As far as I could tell their cheast-beating animation never actually did anything before. It's likely that they have been fixed and now work properly.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
I haven't noticed anything about lieutenants, but I have noticed that some of the Troll bosses now ignore Mesmerize, which has an increased magnitude compared to most other mez powers and cheerfully one-shots almost all other bosses.
The Critter AI was changed a while ago. It appears to make most critters use self/group buffs much faster and earlier in their combat sequence. In many cases, self buffs now take priority as the first power they use, instead of their most powerful attack.
As far as I remember, some Troll Lts have always had Integration, and one of the Bosses has Invincibility... but they didn't really turn them on until they got below 25-50% health. Now, enemies tend to turn on these types of effects from the beginning of the battle instead.
Similar things can be said for many other enemy groups as well.
I've been noticing it too, and not just on Trolls.
It appears that all of the melee-class NPCs who have NPC versions of anti-mez powers
are now actually getting the full status protection those powers should have been providing.
I've seen NPC versions of both Integration and Unstoppable providing massive mez protection and knockback protection, even on non-EB level mobs who lack the purple triangles of controller death.
6000+ levels gained and 8 level 50's
Hello, my name is Soulwind and I have Alt-Itis.
I've noticed the change to Trolls, and the cloaking device on KoA's has a serious defence now too: "Deflected Deflected Deflected.." (and yes, I checked the last chance to hit and it is significant now compared to the previous version. It's possible that previously the defence suppressed when they attacked but it no longer does.)
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"Chew Electric Death, Snarling Cur!"
So Troll Lts were giving my Grav/Eng Dom some serious hassle tonight. If they get the chance to pop Integration before I can hold them I'm not able to hold them unless Dom is up. I'm under the impression Castle "went through the code" and made several NPC power(sets) work better. Malta Titians basically got a buff now that they properly cycle their powers, and even use powers they didn't know they had. Did Troll Lts get the same treatment?
I've arrested a lot of Trolls and I don't ever remember them having full on mez protection, although I remember them using the animation. In the past when they used Integration I just assumed it was some sort of +Res buff since I've never had a problem holding them in the past. Come to think of it, if there's a power that you can get by level 20 that will hold/sleep/stun/KB a Troll I have used that power to mez a Troll and not given it a second thought.
I don't mind the buff, and since they have Integration it makes sense it works as intended.