Ninja Survivability

The only thing they changed is the bug that, in-game, displayed the power as accepting Recharge Intensive (it never did, but for a while until I reported it*, it said it did.)

*I can't prove it was my report, but the fix coincidentally came out shortly after I reported it.

I cannot speak to /traps, as I've never gotten one past level 10 or so. Mainly because I've never come up with a concept that did anything for me that included traps. It is widely held as one of the strongest secondaries.

I can speak somewhat to /storm. I got my ninja/storm to 28 over the weekend, and I'm having a blast. One of the defining abilities is hurricane, and good performance means you need to learn to use it wisely and with skill. For most mobs I turn on hurricane, run in and touch the mob carefully, sometimes strafing to keep them from scattering too much (depending on level layout), and at the same time dropping freezing rain where I intend them to end up. Once you have debuffed everything with hurricane, turn it off, it is an end hog. If I pull this off properly, all that is left is mop-up. These two powers alone are so effective at keeping them whiffing and bouncing on their arses, that it is not uncommon for my pets to stop attacking half way through a fight, because I keep them on defensive and the enemy hasn't landed an attack in a while.

The future only gets brighter from here - I haven't even started putting thunderclap to good use (just got it, it has bad accuracy and is only effective for me after freezing rain, and by then the fight is all but over). I don't have either defense bonus unique slotted yet, and only one of the resists. I haven't slotted mist for defense, I don't have maneuvers yet. Once I rectify these things, the true beat-downs begin.

If you're new to MMs, maybe try poison another time, it's mostly single-target, just like the ninjas, so the lack of AoE debuffs show, and the heal is pretty small. Neurotoxic Breath is pretty cool, and if you get up to lvl 38, Noxious Gas is awesome on a jounin, but the only other AoE move is a sleep, which the ninjas will snap them out of quickly. It's really good at high levls, but it's a tough ride there from what I hear.

My Nin/ MM uses Trick Arrow, which is seen as kind of weak by most but the synergy is there. Resistance/defense debuffs to enhance the Ninja's brutal damage, and slows/holds/damage debuffs to help with their squishiness. My old Nin MM used Pain Domination, which is also good, but you feel like you're chasing them around with your heals all the time, imo.