Before the enhancement overhaul, the paladin and fighter version of the defensive stances were cheaper, in terms of AP. Oh, they had some enhancement requirements, but for the most part the player had a choice of which enhancements to take in order to get the amount of AP needed to get the next tier of the stance. Furthermore, half of the stance benefits under the new system require a shield to be equipped, unlike under the old system in which one could be centered or decide not to use a shield.

I'm not going to argue about the shield requirement. However, I greatly dislike the way that the various benefits from the defensive stances take up space in the enhancement trees from tiers 1 through 5, while the stance itself cannot be accessed until fighter/paladin level 6. Even worse, the stance benefits require more AP than they did under the old system. I'm also not happy about having to pay for extra threat, which does not benefit the survival of the character.

Now, I can understand why the stances were arranged this way: It makes it possible for anyone to get the full benefits of the stance and still multiclass. That's great, in theory. However, the main benefits of the defender stances involve saves, AC, extra constitution and strength. I can get all of these by multiclassing, and not have to use a shield.

So please devs, clean up the defender trees. I would suggest putting the defensive stances itself at the first tier core ability, while the stance itself gets upgraded at the level 6, 12 and 18 core abilities. Then, please put some offensive abilities in the tree, since both the paladin and fighter defender trees are sorely lacking in offensive abilities. Alternatively, please combine passive defensive enhancements with stance-enhancing enhancements.