So I got a PM from Synapse about buffing Tankers

A discussion of how tankers should have devastating attacks is really approaching the game from an alternative design approach and is better suited for discussion about a new game than it is for one that's been around for seven years.

I am not concerned with Tanker damage at all. My main, Major Decoy, an Invulnerability/Super Strength tank, does not use Rage; I still have no trouble soloing missions. I don't feel like I need more damage.

There are certainly times when I find that I need to use taunt because a Claws/Invulnerability scrapper is stealing aggro if I don't, so I wouldn't mind better aggro management tools.

If I were to boost tankers, there are a couple of things I'd try:

1) Revert back to the first incarnation of Gauntlet, warn tanks to be careful with Energy Transfer.
Not a serious consideration, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

2) Give every tanker attack a PBAoE heal, normalize the heal value by casting time.
There would be a benefit from having more than one tanker on a team, and it would increase tanker survivability. I wouldn't have this heal affected by slotting.

One thing I keep seeing repeated in this entire hullabaloo: End game, End game, End game. Incarnate end game.

Here's a thought, albeit one I don't believe is necessary, that may get things on track to more realistic ideas.

Just like now, where your second and third level shifts do not work unless you're in an incarnate trial (IE. as Lambda, BAF, Keyes, UG etc.), would it make any sense what-so-ever to set it so the Tank dmg cap is raised by 100% during incarnate trials? Nowhere else in the game, only in the incarnate trials.

Have him raise up HP and Resists cap for Scrappers while he's at it...

JB, an oft touted definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again expecting different results. You may think you've changed tactics, but only in so much as to be less confrontational. Outside of that, it's been the same as always.

You keep quoting that old dev quote about "comic book tankers". There are no comic book tankers as the archetype system a convention of this MMO. Yes, they took inspiration from comic books, and placed labels over certain iconic characters inorder to develop the archetype system.

But MMOs are entire different from a comic book. A good writer can take a "scrapper" and write them out to appear more like a "tanker" for example.

As to that quote from way back when, it was brought up about given Tankers higher damage attacks, with longer activation times and longer recharge times.

Gecko shot it down, stating that the longer activation times across the board made for the gameplay to feel way too slow and had the problem of those with faster activating attacks getting their damage in before the longer animating attacks finally did their damage.

He also shot down the longer recharging, higher damage attacks basically sayting that nothing stopped the Tanker from still completing a extremely high damage attack chain, that (even back then on SOs and don't forget perma-hasten was possible pre-ED) with enough recharge, an attack chain would be repeatable to the point of there not being the need to have such long recharge times as a hinderance.

Because of those two possibilities, there would be nothing to differentiate Tankers from Scrappers except that Tankers would end up actually be either too close to Scrapper damage, or in other cases do more than Scrappers. While still having the Tanker higher stats.

And FYI, many of the player examples toted about for the requests above were using Spider-Man or Wolverine (mostly the latter) for Scrappers, and Colossus or the Thing for Tankers.

That still doesn't change the fact that this is a video game, with archetypes designed for particular function(s). And while you spout that the "holy trinity" is bad, this game never was really designed around the "holy trinity".

From early on, it was discovered you could have really any team make up complete most content and that those niche roles could be of use anywhere (not no where!).

Tanker's aren't designed to be "military tanks". Nor are they designed to be "tanks from comics" as there aren't any Tankers in comics. No superhero has a aura that forces the bad guys to turn and fight them. No superhero has a punch that makes the other bad guys ignore the other heroes nearby and only attack the one to just punched their buddy.

And every superhero has at one point in time or another taunted a bad guy by saying or doing something in order to throw the bad guy off their game, get under their skin, or gain their attention. It's just the basis of for the design for the power Taunt. How it works and why it does is the convention of the MMO.

Tankers in this game have been designed to be aggro magnets, taking punishment to help their teammates survive difficult situations, while lasting long enough to defeat their enemies.

I agree that there may be some inequity when it comes to the AT. But I don't tend to think in the terms that they need to somehow do more damage by a straight forward means. Instead, I think that there needs to be something done about the gameplay mechanics for how a Tanker is played in order to set them apart a bit more from the other melee ATs. Right now, gauntlet, aggro aurus, and taunt are available to Brutes and Tankers only do so slightly better. THATs the problem.

Not the Brute damage, or possibility if built just so, and buffed to the caps by whatever for however long, that Brutes can do things that Tanker's can or can't. It's that Tankers don't behave differently enough because the tools that were more unique to them have been replicated elsewhere with only slight differences.

Give the Tankers some new tools is the answer. If those tools allow them to do some more damage, great. If they give them more melee control, great. Either way, the AT will play differently from the other melee ATs and hopefully, that will appeal to players.