Which feat to drop for new Shield Mastery?

[sephiroth1084]

So I'm looking at the new Shield Mastery feat (check out the Lama release info) and trying to decide which feat to drop to pick this up on my Defender of Siberys AC threat tank.

Basically, I'm choosing between Dodge and the Fighter Past Life.

They both provide +1 AC, though Dodge will do so all of the time, while the FPL is dependent upon my Dex bonuses and gear. Dodge is kind of future-proofed as its bonus isn't subject to changing equipment. The FPL, though, gives me 3 clickies of +4 attack per rest, which have come in handy against some of the very high AC targets in epic content (djinns on the VoN 6 bases and the Abishai Devastator). I hope to eventually acquire an ESoS, which should take care of that issue with its additional +4 to-hit over my other weapons, but I don't know when that will come.

[Junts]

So I'm looking at the new Shield Mastery feat (check out the Lama release info) and trying to decide which feat to drop to pick this up on my Defender of Siberys AC threat tank.

Basically, I'm choosing between Dodge and the Fighter Past Life.

They both provide +1 AC, though Dodge will do so all of the time, while the FPL is dependent upon my Dex bonuses and gear. Dodge is kind of future-proofed as its bonus isn't subject to changing equipment. The FPL, though, gives me 3 clickies of +4 attack per rest, which have come in handy against some of the very high AC targets in epic content (djinns on the VoN 6 bases and the Abishai Devastator). I hope to eventually acquire an ESoS, which should take care of that issue with its additional +4 to-hit over my other weapons, but I don't know when that will come.

It really depends how often you'd use a shield. I admit I don't even plan to pick it up: I tank with a shield too little, even as good as it is.

[wax_on_wax_off]

What has happened to improved shield mastery and dwarven shield mastery enhancements in all of this, does anyone know?

This is the death of the intimidating shield blocking tank, isn't it?

Sigh.

[callforkills]

the answer is simple :

Dodge doesnt stack with haste.

[erikbozelie]

the answer is simple :

Dodge doesnt stack with haste.

hah? yes it does xD

dodge feat stacks with haste.

[Dunklerlindwurm]

the answer is simple :

Dodge doesnt stack with haste.

False Info

[Teharahma]

the answer is simple :

Dodge doesnt stack with haste.

L O L
Fail.

[Feithlin]

What has happened to improved shield mastery and dwarven shield mastery enhancements in all of this, does anyone know?

This is the death of the intimidating shield blocking tank, isn't it?

Sigh.

Improved shield mastery has not yet been implemented from what I read in the lamma section, but I suppose it will provide a similar bonus to shield mastery. No idea about dwarven enhancements. They will probably stay the same until the devs get rid of the fixes of all the changes u9 is bringing to the game :)
Intimi / shield blocking tanking seems dead, yes. The buffer obtained from a successful intimidate doesn't even seem enough for more than 1 or 2 swings from a single melee :/ A successful use still gives (or should give :p) aggro for 3 sec., but the cd is increased to 15 sec.
So the idea will be to intimidate at some key moments to help hate tanking. At the same time, they try to give enough hate bonuses for wielding a shield to make it possible for S&B to keep aggro. Not sure if all those bonuses will be enough to compensate the loss of the added dps from using TWF or THF though.
Blocking won't necessarily disapear, but will only occur very occasionnaly, to keep a boss while the raid kills another for example, or to keep things under control there is a suden death of a big part of the raid, etc.
It will probably require adjustments in the future to make it work, mainly for the buffer and/or the added hate generation.

[sephiroth1084]

It really depends how often you'd use a shield. I admit I don't even plan to pick it up: I tank with a shield too little, even as good as it is.
Lately I've been using a shield more, partly because the Epic Swasbuckler + Cutlass are more DPS than the Epic Antique Greataxe (I could make a better 2-hander in the Shroud, but I don't want to spend larges on a weapon that I'm just hanging onto until I can get an ESoS): http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=309251 (and this was with Bloodstone included by accident for the EAG when tanking, which it wouldn't be), so for the time being at least, even on normal I'll probably be tanking with that set-up. On elite, the extra 20% on the scimitar will help out if I'm using CE, and when the new update hits having +15 intimidate in an easy slot (on the weapon) will be nice.

Importantly, though, when U9 hits having a good DPS weapon with Vorpal on it will be pretty sweet. And if I'm going to be using it at all frequently, having the passive DR 10% seems pretty nice, and with the option of switching to a heavier shield for another 5-10% DR.

That seems a lot more worthwhile to me, even as only an infrequent bonus, than +1 AC.