Dechs Kaison

Mistake on my part. I have been ignoring cones.

The fact remains that they are more single target focused than scrappers. That is not debatable.

Tankers aren't around for their ability to do damage. Invalid argument.

The perception problem is not that they are single target focused, the perception problem is that a single target focused AT is not desirable. The fact that stalkers are single target focused is not refutable. The vast majority of stalker melee sets have zero ability to damage multiple targets at a time. They don't even have a damage aura in any secondary to help.

I'm not arguing this point. I like stalkers. They're as good as brutes and scrappers to me.

I think they won't, but if they do, it'll be like Elec keeping its T9.

It will lose its only PBAoE, and likely the cone as well.

Let's worry about those getting ported to scrappers first. As tanker sets initially, they are heavy on AoE and most likely will not get ported at all.

More than likely, yes. It still doesn't matter, because they will gut the potential to do AoE damage regardless, which is what makes stalkers single target focused. Claiming anything else is daft.

Claiming that the single target focus is a bad thing is debatable. Again, I don't think it is, but you can't ignore the fact that the single target focus exists.

They are much better than Whirling Hands.

All of those power sets you mention have at least one AoE attack. For stalkers, they do not. Energy melee is constantly berated for not having enough AoE. See almost any Bill Z post.

One of the reasons elec melee is so popular on stalkers is the fact that it does have AoE in heaps.

The problem is all perception. I find stalkers just as useful as scrappers and brutes on my teams, but the perception of the community is less favorable. This is most likely due to the combination of the single target focus and the "hit and run" of the initial design to stalkers.

This is the only possible explanation.

Incorrect. The cottage rule states that you cannot change the basic functionality of the power. It's a different rule entirely that you can't duplicate powers. Caltrops could be added, and then the version that Ninjitsu stalkers has could be altered, so long as it was still a patch slow and scatter effect. This would be much like the Energize change that happened to Electric Armor when heroes were given the set. That was a nice try, though, to get the cottage rule to work with your silly suggestion that doesn't fix a problem that doesn't exist.

The problem that stalkers are not desirable to a team is a result of their single target focus. Most teams like to steamroll, which requires AoE. Nevermind the fact that a stalker gets amazing crit chance on a team. No one cares. This proposition does nothing to fix perception of stalkers or address the AoE damage output.

The problem that stalkers are vulnerable to ambushes is regrettable, but more a result of the nature of ambushes. An intelligent player could deal with ambushes regardless of the powersets he's chosen, and adding caltrops hardly helps the dimmer variety of players deal with them. If you can't deal with ambushes now, caltrops won't be your saving grace.

And your attitude is why I'm glad I'll never team with you. If the team isn't having problems and everyone's having a good time, don't be such a stickler. An MM supports himself: The endurance costs for his/her powers are increased compared to other ATs, and it's terribly stressful to bubble two full teams. Be a little more tolerant or a little less ignorant, please.

My Dark Armor tank is really a Sand Armor tank.

This comment is so full of truth.

Fire/Axe: Yeah, Fiery Aura's no slouch in damage. Try running this tank without using Blazing Aura, Fiery Embrace, or Burn to get a fair comparison from Axe to KM.

Mace/WP: The way you state this makes it sound like it's a brute. If it is a tank, this should be the fairest thing to compare to. Mace, however, packs a goodly amount of AoE, which will boost perception of damage as minions fall in droves.

Elec/Shield: Two crashless nukes and the damage boost of AAO. Any other tank would feel 'weak' in the damage output after playing this. Again, try using this tank without Shield Charge or AAO to get a more fair comparison of Elec to KM.

I would like to argue that the all human kheldians are benefiting the most from this change. As it is now, most form using kheldians do not take the fitness pool and have found ways to manage their endurance without it. Despite the additional powers, these characters will likely notice very little change in their play style.

All human kheldians frequently take the fitness pool and sacrifice powers they would like to use. For example, with my human form PB, I could not take all the powers I wanted (namely dawn strike, the TAoE attack, and it'd be nice to have Vengeance) because I needed to fit stamina. Human form kheldians will now reach a much greater potential thanks to this change.

The relative benefit for all human kheldians is drastically greater than the benefit to form using kheldians. Obviously, the devs need to buff the forms more.

This much cannot be true, as shown by the traps powers which can be activated while hovering, but only when close to the ground.

Sorry.

Bruising was not QoL for tankers. It's a substantial buff to make them more appealing to a team.

I pride myself on only spending 300 million* on Soulburn Sands (the tank featured in my video).

*The 300m figure does not include the blood, sweat, and merits used to obtain things like the Kinetic Combats and +recovery uniques.

Like Bill said, 2 hero merits, or four days of 5.5 missions a day.

SPONGE! Were you on that CoP trial a few days ago with the guy (me) saying Dark Armor sucks and you thinking for a brief moment that I was serious? That was a fun trial. Heard good things about you.

I don't know about that. According to my survivability analysis, Dark Armor (at least mine) can sustain a lot more DPS than most invulns and stones. Maybe those kinds of analysis are flawed in favor of healing abilities. Maybe the stone tank I was with just didn't do it right, but he dropped more times than my Dark Armor tank did on the STF I ran with him.

Something about being built for perma Granite with movement speed buffs and then enough defense to softcap. Left a really bad taste in my mouth, because I not only outran him, I out-tanked him for sure.