Problem isn't support/dps or the devs... it's us

For your major point, does this imply that our role could have been determined by the choices we made: our powerset, powers used, SP allocation, and Gear equipped rather than an actual role? Or does it mean that each power would have had just one role: tank, healer, controller, or dps?

Exactly I see no remedy for this. And with the dps population growing each and every day, its only a matter of time before the extreme lack of support roles affects the game in a negative way( loss of players, drop subs, etc).

So essentially making the game completely dps( ex. Warframe, defiance, dust) would be more beneficial, considering there is no options to actually save support roles without an intense overhaul like the AM rollouts.

They've done that for many aspects. I think making the debuffs more substantial would make controlling more valuable to a team, as well as more fun. Would also encourage two controller runs.

For healers, decreasing resto or the effective healing of resto would encourage two healer runs. Another idea would be to have NPCs put out more consistent, low level damage to the group. That seems a little tougher to accomplish, though.

They've already introduced some interesting mechanics encouraging two tanks.

Perhaps the most radical idea would be to penalize DPS stacking by scaling NPC numbers or their health relative to the number of DPS. More DPS = more adds and/or higher NPC health.

Personally, I'm more in favor of making support more engaging than penalizing DPS.

I would say nerf resto. However Resto is mainly high for healers shields. If healers shields were calculated differently. Lets say 125% of the players health instead of their resto, then I would support player resto nerf, I mean resto adjustment.

Skipping the original (T2) raids..
FOS 1 raid originally required 2 tanks on Spider fight in and 2 trollers to toss adds.
FOS 2 raid required 2 tanks at the bridge. And 2 at the split path.

Gates originally required 2 trollers minimum for spears and power usage. 2 tanks was required but it helped.
Prime originally required two tanks 1 for adds and 1 for current boss.

Nexus 2 Tanks for split.
Dox Tanks for adds.

A&B 2 Trollers for manhunters.
etc.

Those were just the ones I could remember. The content has always had a spot for support. Once it's under powered, people eusually revert back to 5-1-1-1.

I know that this may be difficult but to alleviate some of the issues with people abusing the dual role selection during queuing up, how about we make it so that in order to pick you up for support role you have to hit the minimum cr requirements in that support roles armor for that instance.

I'd hope the former rather than the latter.

The latter would just leave 90% of the playerbase playing the DPS powers and the rest would be reclusive hermits hiding from all the DPS as they are too in demand but no one wants to play one themselves =p

The thing is also, support isn't that bad at lower levels. Did Area 51 in support role start to finish, everyone was level 13, everyone was DPS except me (healer in DPS gear), I still came second on damage and at 2/3 that of the highest (who was quantum and knew what they were doing). Problem is, by the time you're 120 with full tactical mods, skill points spent, super inflated DPS gear... the power creep is real.

DPS aren't going to like the tough love it would take to bring things in line, and they already show resentment to support asking for the same level of power creep so that things progress the in line relative to each other from 10-110.

Maybe they should nerf all dps might and precision

That would only encourage more dps stacking.

Ever since we had the "super" defense debuff by one of the batmans in Dox, many trolls have been asking for a similar feature for 2 trolls to be able to do something similar to that. It's a way to increase damage to enemies without giving all that potential to the DPS.

They could just offset by changing the resto percentage for shield strength.

The desire was irksome because it didn't have much to do with the original post. If it had anything constructive to provide, it's to say that "small is relative."

No.....if they nerfed to the point where threshold induced survivebility due to lack of damage..meaning dps stay in stance longer due to slower burn...the longer dos are in..the more damage taken..the more healing needed...the power needed from healing...the more damage needed to be dealt...the more power needed for damage to be dealt.

The problem is with op ing dps....at this point its abscene

Yes this. I had voted earlier in another thread about trollers having all 3 debuffs up at once to trigger a special effect to increase group damage. However this idea works too.

This is, unfortunately, very true. Similarly, increasing support damage wouldn't fix the issue either. The solution has to involve more than damage. DPS will always do more damage than support. If they were ever made equal, that would mean the DPS role has essentially been eliminated.

I think the problem with support is they have damage envy. Every thread talk about doing more dps. The community have nothing to do with 5-1-1-1, it's all content design. 2 healers aren't needed because most damage in raids are one shot, so all that is needed is burst heals. 2 tanks not needed in most content because, this mmo 2 tank synergy is terrible, unless the 2 tanks are in different areas. 2 trolls are not needed because of the power back am. How could the community be blamed for content the devs made? Up until throne, and now HH 2 tanks was never needed after first week. 2 healers were used up until t5 when everything was one shots, and 2 trollers was needed up until AM. These are facts, not opinions. Can't see how anyone can say the devs is not at fault for 5-1-1-1

What if the devs stop making powers with a dps role. For example, water works as troll and tank. It would cause a momentary uproar but would help in the long run. Or if the devs have more time on their hands, give each power each role. The issue currently is that every power can dps, so the damage role outweighs the amount of possible other roles.

"There was a time when being the best dps was almost orgasmic. ???"

Either I'm DPS'ing or some folks are having Sex really wrong if this is the case....LOL

Players need to run solo/small group content too. Running those as support is a pain.

Just an fyi: My healer has 19K health and 12K restoration. This would make shields even stronger than they are now.