Greblaja

Sorry I missed the event. In general, sounds like Xan and others had some really good advise in regards to future planning. I would also point out that every AE building has a 'quiet room' that does not allow powers to be used - you may want to consider one of those rooms for a future setting.

Good luck, and thanks for taking action in regards to strengthening the RP community.

EA is an underrated set today, but nevertheless I am digging the love it's getting. Nice changes.

I'm glad I'm finally going to be able to group two power sets together I've long wanted to try: SS and Regen. Very much looking forward to that coupling.

Hello Tankers - just an old tank checking in

Well, this has been an enlightening thread for me, and it further re-enforces with me what one of the biggest challenges in these current times is for MMO players: language and language morphing.

Even over the course of playing this one game (5 years now) I've seen the word 'mob' go from meaning a single bad guy (MOB, roughly meaning 'moving object', a term from old MUDs) to a group spawn - or perhaps in some cases, multiple group spawns that happen to be near each other: "huge mob ahead!"

I've seen numerous definitions of the term 'herd', from the old days of gathering up every bad guy on a map level right on up (through numerous degrees of diminshing numbers of spawn groups) to even simple corner pulls of a subset of a spawn group.

And today, you can knock me over with a feather, because I thought until now any group that sought a 'healer' was a group with members and/or leadership entrenched with tactics from other MMOs, seeking to better build the old battle-tested Damage/Meatshield/Heal triangle, further assuming an ignorance on their part of the value of other Defender/Controller powersets that focus on damage avoidance and damage reduction. It never dawned on me that CoX savvy folks were using the term 'healer' to mean any and all of the ilk of Defender/Controller Nation.

Color me callibrated

INV/SS: Blue Hammer was my first character and my first 50: lots of fond memories and lots of fun still playing him. Played much of the content solo, including the Praetorian archs (epic, epic fights, those - the stuff of comic books)

INV/EM: Action Lass is my other lvl 50 tank. She spent most of her latter levels duoing with a human form Peacebringer: hands down the most fun duo I have ever been a part of.

WP/SS: Aero Gal (lvl 40) feels like she has the potential to be the toughest tank in my stable. Loads and loads of fun solo and in groups.

Other combos I've tried, had fun with, but have only gotten modest levels with:
Fire/SS
WP/Dark
Ice/Ice
Ice/SS
Fire/Ice

You know, when you get right down to it, they're all great. They're all fun in the sewers, they all suck way too much endurance in their teens, but they all start to come into their own with Stamina and access to SOs, and they all get better with age.

Sounds like a fun ride. Congratulations to Legion of Freedom, and may the next year be twice as good.

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What Statesman says here is true by and large .... Tankers can still tank by the strictest of definitions.

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And he's also admitted that anyone can Tank. So if Tanking is supposed to be the realm of Tankers, and anyone can Tank, then what again is so special about Tanks? (possible answers that have been disproven by these conversations: agro management, and higher health)

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What I think Statesman needs to do is play a Tanker for a solid 2 weeks, everyday (same Tanker). I would highly suggest him starting with an L20 Tanker.

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I think he specifically has to play all 4 primaries from 10 through 20 as well. He's really completely crippled Tankers in this level range, and its in many respects due to the ordering of the powersets, and in some cases (Ice comes to mind) where some powers are simply too weak in some respects.

Then he should try 20+ on each Primary as you say.

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I agree, Krunch, that an extended period is needed to get the feel for the AT now, not a test here with one configuration, and a test there with another. But I would also agree with Circeus that the levels before 20 are where the tank AT has been hit the hardest, and that range should also be played at length. I was going to reply and say back it up to lvl 14, at least, but lvl 10 would be the better starting point.

I've played in a ton of pickup groups myself and it often will work out just as Tom layed out. About the only other I sometimes do in those circumstances is hit /follow to start moving towards the battered teammate: I like to scan around to make sure it isn't more than one baddie on him.

As for State's views on tankers, all I can say is that I've agreed with every other change they've made in this game to date, despite how bad they may have sounded at first (and I can even get my arms around ED for the most part), but I just can't fathom how they can still conclude that tanks have enough defensive power right now (Defense and Resistance in combo). I've been waiting since I5 hit test for them to post that "aha, we never accounted for this" thread, their mea culpa, where they roll back the defensive numbers closer to the I4 levels (in particular, roll back the non-S/L Resist numbers to a point somewhere in the 55-65% range): it still hasn't come, and I'm starting to think it will be a long time before it does - perhaps never.

Right now, the tank AT is not very sexy. Heck, it never was sexy, except that they attracted that breed of player that would do anything for their teammates, to figuratively 'lay their bodies down' for the good of the team: except it now went from figuratively to reality. The game within the game used to be trying to keep on me every bit of attention of every badguy that had any current desires on me or my teammates, and stand there and take it as long as I could while the team whittled them down. I really can't do that and survive anymore as a rule (I can, of course, do it with some sets of badguys).

But I can't not try to be the center of their attention. I just can't adhere to any 'keep one third of the spawn occupied' standard. I play a lot of low end tanks, and what I've learned along the way is every single trickster meneuver I can think of. And boy, do your really need them when you don't have enough healing to stay in there and duke it out. I do what I can to piss off baddies, and move to positions where they cannot readily attack me: seconds they lose moving to find me while my teammateds batter their backsides can make the difference in some encounters. My tanks have become the masters of yellow spine kiting: but I ask you, is this the vision of what a tank should be?

I never wanted to round up entire maps worth of baddies (and, frankly, hated doing it: was boring for me, too, and I found it was never any faster, and most definately not nearly as fun), but I do want to be able to stand there and take as much focus from the bad guys as I can, and be able to survive it. They've already got our damage output appropriate for someone who can survive the damage (ie, it stinks - don't listen to the folklore that I4 tanks could solo ATs: I tried many times, and could never dent them over time because of their regen rate .... and, if I tried long enough, they did kill me), now they just need to get our defenses back up a bit.

I'm still praying for that day, still hopefull they will realize how little a tank can contribute right now. In the meantime, if tanks are to have 2-ply toilet paper defenses and moderate at best damage over time, then brutes, with their 1-ply toilet paper defenses but the ability to dole out so much damage that they can solo Elite bosses (again, something my I4 tanks couldn't do at comparable levels), are a much much more attractive solution to me. They are more of tank to me right now than any of my yellow-spine kiting trickster Tankers because they have a reason to stay in the belly of the beast: they can hang, toe to toe with the worst. I sure wish my Tanks still could.

Best of luck to your brother, Jack. It's great that you were able to spend some time with him before his deployment.

I for one don't mind candid, unfiltered responses, even if they make me do a double take. I'd rather your responses be that way than passed through the purifying machine known as PR.

I think the resistance levels on invuln may still be too low, though I am still doing some playtesting there (darn job keeps sending me out of town). I hope to have something of substance to report by Sunday.