Wow.
I mean, really, just, wow.
Perfect, Statesman, perfect.
Major kudos.
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Do things like Burn count as landing more and more blows?
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I really hope not. From a gameplay perspective, having Burn count would just be making the one tanker build that doesn't have damage problems even more powerful. From a theme perspective, I can't see how watching a mob sit and fry is supposed to get you involved in the fight more.
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Looking forward to the changes, though I also realize we're probably looking at Thanksgiving or later before they're implemented. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait, but by then I'll probably be playing EQ2 as well.
This is why COH has the best Dev team of all the other MMO's. Brilliant solution in theory though, in theory, Communism worked. 
Looking forward to testing this out. 
Arc# 92382 -- "The S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Tyrant" -- Ninjas! Robots! Praetorians! It's totally epic! Play it now!
Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
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2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes. I can't say that the Tanker will do as much damage as a Scrapper - but it'll certainly be more than he does now. This ability really gets to the core of a comic book Tanker. He's extremely powerful - but at the start of a fight, he holds himself back some. As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype. And it also sets the Tanker apart from the Scrapper's criticals.
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If you're ok with this basically guaranteeing that Tankers wailing on an AV will solo them eventually, so be it. Literally, I can sit in combat with most of them, grinding them ever so slowly to paste, forever. My primary attack roughly keeps pace with AV natural health recovery. If that damage is slowly increased, their defeat is guaranteed.
I'm good with it, but I think we want to be sure that you are too.
Ridolfo,
Time to get out the hose and cleaning tools then. The devs have already stated they are going to allow the stacking of some armours for Ice/Stone/DA (possibly others, don't recall offhand).
Statesman,
Thank you. The provoke-like effect on melee attacks is exactly what I have been asking for, so I am really happy to see that being implemented in some form. The build-up damage for ongoing attacks will be an interesting one to see in practice. Really curious as to how this will be done in detail.
Good luck with the coding and internal testing
This certainly looks like a promising start
STATESMAN ROOLS!
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As promised, I've been looking into the issues facing Tankers; I thought I'd explain the direction we're going. As we analyed it, Tankers have two very valid concerns (aside from the issues with specific power sets):
1. Without Provoke, they are not a real Tanker. Those people who enjoy the MMP role of "meat shield" have trouble holding aggro properly.
2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.
3. The Tanker doesn't "feel" like a comic book Tanker should. And frankly, this one really, really bothered me. Because our game is a comic book MMP.
So - here's the solution we're going to try internally. We went through a ton of possible solutions, and we weighed each one against how well they answered the three points above as well as how long it would take to get done.
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Succinct, to the point, excellent.
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1. Tankers will get a "provoke" like AOE effect on their melee attacks. The more a Tanker lands his blows, the more and more mobs he'll attract. The bonus here is that it's not exactly like Provoke (it's not ranged) - but it makes a lot of sense. Some huge monstrosity is bashing the heads of a villain group - they're going to get more and more concerned about taking him/her out....
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OMG!!!!!
Time to play the tanker more.
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2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes. I can't say that the Tanker will do as much damage as a Scrapper - but it'll certainly be more than he does now. This ability really gets to the core of a comic book Tanker. He's extremely powerful - but at the start of a fight, he holds himself back some. As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype. And it also sets the Tanker apart from the Scrapper's criticals.
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VERY nice.
This also addresses the nascent PVP worries some Tankers have expressed. I would assume this would be coded to begin 'ticking' based on being aggroed, and more importantly, would count aggro for any member of a superteam. Thus, in PVP, folks opposing a team with a Tanker is faced with Hobson's choice: Attack the toughest guy in the opposing team first, or leave him for last and have to face him fully "wound up" and ready to rock. Very nice.
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Of course, the thought in your minds must be....WHEN?...I'm afraid I don't know.
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TEASE!
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First, we need some code for this. Then we've got to test it thoroughly. Finally, it'll go on the Test Server for awhile to gather data and impressions. This is going to take some time; but I thought you'd like to know at least where we're going, even though we don't know when we'll get there.
Feel free to comment!
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Why they also do more damage based on the amount of hits they take. The more hits they take the angrier they get, berserker like you know.
Who do I have to *&^% around here to get more Targeted AoE recipes added?
Arc Name: Tsoo In Love
Arc ID: 413575
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Do things like Burn count as landing more and more blows?
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I'm pretty sure the effect would be on the Tanker secondary powers, and burn is a primary power. It would kinda negate the fear effect of burn otherwise.
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2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.
Feel free to comment!
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Not true if you are a dark armor scrapper, since our armor doesn't stack. Since you are making tankers more offensive, can we make armor stack so scrappers are more defensive? Tankers will get more offense the more they hit/longer they fight; scrappers will get more defense the more they hit/longer they fight.
If that doesn't work for you, then I'll wash your car (and Geko's too!) if you let me stack 2 dark armor toggles (just 2, not 3, not asking for the world here). 
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Good news for you - Devs have stated earlier that they are looking into implementing armor stacking for Stone/Ice (and Fire?) tankers as well as DA scrappers. It seems the graphic coding was something they needed to spend time on, so it's not coming soon, but it will come.
And yes, I don't need all my armors to stack (Stone Tanker), but if Rock Armor could stack with any other single armor, I would be very very happy. That and increase Stone Skin to 25% base resistance vs. Smash/Lethal
53 Bots/FF/Mace Mastermind | 53 NRG/FF/Electricity Defender | 50 Time/Dual Pistols/Soul Defender | 50 Demons/FF/Mace Mastermind | 51 Necro/Dark/Soul Mastermind | 50 Thugs/Time/Mace Mastermind | 50 Ice/Ice/Arctic Tanker | 50 Plant/Rad/Earth Controller | 50 Illusion/Trick Arrow Controller | 50 Gravity/Force Field Controller
Yes, I like Force Fields.
I really like that you're trying to get Tankers to actually attack instead of just shouting at enemies. This is what most tankers (especially those not used to being MMOG meat shields) want! Hurray!
However, to make Tankers needed (or even desired) at higher levels, this might not be enough aggro-grabbing. I think that the Taunt power should be immediately upgraded to do what Provoke does now, but better. The Manipulation Power Pool set is already garbage aside from Provoke, so reworking it should already be on the table.
((Note to Provokers who hate this idea: I'm among you (level 31) and would be willing to Respec just to take the new-and-improved Taunt.))
this helps the solo-ability of the tanker AT, but are there any proposals (besides a potential minion HP hike) that will benefit the higher level tanker?
Thanks States,
So you say that:
1. I don't necessarily need to get provoke
2. My Damage increases with time
I love these changes and can't wait to test them out.
Thanks to everyone at Cryptic especially the devs who've listened us.
Guys he doesnt know what the exact numbers and rules are going to be, just chill out its probably still in the design stage
keep in mind that while the left hand is working on getting the ATs worked out the right hand is working on increasing mob strength . . . the recent scrapper changes and this tanker change preview could be viewed as over the top but in the end im sure it will all balance out well against the soon to be souped up mobs.
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As promised, I've been looking into the issues facing Tankers; I thought I'd explain the direction we're going. As we analyed it, Tankers have two very valid concerns (aside from the issues with specific power sets):
1. Without Provoke, they are not a real Tanker. Those people who enjoy the MMP role of "meat shield" have trouble holding aggro properly.
2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.
3. The Tanker doesn't "feel" like a comic book Tanker should. And frankly, this one really, really bothered me. Because our game is a comic book MMP.
So - here's the solution we're going to try internally. We went through a ton of possible solutions, and we weighed each one against how well they answered the three points above as well as how long it would take to get done.
1. Tankers will get a "provoke" like AOE effect on their melee attacks. The more a Tanker lands his blows, the more and more mobs he'll attract. The bonus here is that it's not exactly like Provoke (it's not ranged) - but it makes a lot of sense. Some huge monstrosity is bashing the heads of a villain group - they're going to get more and more concerned about taking him/her out....
2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes. I can't say that the Tanker will do as much damage as a Scrapper - but it'll certainly be more than he does now. This ability really gets to the core of a comic book Tanker. He's extremely powerful - but at the start of a fight, he holds himself back some. As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype. And it also sets the Tanker apart from the Scrapper's criticals.
Of course, the thought in your minds must be....WHEN?...I'm afraid I don't know. First, we need some code for this. Then we've got to test it thoroughly. Finally, it'll go on the Test Server for awhile to gather data and impressions. This is going to take some time; but I thought you'd like to know at least where we're going, even though we don't know when we'll get there.
Feel free to comment!
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(Isn't that actually three valid concerns?)
Anyway, those sound like good changes for providing the comic-book feel to the character. Now enemies have a valid reason for focusing aggro, too, because if they don't eventually get rid of that slow-moving rock over there, it'll eventually get stronger...
Two questions, though:
One, wouldn't this make tankers more like the boss-killers? After all, fighting stronger enemies takes longer than whacking minions, and if tankers hit harder the longer they're in play, they would look like the better bet against high-level bosses and the occasional AV, since they can take it, and, if they wait long enough, dish it, too.
Two, is this going to exacerbate the herding mentality? Because if damage increases over time, it's even more incentive to go round up a large group of enemies while waiting for damage to rise, then whack them all at once with the new extra damage on an AoE attack.
...wow!
I am, well...speachless...thank you!
My first impression on hearing about the gradually escalating damage of the tanker is...
...at high level, group fights are over fast, probably way too fast for the tanker to throw more than a Knockout Blow (as it has been fixed on test) and/or a Foot Stomp/AoE. I suppose the quick Jab power will be more valuable, especially if Jab provides a way to quickly boost the damage of all the other attack powers.
It depends on the group makeup, of course, but a couple of blasters in the mix means things are gonna be dropping fast.
Where the gradually escalating damage will make a difference is in soloing, particularly against boss mobs, and in longer battles vs. Archvillains. A welcome change there.
In fact, I suspect that after the change goes thru, I might be able to tackle lvl 49 AVs on my own (Shadowhunter comes to mind) to harvest lvl 51 SOs, depending, of course, on the upper limit of this damage escalation.
It would be cool if the upper limit was really high, of course, even if it took a while to get there.
I am not by any means complaining about these ideas. The AoE taunt effect from throwing a punch sounds good, although it will be best for tankers who don't already have Invincibility.
Goldbrick 50 inv/ss tank
Other 50s: Power Beam, Rocky Mantle, STORMIE Agent, Matchless, Major Will, Knightmayor, Femstone, Space Maureen, Crimebuster Ako, Dr. Twilight, Doc Champion, American Gold Eagle
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2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes. I can't say that the Tanker will do as much damage as a Scrapper - but it'll certainly be more than he does now. This ability really gets to the core of a comic book Tanker. He's extremely powerful - but at the start of a fight, he holds himself back some. As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype. And it also sets the Tanker apart from the Scrapper's criticals.
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If you're ok with this basically guaranteeing that Tankers wailing on an AV will solo them eventually, so be it. Literally, I can sit in combat with most of them, grinding them ever so slowly to paste, forever. My primary attack roughly keeps pace with AV natural health recovery. If that damage is slowly increased, their defeat is guaranteed.
I'm good with it, but I think we want to be sure that you are too.
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If testing shows that Tankers are able to solo AVs, then something would need to change. Of course, most of the AVs I've seen might have been some sort of Tanker, considering how high their defenses are. Hmm, tank-vs-tank...
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Tankers will get a "provoke" like AOE effect on their melee attacks.
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This sounds great!
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As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype.
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This sounds very cool, and I am glad that the Tankers are getting two inherent bonuses to round out their AT. My big question is : Is this the solution to the Super Strength and Ice Melee shortcomings or will there be additional tweaking of those power sets? Even with these inherent bonuses these power sets will remain the red-headed stepchild of the more devastating Tanker secondaries.
Also, not trying to high-jack the thread, but can we expect similar inherent bonuses or resistances for other ATs or are just Scrappers (critical attacks) and Tankers getting the love?
Thanks very much for the update.
Now this sounds cool!
The obvious question is this: what constitutes one fight? In other words, when or how does this inherent build up (both the Provoke and damage effects) reset?
A secondary question follows: fights are pretty short as it is right now... is something going to be done to increase the duration of fights so that these new Tanker powers actually mean something?
Really cool concepts, though! I can't wait to see how you guys plan to implement them!
Why not give tankers a RAGE bar that indicates how much of a bonus they are getting, have the RAGE bar go up from damage taken and damage dished out then you get special abilities that pop up when you have enough rage you can then unleash on something, thats how tankers are in the comics. Whats that you want to nuke the hulk? go ahead and whatch him after it happens
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If testing shows that Tankers are able to solo AVs, then something would need to change. Of course, most of the AVs I've seen might have been some sort of Tanker, considering how high their defenses are. Hmm, tank-vs-tank...
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Make all AVs do Psionic. 
Statesman,
If you can code exactly what you have said, then I have only one word for it: Perfect.