Well I won't argue that ward of dawn could use some love too. Without the helm of saint 14, which every good defender should have, it's lacking. With it, those 1 hit melee killers get blinded and are at your mercy. It's the single biggest increase to effectiveness I've gotten. But trash mobs don't kill parties, it's the praetorian style mobs and you said it, it's their melee that hurts, it's the boss mobs, the tanks, the Wizards, ect. Both Warlock specs and gunslingers don't have to deal with the risk a striker and bladedancer does, and are free to use their full arsenal, special included. Pre 24, we could act as their tank and take out the groups of adds including the majors. Post 24 anything with a shield or yellow bar will be barley dented by our special. That would be fine if we didn't have to get in the middle of the crowd to use it. Cause odds are we are getting killed afterwards. Strikers aren't equipped to take them on in melee like they should be. Like they could in tiger strikes and below. You level up, and get new gear, but your ability to perform your job goes backwards. Look man, I love the idea of the striker, and I made my titan with that play style in mind, but it's simply not as effective at the tasks you mention as other classes are at the same task. Bungie needs to take a long hard look at Titans in pve. They can't make them anymore durable against bullets without throwing balance out of whack, but they could give them a kind of melee shield so they are able to be the shotgun wielding juggernauts we all expected and go up against those bigger mobs to protect the team. That shield would simply be turned off in PVP. There is already armor abilities similarly handled. Right now, the defender has force barrier. The striker has the worst melee in the game. Seriously wtf good is it post 24. You can't kill anything but the lowest enemies in 1-2hit. The aoe is worthless at that point, fist cool down is worthless at that lvl, regen is the only real option and it's never once saved my life. With the defender you get a shield as the damn base ability, blade dancers go invisible, sundinger a get a shield, void walkers can at least benefit from decreased special cool down. Strikers need the shield, not the defender. That would go along way to getting me to switch.but it's still not enough. Again, I'm not saying you can't play a striker and succeed. only that it's the least effective spec in weeklies, nightfall, raids, and boss fights because as a class built for up close damage, incoming enemy damage and def is far too strong to be as effective as warlocks and gunslingers. All you are left with is guns, grenades, and killing dregs with fist. Because of this, most Titans roll defender, and I'd be willing to bet my house that bungies internal stats show just that. If bungie gives us a third spec, and wants everyone to have a PVP spec, then so be it. Otherwise they need works. I've now exhausted this discussion and can't imagine I can dig anything else out of my head:)