This post is mainly regarding the recent Titan patch and the quote mentioning that Defender K/D ratios are sub-1.0 levels and that's "ok because they are a support class." This was one big irk for me and I'll lay out my reasoning the best I can. 'Tis a long post; hopefully you're bored or on the crapper. We can go one of two ways with this excerpt from the patch notes. Either support-type classes are there purely for support roles, and those subclasses labeled as support (Nightstalker and sunsinger) should be brought down to be on par with Defenders; OR Defenders should receive several changes to their trees to make them more viable in the game. Now all three of these classes have their upsides for PvE. Don't get me wrong, they are all incredibly fun to play. Night stalkers pump out 4,8,12, orbs per super if they pop it just right with the max I've seen so far was an estimated 14. (Will of crota, fallen drop ship portion. Shadowshot onto a group of a dozen vandals, and four captains. It was magnificent when the Nova Bomb landed.) and with the added blinding or stealth smoke usage, Nightstalkers kick some serious ass as a support role. Sunsingers don't have nearly the love but yet still retain some fun and usefulness. The biggest use is the self res for those moments when everyone done -blam!-ed up and you want to have a second chance without resetting to the checkpoint. Other than that, sunsinger is a hardy, balanced class with killer grenades. (Regarding song of flame as part of their support role, I've seen it used twice counting all the way back to VoG.) They exist as this floaty ball of fire that just never seems to die and are awesome for that. With Defenders, we have a nice addition to everything everywhere. A haven from damage and enemies if we have Saint-14. A slight increase to armor or damage. And there is where it ends. Maybe if we spec just right we could squeeze some orbs outta that bubble but let's hope the boss or several adds keep shooting it until those extra three orbs fall out. Maybe we could kill a small ad and then melee all the other small ads to make orbs too! But let's hope we don't take damage and loose the overshield, run into anyone too big, ads slink away, etc etc. Iron Harvest is fun at times but a slight chance to make an orb on every fourth or fifth guy you kill isn't worth ditching the other perks in that tree. Titan bubbles are for the slight damage buffs for boss rights and somewhere to take cover for 15-20 seconds. Which, don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. But as someone who has mained a Titan for PvE since I purchased the game three weeks after launch, Nightstalker is a clearly better addition as far as support roles. And arguably the best. Would it be too much to ask for small tweaks to the Defender tree to make it just a little more fun in PvE? (Sunsingers too, don't get me wrong. But I'll concentrate on defenders for this post.) Maybe orb creation for kills made while under armor/weapon damage buffs similar to Nightstalker with similar orb creation mechanics. A bubble that stays with the Titan at the cost of mobility. A melee ability that doesn't require you to kill anyone with it to activate. And obviously make them more tanky. They are already the slowest class, why can the warlock take more damage by equipping a certain piece of armor? This is just a small list however, sound off below if you have any ideas as well. And now we come to the PvP section. And before we start, try to ignore all those times lag has screwed something up. I know we could be here for days listing the crap we've all seen and died from but that's not what this post is for. Yes, Defenders can be beast. All the classes can. Pairing the Chaperone with No Back Up Plans is a glorious combination. But overall in PvP, the Defender is sad. The magnetic grenade is a good grenade. Not fantastic but it'll get the job done. Vortex grenade is laughable in every way. Extremely situational and best case scenario enemies walk through its whirlwind of violent puffing without losing much health, if at all. The suppressor grenade is my personal favorite. Banking throws and shutting down supers gives you a huge feeling of accomplishment like no other. If you've cared to watch the YouTube videos, it's a viable and fun strategy. But it's entirely based on timing and prediction. This grenade requires you to toss it where you hope the enemy will be and hope they are in the explosion radius enough to be effected. The overwhelming disappointment in chucking a grenade at someone mid-super, watching it bounce off their chest, and them obliterating you as they casually pass by and then your ghost can see your faded ray of hope, life and survival bounce once more on the ground and finally exploding is...such a sad thing to experience. But alas, the melee of an armored, supportive sub-class with their entire lore and history based in taking damage and shielding himself and others from all harm will be impressive? Nope. Maybe if you get within range of an injured enemy, you can then melee them for normal damage, and only if you kill them will you receive an overshield with a few varying perks or usefulness. Choose wisely though, you can either reload fast, have this slowly recharge as long as you don't loose it, or make orbs if the Universe creates a scenario where melee kills consecutively kill people in the crucible. This is more situationally hopeful than using a sword as your heavy. But surely the super will make this class useable! Described as impenetrable and unbreakable, the perks from this super will surely be amazing. Nope. An armor buff that can give you a one second buffer from primary weapon damage or a weapon damage buff that lets you kill somewhat faster. Kinda cool, okay, but is that it? Pretty much. The bubble provides a "safe" area but you are still very prone to dying anyway. Bubbles are gigantic targets for supers, ( not even destroying them like strikers, just wait for the bubble to die and charge) blade dancers skip inside with glee cutting down you and all treammates, golden gun downs it in two shots with an extra for you, nova bomb allows for the kill at range, storm caller is waiting to the side to go Darth Sidious on everyone who just so happen to be standing next to each other for optimal shockage; unless they have that lightning bolt of course. Nightstalker and sunsinger are the only ones who are forced to wait until the bubble goes down to Initiate anything (disregarding an overshield melee with a shotgun). Again, there are situational perks to the bubble. Saint-14 is a solid option when you hopefully have people dumb enough to walk inside it time after time. Orb creation after the initial two is not possible without a perk selected with the hope of someone unloading massive damage into your bubble wall for some reason. I guess this is all okay when you slap the title of "support class" on there and it's all acceptable. But let's look at the other "support" classes. And please don't take this as a cry for nerfs. Radiance can either bring you back to life, or gain more armor for a brief session for Oprah style grenade tossing and a five foot melee with guaranteed kills vs standard enemies plus an overshield. Even kills with weapon damage gives orbs. Awesome? Hell yes. Let's go to Nightstalker. Kudos to Hunters for having a support class now. As I said before, Nightstalkers are the most loved support class in strikes and largely loved in raids. And now in PvP, they can have one large or three small miniature black holes that slow, increase damage, partially blind, disorient, and suppresses every ability and movement speed. Ever been hit with that suppression field while in the air? It's like a flash bang, sucking you to the ground, a forced blink and turning you 70 degrees left and freezing you until you die from two shots to the head. The complaints of shadowshot not instantly activating on hit are annoying. Suck it up. Time your super for once. Nightstalker gains stealth or a poison, and for the most part an evade ability. The ONLY thing lacking with the Nightstalker are the grenades. So why is it a "support" class of a Titan is lacking so much in PvP when compared to another "support" class? The only time we get to suppress an enemy is if we get a lucky bankshot with a grenade every 2-3 minutes. And that's without the movement reducing, disorienting, damage modifier (unless we happen to pop our specifically made and perked damage bubble!) So where does this leave us? Either bring other support classes down to the offensively-handicapped Defenders OR we can modify the Defender tree to be more viable offensively in Crucible. Just a few ideas/thoughts: Mobile bubbles centered around the Titan. All bubbles will last for the full duration regardless of the Titans death. Two or three individual bubbles that last for 10 seconds each. Instead of bubbles, send out a pulse or aura that grants armor and damage increase. Instant suppression and blinding for anyone absent minded enough to jump into a bubble. Opaque bubbles. Instead of dropping two orbs upon activation, drop one orb every five seconds the bubble is up; max three. Ability to shoot out of bubbles. Orb creation on kills while buffed from bubble. Suppression grenades explode on impact. Suppression grenades double with magnet grenades and give us back something useless, say void wall grenade? Flash bang grenade is a thought but it would clash with striker grenades. A melee that gives overshield on hit, not kill. That's been universally wanted ever since launch. Feel free to list thoughts below. Sound off guardians. What are your thoughts on my thoughts?