have noted are given below. Most of these are target cap differences, which can be seen in the detailed info. I've bolded the two that I'm aware of that aren't noted anywhere but in the patch notes. Battle Axe Cleave gets 16 targets instead of 10 Claws Shockwave gets no arc increase Dual Blades One Thousand Cuts gets 16 targets instead of 10 Fiery Melee Breath of Fire gets 16 targets instead of 10 Ice Melee Frost gets 16 targets instead of 10 Katana Golden Dragonfly gets 16 targets instead of 10 Kinetic Melee Repulsing Torrent gets 16 targets instead of 10 (and despite it's 40' range it still seems to get the arc increase, unlike Shockwave and Throw Spines) Spines Spine Burst only gets 10 targets instead of 16 Throw Spines gets 16 targets instead of 10 Throw Spines gets no arc increase Titan Weapons Defensive Sweep only gets 5 targets instead of 10 Titan Sweep only gets 5 targets instead of 10 War Mace Crowd Control gets 16 targets instead of 10 T9 AoEs seem to be split between 10 and 16 targets. So it might have been better to include that T9s get 16 targets as a 5th general rule. If you do that then the rules and exceptions are: General Rules: Arcs of 90 degrees or less are doubled (increasing their area 100%) Radii of 10' or less are increased by 60% (increasing their area 156%) Cones have target caps of 10 Spheres have target caps of 16 T9s get 16 target caps Exceptions: Battle Axe Pendulum gets 10 targets instead of 16 Broad Sword Head Splitter gets 10 targets instead of 16 Claws Shockwave gets 10 targets instead of 16 Shockwave gets no arc increase Fiery Melee Breath of Fire gets 16 targets instead of 10 Ice Melee Frost gets 16 targets instead of 10 Kinetic Melee Repulsing Torrent gets 16 targets instead of 10 (and despite it's 40' range it still seems to get the arc increase, unlike Shockwave and Throw Spines) Spines Spine Burst only gets 10 targets instead of 16 Throw Spines gets no arc increase Titan Weapons Defensive Sweep only gets 5 targets instead of 10 Titan Sweep only gets 5 targets instead of 10 Arc of Destruction gets 10 targets instead of 16 I guess that's a little more succinct. It does bring out some questions though. Most particularly, why does Head Splitter have a 10 target cap while Golden Dragonfly gets 16? Which leads to the question... how are you going to hit 16 with a 40 deg 10' cone? Is dumpster diving coming back?

I dug out my Ice/SS Tanker to do some testing. I'm afraid the Rage "safe" circle is not working. If I failed to wait for the buff to drop completely, I got a Rage crash. Even waiting 3 seconds after the "safe" circle appeared resulted in a crash.

I have an Ice/SS Tanker myself and came to the same conclusion (though I don't use Soul as it doesn't fit my character concept). I was eager to get rid of Jab in favor of Punch and was disappointed with the reversion of the T1/2 swap. Then with the new Force of Will pool I reconsidered my options and concluded the only powers in SS worth taking are Taunt, KO Blow, Rage and Foot Stomp. You have to take Jab as a Tanker, but it is so bad that you are better off treating it as a sunk cost, ignoring it, and getting something else. Punch and Hurl are also pretty bad. Haymaker is merely mediocre but there are mediocre attacks available as precursors to other powers you actually want in the PPs or Epics, so unless you plan on playing at very low levels a lot, taking Punch, Haymaker or Hurl just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Correct, but my post was in error due to using the wrong DS for Brutes, so the 19% matches mine with that correction.

Two errors, but essentially the correct process. You left out the damage base (100%) and the last I checked the Tanker DS on Pineapple is still 0.95.

Simple math; first the break even point for Fury (given soft-capped 95% Damage enhancement - higher levels there will tilt things towards the Tanker)... 0.8 * 1.95+80%+fury*2 = 0.95 * 1.95+80% fury = (0.95-0.8) * (1.95 + 80%) / 2 fury = 20.6% It's very, very easy to reach that, and above it the Brute will do more damage. At 70% Fury the Brute with Rage does 3.32 times base [0.8*(1.95+80%+70%x2)] before DS Multipliers and the Raging Tanker does 2.61 [0.95*(1.95+80%)]. So the Brute in this fairly typical case will be doing 27% more damage than the Tanker before factoring in the latter's AoE size/target advantages. If we are concerned with the 90%/100% idea, then the Brute needs to do 111% (the reciprocal of 90%) the Tanker number and we can re-run the above numbers with the Tanker side multiplied by that to get a new "break even" point of 44%. Add in Incarnate buffs and the like to get us to 115% enhancement and that 111% break even point rises to 47%. EDIT: I wrote this way too quickly before rushing out the door and used the wrong damage multiplier for Brutes at 0.8 instead of 0.75 (I also left out two sets of parenthesis). I didn't mean to get so involved as this is really just a small corner case for the Tanker update. Sorry for misleading anyone with my mistakes. Corrected it should read: 0.75 * (1.95+80%+fury*2) = 0.95 * (1.95+80%) fury = (0.95-0.75) * (1.95 + 80%) / 2 fury = 27.5% It's very, very easy to reach that, and above it the Brute will do more damage. At 70% Fury the Brute with Rage does 3.11 times base [0.75*(1.95+80%+70%x2)] before DS Multipliers and the Raging Tanker does 2.61 [0.95*(1.95+80%)]. So the Brute in this fairly typical case will be doing 19% more damage than the Tanker before factoring in the latter's AoE size/target advantages. If we are concerned with the 90%/100% idea, then the Brute needs to do 111% (the reciprocal of 90%) the Tanker number and we can re-run the above numbers with the Tanker side multiplied by that to get a new "break even" point of 56%. Add in Incarnate buffs and the like to get us to 115% enhancement and that 111% break even point rises to 60%. To be clear this last pair of numbers is the amount of Fury a Brute needs to make Tankers do 90% as much damage with one stack of Rage: 55-60%.

This is close to my experience too, with L50s. At lower levels I run about 10% or perhaps more off those numbers.

The effects of those "clicky status protection" powers stack. For example: A Shield Defense Tanker might deliberately double stack Active Defense to get additional Def DeBuff Res (I think it takes my SD/DM Tanker from around 66% to around 88%, cutting the actual debuff suffered by nearly two-thirds).

This is just a generic reply to the "Tankers now do too much damage" comments from several posters. I won't disagree with that. I think Tankers are now balanced with Brutes. But I think both ATs are now over-performing. I believe my first comment in this beta was that I would have nerfed Brutes before I even started on balancing Tankers. IMO, Brutes survivability should have been lowered to about 85% that of Tankers, their offense reduced to where it is now (for the reasons given by Captain Powerhouse), and then Tankers' damage buffed to the reduced survivability factor (85%) of Brutes. As a result I think Brutes are too tough for their damage output and I think Tankers do too much damage for their toughness. However the bottom line is really "is this better than what's on HC?" And I think it clearly is. Not even close. Capt P's clever AoE change is what makes that the case for me. The other factors are just tweaks to that to make it balance. [Personally, I'd whack Brutes' Res Cap down to 87.5%, drop Tanker Melee DS to 0.9 and probably add 1 more target to Tanker Taunt (8 instead of 7). But this is still an "A" grade improvement, IMO.]

It's a buff, but it's not a major buff when it's only affecting Jab, Punch, Haymaker and KO Blow - the last of which has a 25s base recharge. SS goes from being horrible at 27, to mediocre at 28. IMO, Jab really needs it's secondary effect (Stun) buffed to make up for the atrocious DPA. As is, it's worse than Boxing. No power you are forced to take should be worse than a pool power that does the same thing with no precursor other than being level 4.

It's just unfortunate that the set doesn't see any real buff until level 38. Given that below 28, it's a pretty weak set with only four damaging powers, of which one is utter garbage, that's a bit disappointing. You can't even meet the rule-of-thumb for a complete ST attack chain without either using the now even more execrable Jab-sans-Bruising or dipping into a power pool.

I tend to run (and just retested on a L24 Claws/En Brute) about 50 Fury solo'ing on 0x0yn. At the end of boss fights in that testing I was around 65 Fury (I believe my DM/Regen tends to be a touch higher than that at L50+3, but I don't run at +1x0 often, so it's hard to be sure). I don't find it hard at all to maintain 40+ Fury in any situation.

I did during the Revenant Hero Project test (L31/34) and in the early PI radio tests (L40/43).. But it was just one L30 IO. It said the range was increased to 12', but the area still said 10'. I meant to test to see if it was simply firing at 12' and not hitting things at that range, but I forgot. Unfortunately I put Annihilations in it at 50. I'll have to go to RWZ and use the 2nd build to test that... After testing, it seems to enhance the size of the AoE. I targeted the middle dummy and backed up until Frost wouldn't fire. Then I added 3 L50 Range IOs (it says 15.85', with the area still saying 10') and Frost hit the three middle dummies. Then I backed up again until it just fired and hit the middle dummy, and it appeared to be just about the additional distance expected. A 15.85', 180 degree, 16 target Frost is pretty amazing. Just for the heck of it I slotted a Cardiac Partial Core Revamp and that extended the range out to 17' (and once again the queued out of range attack fired as soon as I slotted it). Standing right up close to the middle dummy I can hit all 5.

I rolled a new test tanker. This one SD/Ice with the Leadership pool. I started out running Jim Temblor's arc through flashback with an L22 build using L25 IOs (I've run this arc around 100 times, so it's a good benchmark). The first mission was set at 0x1nn. It was as easy as you'd expect, but compared to running an Ice Melee Tanker on live, it was night and day. This one solo'ed reasonably well (though not great) while what is currently live for Ice Melee is torturous. For the 2nd and 3rd mission I boosted myself to 25 to add Hasten to the build to help offset the fact that Ice Melee doesn't get a single damaging power between 5 and 27 (inclusive). I also added some basic. relatively cheap, specials I usually buy in the 22-27 range. And I turned on bosses (0x1yn). For the final two missions Hasten made a big difference and I would say the toon played well. I needed three small insps against red-conning EB, but that's it. Overall, the performance was not as good as a Brute, Scrapper or Stalker, but was good enough. Certainly better than running a Defender or even a Corruptor through the arc. And with Ice Melee, that's saying something. I had no END issues despite running Assault and not slotting EndRdx into my attacks, each of which had 1 Rech. The arc of Frost is amazing and really helps the low level Ice Melee be a bit less pathetic. I next bumped the toon to 31 and ran the Revenant Hero Project arc (another arc I commonly run on live). I didn't add the sets to give me more acc than L25 IOs. So I stuck at 0x3yn for the first few missions. Everything went quite smoothly, thanks to the addition of 2 more attacks (Shield Charge and Freezing Touch). I decided to bump myself to 34 for the final two missions and up diff to 0x6yn. I also added LotG specials to my build. It was a bit slow with Frost having to do most of the AoE damage, but surprisingly good for an Ice Melee toon missing Frozen Aura. I finally started having some END shortages due to Assault+Maneuvers (with one EndRdx each) and no EndRdx in the attacks. Next I bumped myself to 40 to run PI radios. With Frozen Aura added and some sets slotted to reduce attack END use, this was a breeze against Carnies and Council at 0x6yn. So I bumped myself to 43 to add tactics and upped diff to +2x8yn. It was still a breeze and the play felt almost Brute like. Lastly I leveled up to 50, fully slotted the build and ran some missions at +4x8yn. It was actually slower than I expected, and the missions against Carnies and Arachnos were a bit of a slog. Still, the toon played far, far better than it would on live. Overall my sense is that the damage/AoE changes are close or on target. (I still question the Damage Cap, however.) I think giving Tankers Defender level team buffs may be a bit much and I dislike it on principle. Defenders' Leadership buffs should be better than any other AT's, IMO. Lastly I'm a bit disappointed in the Taunt target reduction, though I didn't get to test that in any meaningful way.

Because they have a Res cap of 75% and Brutes have a Res cap of 90%. So with high end builds Brutes can have 3 times the survivability of Scrappers. The damage difference at the high end is much, much smaller than this. In SO/solo play, they are comparable. Scrappers might even be a bit better. But at the top end, it's not particularly close.

I think it does. Brutes outperform every other AT. Some by a very wide margin. Captain Powerhouse told us he believes Brutes have 90% the survivability of Tankers and wants Tankers to do 90% of the damage. Having two ATs outperform all the rest is a bad idea. So, the implication is that if Brutes aren't going to get nerfed and Tankers will be buffed to match them, then the devs must believe one of the following: Brutes aren't actually outperforming other ATs.* Brutes and Tankers only have to be balanced against each other, not all the rest of the ATs. The other ATs need to be buffed. * I think it's undeniable that they are in terms of top end performance. They are also the most popular AT; there are 50% more Brutes than Scrappers, and twice as many as there are Tankers. Two classes that are very similar and for the most part share the same power choices. I believe the reason they are more popular than Tankers - damage/ease of play solo - is being addressed in this patch. But what is the reason for this popularity over Scrappers? It's not as if Scrapper survivability sucks, and they typically do a bit more damage, so why are Brutes 50% more popular? I think it's because at the high end they are up to three times as tough. Scrappers simply can't reach Brute levels of high end performance using the same sets. The only time they are close is using low-Res sets such as Super Reflexes. And it's no random fact that the four least popular Brute secondaries are Def-based (Ice, Stone - mostly Def outside Granite, Energy Aura and Super Reflexes). The only principally Def-based set not at the bottom is Shield Defense, with it's offensive buffs (it's in the middle, ranking 6th of 13 sets). By comparison Def-based sets rank 2nd, 4th and 5th for Scrappers (SR, SD and Nin) out of 13 (Ice and Energy Aura are still at the bottom, as with Brutes) And the #1 set isn't Res based either, it's Regen (which ranks 4th for Brutes). It certainly looks as if Brutes are preferred because of the high-end performance of Res-based secondaries.

So, does that mean you intend to buff Scrappers, so that they too compete with Brutes?

And this is why I thought the first step in balancing Tankers should have been to nerf Brutes. My concern with the damage cap increase is that the high end performance of Tankers is raised so much that a nerf to Brutes seems out of the question. Meaning that the next move is to buff Scrappers (Brutes clearly outperform Scrappers at the high end too). Then Stalkers. Then...

I actually like powers with drawbacks. For two reasons. One, they tend to increase diversity instead of having all sets the same with merely cosmetic difference (see Champions Online). They also tend to give strong positives to the power, which can be leveraged by good builds and play while the drawbacks are similarly mitigated by the same. So, give me plus/minus powers instead of a bunch of zeroes.

Of course, Bruising can't stack. Which means that in fights where it matters (AVs/GMs), one Tanker gets value from it and the rest don't. Most of those other -Res effects you referred to are also AoE (Nature being the exception).

So, likely rework 5 powers (Rage, Hand Clap, Jab, Punch and Hurl) instead of just tweaking Rage. Ignore all the extreme suggestions for Rage that suggest it's hard to balance. They aren't coming from Captain Powerhouse. What Capt P has done isn't radical. He moved the END cost from the crash to the cast, added a mechanic to avoid the rest of the crash, and made the crash mitigation debuff more balanced. That's it. Three relatively minor changes (and the last I would call closer to a bug fix than anything else), not a complete rework of the entire AT (giving every Tanker Rage or something similar) as has been suggested by some, nor a complete reworking of the set, as has been suggested by many.

Hmmmm... now I want to know what Granite looks like running Ripper.

My Kin/DP Def build (the actual toon is still at level 22) has 15.24s recharge on FS using +70% from Hasten (perma), +20% from Siphon Speed (I can easily get higher than that if I want to, even at 22), Spiritual Core Paragon (T4), 2 L50 IOs and 78.75% in set bonuses (2 Purpled ATO sets, 4 LotGs, 3 6.25 and 2 5s).