Ice_Ember

Originally Posted by TFury

Looking forward to this. Of course, let me know if you need any other AT.

Trev.

Originally Posted by SteelDominator

Yup im game again for next week, i'll bring the ice/storm troller again if you want whatever works for team.

Originally Posted by BashfulBanshee

So I was thinking about Hasten and also when I Respec out of Stamina can I eliminate the entire Fitness pool? Was thinking that I could just use the Heal if I need extra health.

Any thought.
It seems I am making her a total support hero. Have Invisibilty pool and Leadership as well now. What else can I do?

Originally Posted by BrandX

I keep making Broadsword, but I just find the animations boring, so I can never stick with it. Now, if they could give alternate animations that look fancier, I'd probably be all over Broadsword.

Originally Posted by McBoo

To answer the question as it was originally asked I would have to say Stone Armor/Ice Melee is the best for pure tankability/survivability. I have an Ice Armor/Stone Melee tanker in the mid 20s but he doesn't feel as 'tanky' as my Stone/Ice did at the same level.


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Originally Posted by Local_Man

It depends on the situation. Solo or Team? Large team or small? One good option would be Mass Hypnosis, Siphon Speed (to help everything recharge faster), Fulcrum Shift, then Siphon Power only if you are not at damage cap, then Terrify (cone with Damage and Fear) to keep everything controlled, then another Siphon Speed, then individual attacks (Dom-Mez-Lev). However, on a large, fast moving team, you probably won't have that much time. It may be that you have to let the Tank go in to grab aggro, then Fulcrum Shift, Siphon Speed, Terrify and your individual attack chain. Another would be to use Mass Confusion as an AoE control that lets the foes do damage to one another and then Fulcrum -- just make sure you get some damage done to all the foes.

Don't underestimate Terrify. It has somewhat weak AoE damage, but that damage adds up. Also, it lets you get some damage on every foe in a group, which is important for when you use Mass Confusion. (You get bonus XP for damage done by confused foes, but only if you do some of the damage to the target of the confused foe.) Most important, with a little bit of Recharge, you can have Terrify back up before the Fear effect ends, making it Perma. An AoE control that is Perma is very powerful. It lets you take your time killing off the foes.

Originally Posted by prvtslacker

Ice, I am always willing to give one a shot, and I have a couple of toons I want to get MoITF on.

Originally Posted by _Deth_

Again, your question wasn't valid. Which tank can survive longer depends on the situation the tank is in. Certain sets survive better in certain situations. In your average every day s/l situations, if you know how to play your tank, then you have just as much of a chance of surviving no matter what set you choose. They all have different tools for survivability, and knowing how and when to use those tools determines your survivability.

What you really wanted to know was which Tanker primary requires the least amount of skill and attention to play. Which set is most forgiving in most situations. That isn't a measure of survivability, it is a measure of player skill.

Survivability is not the main function of a Tanker, the main function of a tanker is aggro control. Your job in a group setting is to make sure that the squishier members of your group don't faceplant unless they do something really stupid. An excellent tanker will even prevent that from happening. Some people refuse to take self-rez powers on Tankers because they believe the Tanker should ALWAYS be the last man standing. I believe that if the Tanker is the last man standing, he has failed. I like taking the self-rez powers on my tanks where they are offered, because they are offered for a reason. If I die, then I still have the ability to protect my team because I have the ability to stun the mobs, get back on my feet and regain control of the situation. I may not have survived, but I did my job and am back standing.

That is the problem with these "what is the best" threads. There is no best. Is there a best for "situation X". Yeah, there is. But if you know how to play your toon, you don't have to be "best" to get the job done, and done well.

I agree entirely with Fireheart and Dechs. This subject has been done to death. Play the damn game, take the time to learn the powersets and figure out what you are comfortable with and what you enjoy. The "best" or "most survivable" means squat if you don't enjoy it. If you aren't having fun, you will play like crap and be useless to everyone. I have toons that are supposedly the "best" combinations or powersets that I hate with a passion. I don't play them, and only keep them because they are level 50 and I may find whatever fun I had with them when I first made them. The "inferior" sets that I play regularly, and I love, can usually stack up with anyone playing the "best" set. Why, because I enjoy the toon enough to learn what I can and can't get away with. I know how to react in most situations. I know what I need to do and when. That is what makes a powerset best. No single set, with all the IOs in the world can make up for crappy play. Yet, because of the closed mindedness that comes with this type of question, people perpetuate that type of stupidity.

Originally Posted by Ryuuk

Thanks for the link, didn't know he had a blog. As an aside though, in his post "Risk vs. Reward" he says:

"Also, make sure you are rewarding your players for their time investment. If you have a mission that has a character doing FedEx quest after FedEx quest in the mission chain, eating up time they could be out killing stuff for XP, make sure that they are rewarded accordingly."

Wow.

Originally Posted by Newty

In all honesty, This is what it is all about.

Close friends most probably yep?, doing something like this together purely to hang out and prove something.

Its awesome that you guys have done this, really great job! Kudos .

Originally Posted by DJ_Onslaught

I see the point about Clobber and about WM amd Focused acc, I also forgot that invincability makes focused accuracy kinda a waste anyways. I followed your guild for alot of what I did and was going for a perma dull pain add on to it. I'm a 66 month vet so I don't need a prerequisite for any travel power, sorry i should have mentioned that.

Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim

Does it have to have the absolute best in a few things to be viable, though? Willpower doesn't really have any strengths or weaknesses, but it's still a good Tanking set. I'm merely making the point that it's a good and fun set that can still tank well- and it sounds like you don't entirely disagree with that, heh.

Here's my list for Fiery Aura that it really does need to get on par, though.

1. Lowered Recharge for Consume. I would be okay with it in the 90-100 second range, even though Ice and Electric have 60 seconds for theirs... Consume does have a better radius and doesn't cost endurance, but I don't think those pros mean the power has to recharge in three times the length, either.
2. Fiery Embrace shouldn't punish you for using a non-Fire primary. Make it buff all damage for 20 seconds.
3. Burn needs to be usable solo or on a team, and without needing another power. Shield Charge doesn't have all those quid pro quos, and nor should Burn. So remove the fear, and set the damage to something balanced. Burn could be put on a long recharge, or turned into another AOE that is not a patch (so like FSC or Combustion). I personally don't care much, as long as it boosts damage on par with Shield Charge (and I would want it on par with where Shield Charge, not the incorrect higher number it has right now).

That's it. Temperature Protection is viable enough as is (though I do feel like Fiery Aura could use some end drain protection as well, since it has no defenses in the set to dodge any nasty things like that). I know most don't like Rise of the Phoenix, but it has its uses, and I don't see it going anywhere. The above seem much more balanced and viable.

I would love to see some immobilize and kb protection added to the Shields, but I would find these drawbacks less irksome if the above were adjusted.

Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim

It also performs very consistently- the resists and Heal help guarantee that. I do think that is a pro, though not everyone may see the benefits there.

Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim

Well... a ~50% heal that you can get to recharge every 20 seconds (something most of my tanks would love to have, even if they are technically more defensive/resistant), consistent performance against most mobs (Invuln can vary widely, depending on the damage type it is facing), it exemps well, and is more offensive than most sets.

It should be more offensive, I would say, and hopefully Castle will address that when he looks at Fiery Aura (he said he would again recently, but who knows when he'll get to that), but as I say in my guide, "the moniker still stands." Each set has pros and cons against the others, and Fiery Aura definitely fits that characterization.

Originally Posted by SilverBullet_NA

I meant to say "too much IO set def bonuses" not just positional def bonus. For my /stone brute unlike stone tank you have to pick up some IO sets Kinetic combat and thunderstrike to soft cap S/L/E also i worked to negate the movement (gift of ancients) and recharge penalty.

Originally Posted by SilverBullet_NA

Not arguing whether Ice tank can run tf, pretty much run every tf there is with my ice tank (Arctic), what i am saying is post IOs Ice tank are inferior to other tank sets simply due to the resistance hole. What do i mean? Ice tanks gain very little from IO set bonuses my tank is at 48% S/L def. There is way too much positional IO def set bonuses which in other hand greatly help my Fire/Shield tank or my /Stone brute. Till the devs address this and give more resistance bonuses i stand by my argument.