Wow, when did the Vanguard Rogue's get stupid hard?

Been awhile since I ran thru the old RWZ story arcs so I thought I would give them a pass again on a dark/dark brute. Now at level 45 there arnt too many villain or hero groups that I dread fighting. But after doing 3 missions of Gaussian's arc I had to wonder, WTH is wrong with my toon.

I've had no problems fighting against Malta, or Carnies, Circle or anything else. But these guys were nearly killing me on every turn.

A even conning group of 2 rogue vanguard were wiping out nearly all of my hitpoints in a matter of seconds. All my enhancements are in the green. So is it this power combo or does this group maybe need to be looked at and nerfed. Hell, they've done enough nerfing to regen that maybe that arc should get a pass by the devs.

On a special note, while I was griping and grumbling about it in the chat room someone who was playing a high end WP tanker chimed in with a here here! Meaning that they had problems on that arc too. So were the devs feeling particularly @#!$y that day when they designed them?

I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary with them. Vanguard have always been crazy hard.

EDIT: And by crazy hard, I mean pretty much the most brutal baddies in the game

I dont know, maybe I've just been playing too long. But when stuff like this happens and 2 even level minions take down a level 45 toon in under half a minute, really makes me want to go elsewhere.

If I was on a blaster and screwed up on a pull or something like that I can see it. But even a brute should be able to last against 2 fricken minions. Maybe that's just the frustration talking right now. I'm logging out before I break something.

Biggest thing to worry about them:
Any of their melee attacks usually do around a 40 percent resistance debuff. Each. The big thing to watch out for is the bayonets and claws. If you can keep them out of melee, they're tough opponents but not unreasonable.

But if they start stabbing you with the +5 melee weapons of bull hockey, you can get boned in a hurry.

_________________
Currently listening to Ah! My Goddess O.S.T. the Singles by Some Japanese Guy

Yeah, and they've been like that since launch. It's a real gawdamned shame you have to put up with them to unlock Dark Watcher.

Edit- Also, watch out for that nasty endurance debuff they pack. IIRC you can spend V merits to get a temp power that counters it. But that, of course, is an attrocious waste of V merits.

What others said. Vanguard Sword are only painful when they're in melee. Keep them at range, and they're cheesepuffs.

I wonder if anyone's ever survived their first whole encounter with them? They are tough, indeed.

Depends on the Scrapper, Tanker or Brute. Some sets have ranged attacks, some have controls/debuffs, and high-defense sets avoid the resistance debuffs entirely. I never knew Vanguard debuffed resistance until reading this thread because everytime I fought them in melee, it was on my SR scrapper or Invulnerability tanker.

Vanguard, the enemies that make Tankers hide behind Blasters.

Rogue Vanguards never gave any of my melee characters trouble.

Use mezzes (KB/KD falls in that too). Jump out when you're debuffed and back in when you're fine. Kite. Don't aggro multiple groups at a time. Use insps. If all else fails, you can also pull.

There's lots of options, and I have no sympathy for anyone who calls for a nerf on them. Stick to behemoths or crazed bosses if you want a chalengeless experience, and leave my vanguard friends alone.