Hi all.
Like most of you, I play a fire tank - well 6 fire tanks at the moment. I've been playing since beta and really enjoy the fire tank's versatility. In the beginning, we all knew that Burn was overpowered (30 second duration, 10y range and over 20 pts of damage per tick as I recall) but then came the nerf bat - over and over and over again. Now Statesman says he doesn't want Burn to be the set defining power for fire tanks. Seems like it's a bit late for that. A fire tank without burn is basically just a low damage broadsword scrapper with lots of health and a bad toggle addiction.
The thing that always made the fire tank feel different was that they had to use strategy to put use the burn patches effectively. That was all well and good until the herding builds started appearing. Don't get me wrong - I think herding is fun - it's just also not very well balanced or fun for anyone but the person doing it. Did we really think the Devs were going to ignore all the PL'ing, resetting unfinished missions, etc? Fun or not, there should be more to beating the game (getting to 50) than standing in a dumpster with 4-6 warwolf spawns.
I guess my point here is that I love fire tanks but I hate all the FOTM PL'ing.
I also hate the way that burn currently works in I5. In my opinion, the 30%-ish damage reduction alone was almost enough of a nerf, especially when you consider how the fear effect is currently working on the mobs. Seems like I read that the recharge increase was supposed to be around 30% too but last time I tested it was more like 130%. Even with hasten and 4 Recharge SOs in burn, I can't keep one patch out all the time. That's just stupid. It should be just like the controller pets - with proper slotting I should be able to have one patch out all the time.
The sad thing about these changes is that they are happening because of the hardcore min-max'ers but they really hurt the casual players and those playing fire tanks for RP reasons the most. After I5, The hardcore PL'ing guys will just move on to the next FOTM uber-build and leave the rest of us here with the wreckage of our favorite AT. So what's the solution? IMHO it's not the endless series of band-aid nerfs we've received so far. We have to correctly identify the problem - then we have to eliminate it.
The problem with is not burn - it's that burn can currently be used to PL.
The PL'ing guys are only playing fire tanks because they can herd and herding is one of the fastest ways to level. Fire tanks can only herd because the mobs stack and they have both the tools needed to exploit stacking - a taunt and an AE attack. The obvious solution is to stop the mobs from stacking. This has been suggested many times and the Devs have said that it just can't be done by changing the AI because of the bandwidth & processor time required. Ok - I can accept that answer.
Anybody ever remember the expression 'there's more than one way to skin a cat'?
I decided there must be some other way to do this - a way to change the fire tank so that it maintains the flavor that it has now in I4, but is not overpowered and does not permit herding or PL'ing.
So for what it's worth, here's how I think the Devs should fix fire tanks:
1.1 - Fix Temperature Protection
This power is totally useless and everybody knows it - it's so useless that it's not even worth having when you're fighting the fire based AV, Inferno.
Make Temperature Protection worth taking by adding a passive knockback protection to it _AND_ moving the immobilize protection from Burn to it. This means that fire tanks do not _have_ to take the Super-Jump power pool to get Acrobatics _AND_ that low-mid level fire tanks without Burn have some form of immobilize protection.
1.2 - Fix Taunt
The problem with taunt is that it can be used to stack mobs. This has to be fixed or it can be used to herd, even if that requires the tanker to team with someone like an AE blaster.
Make taunt work so that it affects 15 targets (like all the other AE attacks) _BUT_ only the Melee mobs will come to the tanker. Ranged mobs should attack the tanker from wherever they are standing (similar to being rooted) until the taunt expires or they are pulled off the tank by something else. This means that taunt can still be used to make mobs stop attacking teammates (and stop running ranged mobs) but it can't be used to stack all the mobs in one or more spawns for AE attacks (like you need to when herding).
1.3 - Fix Burn (as it currently is on the Training Room)
The current I5 version of Burn is so weak that most players will drop it and the fire tank will lose much of it's unique playstyle. If the fire-tanks wanted to play broadsword scrappers or axe tanks, they would have. Burn is an important and well liked part of the fire-tank experience that should be preserved in some useful but not overpowered form.
Make Burn worth keeping by allowing one patch to be out at all times (with 6 recharge SOs) and allow taunt to pull fleeing melee mobs back into the patch _BUT_ leave the damage low (same as on test now) and move the immobilize protection to Temperature Protection. Either the player will have Burn on all the time for very low damage or they have it on-and-off for Ok but not great damage. This will let it work on teams (and solo with other attacks) but keep it from being useful as a herding tool because the damage is just too low and/or intermittent and only melee mobs can be taunted back into the patch.
1.4 - Fix Rise of the Phoenix
This power is actually worse than totally useless, it's a waste of a slot and guaranteed way to get more debt. First you have to be defeated to use it meaning you WILL already have debt. Second, If you use it without support, the mobs will probably defeat you again (more debt) because your toggles will all be down when you rez. Third, you will probably NOT have support because you are the least squishy AT and tend to die LAST. Fifth, if you do still have support, it will probably be a defender that hasn't agro'd the mobs and can rez you. Sixth, lastly and worst of all, the most useful part of this final power from our primary set (the rez) can be accomplished for free by going to the hospital or with a common inspiration.
Make Rise of the Phoenix worth taking by changing it to an offensive burn-like power WITH A CAVEAT. It should have the same duration and recharge as Burn (One patch at all times with 6 recharge SOs) _BUT_ it should do the same damage that Burn does in I4 _AND_ it should release the player from holds & immobilizations like the I4 version does. The caveat is that each time it is activated, it has a good chance to cause knockback (not knockdown) to any mob near the player. In terms of pure DPS, you could try to herd with this power _BUT_ the knockback effect will scatter the mobs. This means that they must be taunted back into the patch - and since taunt would only pull the melee mobs, the tank will still have to move out of the patch to the taunted ranged mobs. So it really can't be used to herd effectively at all. This power combined with Burn could deal good damage to mobs but they would still deal signifigantly less damage than the I4 Burn does because only one of each can be out at once and they would require a lot more strategy to use because of the knockback and non-closing taunted ranged mobs.
Well - that's the best I could come up with. If you like this idea, you might want to say so. If we say nothing, we'll get what's on the Training Room now...
Thanks for reading,
- SC -
