Aett_Thorn

You can have a decent solo build that can also team well. You don't need to drop those buffs in order to solo, especially now that inherent Stamina has given you three extra power choices for your build. I've never kicked an emp because they didn't have their rez power. Mostly because I think that everyone should carry an awaken or two anyways. I don't know why you think that you can't solo and take those powers. Sure, it might be EASIER to drop those powers for more solo-friendly powers, but it's not like you have to do that.

Killing AVs/GMs on a Defender I have seen only a few builds do, and none of them would prevent that player from working well on a team. They use the same powers that they would when on a team, so why do you think they wouldn't have the ability to team? Also, not many GMs have any kind of ranged Mez power, so where is that Stun going to come from, eh?

Don't blame bad Tanks for your problems. A bad player of any type is going to make it hard for a team. A Controller who throws out a mass immob before the enemy group has centered on the Tank and his aggro aura? Aggro for the team. The Blaster who throws half of a spawn off a railing to come back to beat on the team? Aggro for the team. The Defender who puts an AoE debuff on a second spawn in a large room while the Tanker is already at his aggro cap? Aggro for the team. ANY AT can be bad in the hands of somebody that is incompetent, including melee ATs. That is not a symptom of the support ATs being broken. If you see a character being played horribly, you can either teach that player, or you can find a better team. Nobody is forcing you to play on bad teams. And this isn't even getting into whether Tanks need Taunt to hold aggro, given Gauntlet and their aggro auras.

If you really think that Melees have no challenge, then really, get a Tank up to high levels and Tanker for an 8-man team against Malta, KoA, or Carnies. With that much focus on you, without a good team behind you, you're toast (unless you are IO'd out to a point at which support ATs with the same investment would be fine, too).

If I'm reading things correctly, you can make both a Radial Paragon and a Core Paragon, and switch them out as often as you want to. You aren't restricted to making just one or the other.

Compared to SR, though, since we can't do a straight-up comparison of sets because Brutes and Scrappers don't get Ice Armor, Ice Armor has over SR:

An Endurance Recovery Power
A self heal/+HP power
A -Recharge/-Dam debuff
A PBAoE damage toggle
Resistances to Fire/Cold damage (granted, more from cold, but Permafrost is there for a reason)
Resistance to slows
Energy Absorption's Defense bonus
Tier 9 where you can't be affected at all


SR has over Ice Armor:

1.53% Better static defense values
A +Recharge/+Runspeed power
A Tier 9 which makes it very hard for you to be affected
Better Def Debuff Resistance


I'd say it's a fair tradeoff.

Edit -> Oh, and if EA hits only one target, then Ice Armor has 0.07% better defense than SR.

Wow, he just walked right into that one, eh?

This used to be the case, but is no longer. Now, if you keep the weapons out, your animations are a bit faster than if you were to keep switching between weapons or between weapon/not-weapon powers.

Ahhhh...okay I see what you're saying now. Still, I think that most areas have enough choices that they wouldn't need this. Ranged ST attacks actually have the most sets available to them, and don't really need more. Ranged AoEs have some of the lowest availability to them, and need more.

I really hope that's not the solution. More sets, not less. More sets means more potential variety. Less sets means less potential variety.

Also, not every Tanker takes an APP/PPP, because they don't want or feel the need for them. similarly, not every squishy will take these pool powers, because they don't feel the need for them. If they don't feel the need for them, then maybe it's not a problem for them. At the least, it's not a problem so large that they feel forced to take those powers.

Super Jump isn't forced. It's just there if you want some protection to those Mez types (i.e., the Devs have given you a way to somewhat protect yourself, if you choose not to take those powers, that is your choice, not the Dev fault).

But then you're basically saying that the very skills the Devs gave you to deal with the problem aren't an adequate solution to the problem because the people complaining don't choose to use them.

That's not a Dev problem, but a player problem, and the Devs aren't required to fix those.

You won't miss any new content if you respec now. However, unless you have a freespec already sitting around on your characters, I would wait, so that you don't lose a banked one.

Dam/Range and Dam/End/Range work very well on cone powers, though. A few sets without range enhancements would be fine, though.

An IIRC, there was a suggestion a while ago (like when IOs first came out) that the slow sets didn't allow for damage, when a decent amount of slow powers could damage opponents, and so you couldn't slot for both slow and damage on the same power using a single set, hence why there are damage enhancements in the slow sets now. Not saying they're overly useful or anything, but there was a request to have them there.

Well, if that's the case, then you're basically asking to nerf some sets' effectiveness on a team just because you can't use them to solo as well. Some people like to play buffing sets. Why shouldn't there be a few of those in the game?