I think Defenders are fine. Storm Defenders are lucky since they don't have to get stuck with Gale like Storm Controllers do.
The biggest problem that I can see is that there is nothing that actually sets the defender apart. Controllers at end game negate the purpose of a defender with the buff/debuff and the amount of damage they can do mix with the holds.
Defenders need a area of specialty. What I mean by this for example if you look at scrappers and blasters. Scrappers are designed to go toe to toe with mobs thus they get the 500% damage cap because of a certian risk. Blaster's are the long arm of the law and are designed to do Damage from afar and cap out at 400%. Now each are designed to do damage but it's how they are to do the damage that make's the difference.
Defenders and controllers need something along those same lines other than the 5% difference in the buff/debuff.
Thats just my opinon.
Statesman,
I have to say for the most part I agree that Defenders as an AT are reasonably well off. Most of my issues with Defenders as a whole are primarily a result of HOs and APPs in the late game allowing other ATs to grow so strong their need for our help diminishes. Who needs DMG buffs when you already cap yourself? What difference does Defender vs Controller buffs / heals / debuffs make once everybody's numbers hit the stratosphere with HOs? What advantage does the Defender have over the Controller anyway approaching 50 when the Controller has slotted everything useful in his Secondary, has Epic attacks to round out his offense with his pets (save Mind), and has Controls which outmatch any Defender in the team defense department. Again - a large portion of the problem as I see it has everything to do with power inflation from APPs and HOs and little to do with the AT designs themselves.
All that said, a few Defender powersets do need some serious looking at. Ever wonder why there are so few high level FF Defenders? Take a look at the last three powers in our set. That's why. There are all of *three* must-have powers in the set to go with a whole lot of situational fluff which can be occasionally to regularly useful but which don't hold a candle to the upper level powers in most Defender sets. Compare Force Bubble to the likes of Fulcrum Shift, Dark Servant, or EM Pulse.
FF'ers provide great DEF (save against toxic, psy, auto-hit, or to-hit buffed enemies). That sees us through a lot. Force Bolt and Detention Field are decent utility powers (though for heaven's sake *please* make Detention Field more easily visible to teammates). But the rest of the set? FF'ers are the only Defender that cannot buff Offense in any way or Heal in any way. In compensation we get more knockback than any one hero ever has a use for and great Defence (against most but not all things) - but not so much better than the likes of Dark as to justify our narrow focus.
Repulsion Field is too expensive for what it does, and is made obsolete by Force Bubble at 32. Honestly. Since the changes to End cost in RF to prevent us from effectively corner juggling with it what does it do that Force Bubble does not? Some people may prefer one or the other, but what possible use is there to have both?
And Repulsion Bomb.... Wow. Every FF'ers dream. A slow AOE knockback in a set that already had no shortage of knockback. Ally targeted only for no good reason I can see so that we can only use it reactively instead of proactively. And it would be so easy to fix into something far more useful.
If FF'ers are intended to be KB masters why not allow us the full range of knockabout powers? Give us a Knockback (Force Bolt), Repel (Force bubble), Knockup (Repulsion Field), and Knockdown (Repulsion Bomb). Then at least our powers would overlap less and the package as a whole would cover a greater variety of situations. As is half our power set covers the *same* situation - when I want to keep melee heavy mobs that don't happen to be KB resistant off of squishies.
Related complaint - why is KB the only status in the game that cannot be stacked against resistant foes? That gives rise to the other reason FF'ers drop out at high levels. Not only are our upper tier powers less generally useful than most other Defenders, but against many of the late game heavy-hitters (AVs, Monsters, many types melee-heavy types) they do *nothing at all*. Seriously. RF, RB, Force Bolt, and Force Bubble - half our set - do *nothing* in any fight with the game's primiere opponents. We don't even get to knock them down during occasional "purple arrow" periods like Controllers. Literally half our powerset does jack squat in such encounters. The "almighty" Force Bubble doesn't even slow them down a tad.
So in conclusion, while you may be happy with Defenders as a whole, please take a serious look at some of the individual powersets. I focused on FF in my rant, but Storm and Kinetics also have some bones to pick. But not having played either to high level myself, I'll let them speak for themselves.
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Controller pet powers are just so much more powerful than their other powers that it becomes a must have. It's not good for a power set to have one amazing power and eight luke-warm ones, and that's the way that many view the controller power sets.
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You couldn't be more wrong. The lockdown powers are where it's at. Without them backing up the pet, the pet would be pointless.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
On the off chance a dev will read this I will add my opinion.
I still think this "defenders aren't needed in late game stuff is overblown". Technically, who is needed in the late game? Maybe a tanker or a scrapper to help start each battle but after that you don't really need anyone. AV fights become more popular but do you really need a scrapper or blaster for an AV fight?
If you want to get down to bare minimum then Blasters, Scrappers and Defenders aren't needed in the late game. You can get by just fine with Tankers and Controllers. So should we adjust to "fix" this? No. Why? Because that's just trying to find the bare minimum. When defenders (or any AT) don't help or add to the team then you can adjust. Late in the game most players have their attack speed and endurance issues taken care of but it seems like Speed Boost is still able to make the game go faster and help the player focus on their favorite attacks.
The strangest thing about this is that when I run with an all defender or 90% defender team in the 40+ game we just demolish things. The speed and safety of the fights is just sick and wrong. It feels like we are cheating it's so easy. And yet, we're supposed to feel that we're unwanted? If you want to make the game tougher that's fine but please don't feel like Defenders dont' contribute.
FWIW, I still think the worst change the devs ever made was putting -RES into Tar Patch. All you did was make Dark more like Storm and Rad. If this trend continues I will lose interest in the game because the sets will be less unique. Dark used to be the controller like set that was very defensive. Everyone was ok with that because what we lacked in offensive we made up for in defense. You traded damage for security. Now, you have that security plus you boost damage. The lines between Rad and Storm were more blurred. Worst part is that it wasn't necessary. You might as well give FF, Emp and Kin a -RES power because it makes just as much sense as giving it to Dark (zero).
To me it seems more of a problem with the 40+ game than with anything else. I think most people would say the the game is balanced or pretty well off up to 40. The ATs had peaked with their power and everyone is useful. Then you guys added those 10 extra levels and all he11 has broken loose (we will not talk about Hamie enhancements).
You have played Champions (PnP game). You know it is insane to have an AT with the highest HP and 90% resists. It is impossible to design scenarios when you have to take that into account. What can challenge the Tanker will 1-2 shot the squishies. Drop the resist cap to 80-85% and defenders are much more welcome. But if you do that you need to look at the damage done at the higher levels by mobs and reduce it. That will increase the survivability of some of the squishies.
I personally would rather see speical villian teams ( tanker busting teams) that target tankers above other ATs and have speical attacks to try to take them down. It would be more fun and more comic bookish but also more work for the Devs.
What does that have to do with Defenders? A lot in the high end game. Either tankers need to come down (to help lower the mob damage) or more speicalized defender-only abilities need ot be added to protect teammates from the current level of the endgame.
Overall, keep making the builds fun to play. If the heroes in the endgame are all powerful enough to solo it is fine. Do not force grouping. The JSA and JLA members could all solo but were stronger as a team.
Statesman, thank you for posting and sharing your thoughts on defenders.
I would only ask that the Devs consider making some changes to Storm such that it is more team friendly at all levels. Quesitons and suggestions have been discussed on the boards at length for months.
If the Devs are happy with Storm as is and do not intend on changing it PLEASE tell us so we can stop waisting our breath/time.
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Defenders, however, don't have any overarching problems.
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I haven't read every reply so far, but have you considered that Defenders don't have any overarching problems just because the primary sets are so different?
Defenders have very little common ground between all the primaries and thus can't state "Excactly this is the problem with Defenders". Instead people have to point out specific problems each primary has.
What they do have in common is that they're there to help keep the team standing (a role shared with Tankers & Controllers, both of which have potential to outdamage Defenders) and their damage level compared to other ATs.
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I personally would rather see speical villian teams ( tanker busting teams) that target tankers above other ATs and have speical attacks to try to take them down. It would be more fun and more comic bookish but also more work for the Devs.
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What, you mean like Sappers? Everyone loves Sappers.
If the resistance debuff from sonic weapons were more noticable, that might fit. If you can program it so that if the tank complains, hoards of Kheldians come and laugh at them, then you even get bonus points!
@Mindshadow
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Statesman: how is it that Defenders "aren't needed" at higher levels? Emp Defenders maybe, but a Defender is a vital part of any archvillain-hunting team. I've never run into any trouble finding groups with my Dark/Dark...
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I find this absolutly true. I play 3 different defenders. My highest toon however is a scrapper. And you know what, for my AV hunting or arc-teams it's defenders that are hard to find, they are always in teams, the lot of them. I am lucky to find a single unteamed defender even close to my level (main is 45). Same can be said about controllers. How can they have trouble finding teams when there are no unteamed ones at many times, and many just don't want to team.
Some people don't get teams because of their builds or perhaps even their personality, nothing to do with AT thou.
But to be honest, saying that a defender doesnt bring damage is about one thing. Crappy "pure" defenders. A well build defender using both primary and secondary well can be very effective both in defending and in damage. I play 2 controllersmyself, but in a team i lead, whichever AT i play (i have two 32+ of each with 15 alts total). If we need to add another teammember a defender is NEVER the wrong choice. Some sets can be however. If there is a bubbler already we don't need another one, if there is a empath, getting another one isn't that optimal.
Especially since empaths seems to be the ones mostly playing "pure". A pure empath 40+ is a waste of space many times, not because they don't defend well, they do, but because after buffing the heals aren't that needed 40+. If they then just stand around waiting to heal instead of blasting, they are not doing much.
Defenders are about balanced builds. People like to focus on one thing, which for defenders just doesnt work as well. Because a balanced defender is better then a "pure" defender in most situations.
The biggest issue is controllers, they aren't less needed but they team less, because they can finally solo, if they could have before they would be more inclined to team, but this is gonna change. A controller is either a good controller in which case he can never do the same thing as a defender, because frankly controlling requires some hefty slotting. Or he is a crappy controller focused on his secondary, in which case the controlling is lacking and a defender would have been better.
A balanced controller uses both effectivly, but a defender still adds more.
The issue about pets isnt about their damage. Because not even imps are overpower without the secondary.
The thing is, nerfs, "rebalancing" won't solve anything. Because it's the mindset of the players.
THe one thing that WILL make both defenders and controllers more wanted, and WILL make controllers focus on control more, and WILL make tankers less unkillable is better mobs.
Not more damage. Not more of them. Smarter and more diverse.
More "defender-ish" mobs, like tsoo sorcs. 8 person team vs tsoo? get a controller. Or a defender.
Mobs coordianting powers, mobs using buffs/debuffs, mobs playing "smart" would make both defender/controllers/blaster more wanted.
Although i do agree that resistance based tanks are in somewhat degree overpowered. duoing with a stone tanker with granite, and myself playing a high level inv. I feel tanks are just to unkillable, which has lead to increasing damage on mobs which inturn has made squishies deadmeat.
Lowering the resistance cap to 85%, adding some more -res powers, some more -def powers (no uber remove all power, just small debuffs, like sonic rifles council have, make them stack and you can't herd them that easy).
What worries me the most, is that each time Statesman posts about perceptions in the game, it somehow seems based on some random arbitary number, because in noway does it represent the game I play. And i play 15 alts, ranging from 12 to 45.
--how its should have been:
Controllers: Control/melee+utility (ala energy secondary for blasters)
Melee (replaceing tanker+scrapper): Melee/Armors (mostly resitance based, very little def based stuff)
Blasters: Blasts/utility+defense (more like Devices but with slightly more +def powers and one or two utility/meleedamage)
Defenders: Buff+debuff/Blasts (without controllers having access to the buffs/debuffs defenders would be better, also with mostly just resitance or def on melee armors more buffs/debuffs are better, no sets with both should have been made)
Powerpool should have not contained: Hasten, Fighting
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You know, I don't really think pets are as much the problem.
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I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Controller pet powers are just so much more powerful than their other powers that it becomes a must have. It's not good for a power set to have one amazing power and eight luke-warm ones, and that's the way that many view the controller power sets.
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I would easily say that this is wrong. Notice, I never said whether or not pets were a problem at all in my opinion. Anyone that said that any controller had 8 luke warm powers besides pets would be absolutely wrong. Just something like the total lockdown off all enemies shows this not to be true. I'd love to see someone survive too long with only imps from their primary. A boss would wipe the floor with them.
I'd like to ask something of people posting in this thread...
Before you state, "Defenders are fine, I don't see the problem," try to remember that there are several types of Defenders, please?
Repeatedly now I've seen remarks along the lines of, "Defenders are great, my Dark/* doesn't have a problem..."
Well, yah, I have a Dark/Dark too, and she's wonderful, sure.
But my main is a Storm/Electric. There have been problems there. A lot of them.
I also have an Empathy/Psi, and I'm seeing some issues developing with her as well (primarily with the secondary).
And although I don't have a Force Field Defender, I do have the set as a secondary on my Controller. It could use some attention, in my view.
All in all, I'm a little concerned about the developer view on Defenders. There is a huge disparity in my game experiences playing a Storm Defender and then a Dark Defender... but even more pronounced than that is my experience as a Tank compared to playing any Defender.
Wow. Just... wow. After playing a Defender thru 50 levels -- often scraping and clawing my way forward, frustrated nearly to the point of just giving up -- I am continuously amazed at the things I can do with my a Tank. What a stark contrast.
That gulf is far too wide, in my opinion... and I don't think it should be narrowed by watering down Tanks. Defenders need a boost. The Defender AT is too fragile to effectively do what it's meant to: defend. I can't defend a thing if I'm stunned, held, knocked back, and one-shotted into oblivion. Oh, and now I'm supressed as well. Whee!
I think a way to distinguish Defenders is to simply make them tougher. They are currently viewed as "squishies", even though they are actually in third place, I believe, in terms of hit points and such. You have Tanks and Scrappers, then this big, obvious gap, and then you have Defenders, Controllers, and Blasters.
I say put Defenders more plainly in the middle, where they belong. Give them some status resistance, for example. They cannot, after all, simply lock down enemies, like a Controller can. Maybe a reason why Controllers are sought after more is because they can actually use their secondaries after they've shut the bad guys down?
Anyway, just a thought. I play my Defenders, I have fun with them, but the difference in playing a Tank... well it's like a completely different game... a much more fun game. And I've had enough experience with Scrappers to believe it's much the same with them. As for Controllers, I can't speak fully to that yet, except to say that pre-32 has been arduous. I'm at 31 now with the Grav/FF, and I gave up on a Mind/Emp. Couldn't take it. I suspect though, that the post-32 game experience for a Controller is right up there with the Tank and the Scrapper.
Defenders (and maybe Blasters too, don't really play em), need to be that much fun to play.
The Cape Radio: You're not super until you put on the Cape!
DJ Enigma's Puzzle Factory: Co* Parody Commercials
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BUT....I'm extremely concerned about the perception that Defenders "aren't needed" and thus "can't find a team" at high levels.
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You hit it right on the head. It is just a perception. Perhaps because on lots of Defender powers you can't see just how much they are helping you.
How about adding some sort of graphical means of SHOWING the Defender's powers helping? Like showing bullets, beams, and blasts bouncing off of force fields. Like having your character dodge a certain way for DEF buffs that protected you from being hit or strike a certain pose when ACC buffs make the difference for a beam attack or swinging a certain way/different light effects when ACC buffs affect melee. Maybe including the unaltered damage you would have taken/done in parenthisis as it floats above your head/the target's head? If things like this are shown, everyone will be able to easily see just how much the defenders are helping them and no one would question having them on a team.
Hi Statesman,
While reading through this thread, keep in mind one of the recurring themes: bubblers and non-bubblers alike are saying that FF needs something, anything, to improve the set. The overall feeling that FF is lacking cuts through a lot of the petty bickering that dogs the comparisons between ATs and power sets. Folks around here might throw a lot of numbers around trying to find which min / max Dark build trumps a certain Rad build (and vice verse), but few people (any?) will come right out and say that FF has as much to offer a team as rad, dark, or kinetics.
The fact that there is so little bickering around FF needing a buff should speak volumes.
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Tanker herds 100+ wolves (over half the map of this instanced outdoors mission)
and calls for us to come visit.
I watch as the inv/ss tanker, with double-rage (recharge SOs + Hasten) uses
1 acc/5 dam Foot Stomp to ARREST THEM ALL.
One power activation. Already at the damage cap from double-rage.
Damage cap should *require* other teammates to be reached. Reaching it on
your own (except maybe for blasters/scrappers) should not be possible.
This is a TANKER doing this.
I know you gave tankers a little melee damage love, but this is too much.
Let's see how many forum 1-star ratings I get for suggesting all AEs be removed
from Tankers and Scrappers...
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50 spines/regen here. AoE scrapper. You get 5 stars. Although I'm curious how you would suggest spines be updated if you took all the AoE away... I'd be for splitting damage 50/50 toxic/lethal and bumping base damage up 50%. Now watch me tear through other melees PvP like tissue paper! Muhahahahah!
You hit the nail on the head alright. Fellow defenders (dark/rad myself), TANKS make you useless late game, not controller secondaries. They don't need you for damage, for defense, for ghetto control. Your simply not needed to a tank-centric team.
Anyways, defenders have a secondary too. One common thing I see is a defender at lvl30 with nearly all their primaries, a bunch of (useful usually) pool powers, and 1 secondary power, usually unslotted. Look, it's your fault if you completely ignore your secondary and then complain about controllers who devote powers and slots to their secondary. If a team is doing O.K. without your heals/debuffs, switch over to blasting. Take your AoEs and slot them up defenders!
Honestly, controllers are a defense/defense build. They should, by design, protect a team better than a defender. It's unfortunate that defenders fixate on their AT name and ignore damage dealing.
I'm for boosting defender secondaries myself. Reduce END drain and increase base damage. Doesn't look like this is happening though. The new defender sets look very "controller-ish", much like dark/
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Why is Dark so good? Because it's like a Controller
[/ QUOTE ]
I have to say this is true. I usually play controllers, but I've taken to dark/dark like a fish to water because it's more controller-like than my grav/kin. That is not to say that this is a bad thing; on the contrary, it's why I think my dark/dark is so much fun to play, so I hope they don't change it.
I think what it boils down to is that a controller can do everything a defender can do when it comes to buffing/debuffing/healing (except for the dark set) so why take a defender when with a controller you get the defenders power and the controlling power.
Making the primary set of defenders the controllers secondary did not help defenders at all.
No, the secondary is not as powerful as the primary but 75% is still darn good.
Your average skirmish doesn't last long enough to make a Defender's presence to matter. Fights are over before it starts. But that's a larger issue than just Defenders.
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I think what it boils down to is that a controller can do everything a defender can do when it comes to buffing/debuffing/healing (except for the dark set) so why take a defender when with a controller you get the defenders power and the controlling power.[/QUOTE]
Ostensibly because you also get the Defender secondary powers.
Of course a lot of people consider those relatively weak and not worth having. . . .
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Making the primary set of defenders the controllers secondary did not help defenders at all.
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No, the secondary is not as powerful as the primary but 75% is still darn good.
[/ QUOTE ]
And a better deal than Defenders got in relation to Blasters.
Call that a double whammy.
Under construction
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I, too, have a problem with the high level Defenders and their roles on teams. Playing a Dark Defender I've been able to avoid many of the pitfalls that others would fall into. However, there is an issue that they aren't separated enough from Controllers that groups would prefer to choose a Defender over a Controller for many of the same situations.
You'd think in the highest difficulty battles, AV's, that a Defender would be desired. Many times in the teams I've been on people have asked for a Rad Controller. When I've said how about a Rad Defender, you know because they DeBuff more, they've said they'd rather have someone who can do actual damage. It's mind boggling but it happens.
I'd also like to point out that there are some combo's of Controllers + Defender secondaries where Controllers achieve 90+% Defender efficiency. This one has been said several times but
FF/* Defender:
. Ins/Def+Dispersion = 43.75% Base DEF, 0% to Psychic
Ill/FF Controller
. Group Invis+Ins/Def+Dispersion = 42.5% DEF, 7.5% to Psychic
Do I want to see Controller Nerfs? No! But there has got to be some differentiation. In essence, is that Controller providing more? At the higher lvls, yes. Group Invis might not last as long as the shields but not only does it protect against Psychic damage but it's DEF bonus lasts about as long as a normal, non-AV fight lasts.
Look at the difference between a Rad/* Defender and an Earth/Rad Controller. The base DEF Debuff of RI+Earthquake is comparable to that of the Defender's RI. However, the Defender often has to slot it for Acc DeBuff because he does not posses a power which deals continual KnockUp to his opponents. EF might give a 7% larger RES DeBuff but the Controller can gear himself to -DEF and -RES while the Defender must split it between -RES, -ACC and/or -DEF.
Let me make a pole in the AT section with several powers listed so that you get a good feel for how others are percieving the shared sets. I know it would be enlightening. You basically have to ask yourself, since you and the Dev team do play this game too, can you honestly tell in the course of normal game (i.e. PvE) play the difference between a Defender's and a Controller's:
Clear Mind
Fortitude
Recovery Aura
Regenerative Aura
Adrenalin Boost
Deflection Shield
Insulation Shield
Dispersion Bubble
Force Bubble
Transfusion
Increase Density
Speed Boost
Inertial Reduction
Transference
Fulcrum Shift
Radiation Infection
Accelerate Metabolism
Enervating Field
Lingering Radiation
EM Pulse
Steamy Mist
Freezing Rain
Hurricane
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This is a good point, and I could add many more powers to that list too. Gale, Tornado, Thunderclap, Lightning Storm and thats just from Storm.
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This is a good point, and I could add many more powers to that list too. Gale, Tornado, Thunderclap, Lightning Storm and thats just from Storm.
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Just look at the entire FF set.
PFF, Dispersion, Deflection, and Insulation operate at 80% for a Controller relative to a Defender.
Now look at everything else....
Force Bolt, Force Bubble, Repulsion Field, Repulsion Bomb, and Detention Field are *identical* for a Controller and a Defender. No meaningful differences whatsoever! Not only are these powers a highly situational bag of tricks - but the Controller can use them at *equal* effectiveness to the Defender. How's that for a fair trade-off?
Thanks for the chime in Statesman, I made a Rad/Rad defender and so far my SG seems to really like teaming with him.
Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)
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Anyways, defenders have a secondary too. One common thing I see is a defender at lvl30 with nearly all their primaries, a bunch of (useful usually) pool powers, and 1 secondary power, usually unslotted. Look, it's your fault if you completely ignore your secondary and then complain about controllers who devote powers and slots to their secondary. If a team is doing O.K. without your heals/debuffs, switch over to blasting. Take your AoEs and slot them up defenders!
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This is a great point! I actually did the opposite here. Slotted my single targets and left my AOEs with just 1 acc. Since I'm kinetics, combine FS + SP and I'm at the damage cap in no time. On a side-related-note, This past weekend I was on an 8 man team, 1 tank, 2 blaster, 2 controllers, 2 defenders, and 1 scrapper. We were doing a lvl 43 nemesis mission (now I'm only 38). One controller (earth/emp) was nice enough to give my fortitude. The tank gathers all the villians in to a nice cluster and before he could kill them, I FS and hit Psychic Wail. I killed every minion and left only 1-2 lts/boss with less than 1/3 health or less. Needless to say, everyone was speechless. What I came to realize was this...Since I was kinetic, I play my defender as a blaster, therefore, I request support buffs from other support ATs. Given the proper buffs, I can not only heal and buff, but I can do serious damage.
But this story isn't to say that defenders don't need help...but I think part of the problem with defenders is everyone expects us to be only used for SUPPORT. On the flip side, you give defenders the ability to damage more and where does that leave the blaster? I believe this is the problem that the Devs have with defenders .
PS - PW only 1 slotted with 1 recharge.
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Why is Dark so good? Because it's like a Controller
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I have to say this is true. I usually play controllers, but I've taken to dark/dark like a fish to water because it's more controller-like than my grav/kin. That is not to say that this is a bad thing; on the contrary, it's why I think my dark/dark is so much fun to play, so I hope they don't change it.
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/agreed
My high-level 4D is in an interesting situation on her usual SG-based team: she's role-reversed with the Controller (mc/emp). The controller is the "healer" (and is very good at it). Spookie is the "lockdown and debuff" specialist. Not that they don't cross over. The Controller's primary set also has terrific lockdown capabilities and Spookie's (and Fluffy's) heals often give the Controller more opportunity to use those powers. But for the most part, they tend to do "each other's job." 
Dark/dark/dark defenders = honorary Controllers! 
"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."
Statesman,
I want to add my opinion here that Defenders make the game faster and safer, but they aren't needed. They shouldn't be needed. No AT should be. Certain tasks or teams may feel they need them and thats great.
Every time you post that you like Defenders but are concerned that they aren't needed (twice so far that I've noticed), many of us worry. If the game is changed to the point where you "need" a Defender (or *any* AT) then doesn't that fly directly in the face of your goal of allowing people to solo at any point in their career?
I don't ask to be able to do all content but I ask to be able to solo at all levels in a non-tedious way, if I'm willing to skip team-only content. Making Defenders, or any AT, "needed" pushes the soloability zone from "already too narrow at times" to "so darned tedious or dangerous that you won't want to solo but someone can claim that, *technically* you can."
Please keep your former promise (to allow soloing, but to encourage teaming) by making teaming more fun, not by making soloing less fun or less possible.
I wonder why people think Defenders are not important. I love teaming with them, and I have 2 myself. I think it may be a lack of attention to the secondary. My Scrappers, Tankers, Controllers and even to a degree my Blasters ALL slot their seconday equally when compared to the primary. I feel a Defender is most balanced when they do they same. Some people view this as an "Offender" but I think a Defender who is as happy using his seconday as his primary will be one who brings more to a team.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan