I think ErDrick’s comment talking about Winter Nexus and DC helps bring some of the conversation back into focus, this is not just a GK issue. The current appropriate preparation for GK and DC is the 20% fire vulnerability buff. Citan at one point has said he does not expect players to unlock every skill, so what non-combat skills should players have? If an unarmed player wanted a combo-attack-buff in GK, I think his group would do everything they could to talk him out of it. Some of the damage outputs to an un-mitigated player are absolutely brutal. I don’t shut people out from group if they don’t have something but I absolutely push people to get meditation up to 39, and 2 rez abilities on their sidebar (1 and switching when on cool down is fine). From EQ-days an MMO staple of balance-theory became “if one item becomes absolutely required for a class/players to be present, it’s not balanced” per their manastone fiasco in 1999. Having said this, the 20% Mediation buff is the right way to play (this line was intended to be a trigger for Citan).

The devs wanted details: When I tank I use the thick armor potions and meditation buff and about 660 HP. My unarmed/psych build is low armor by most standards (572) needs time to get started, and absolutely needs me to get off ‘but I love you’ and ‘tell me about your mother’ for -25% and -32 dmg to the big hitters. I’ll restore my own armor whenever I fall below half. I aim for 3-mobs of any type when I pull. Troopers are more dangerous than infiltrators here. This build avoids mages because I can’t get agro and run around a corner fast enough for them. My staff/shield is looking at 875 armor. With troopers/mages I don’t blink at 5, but infiltrators are dangerous. Their rage venomstrike is brutal and I never want to pull more than two infiltrators at once. The issue is not necessarily me dying, but other players picking up agro from an add when my taunt is down and being melted before anyone realizes they have agro (I’ve blown some taunts on non-elites and it’s painful).

I hate suggesting things that require extra programming. However I like danger and here are my recommendations, the goal is to make more engaging game play:
Greatly increase mobs HP for elites.
Dis-allow the Rage+Crits interaction.
Create a rule that causes elites to deal more damage the longer they stay alive in combat(maybe capped at 250% after a minute). This makes kill order important, and should kick mez-refresh waiting solorers to the curb. I see this as a trade-off from the crit nerf above.
Allow elites to rez their friends and mez their foes. This should further nullify the dreams of any solo player vs elites.
Allow cure disease to put out burning damage/trauma/root/snare (and make it in the tool tip). This will make cure disease a requirement, but it’s better than requiring players to rez. It’s to throw a bone at the players melting in DC.
Allow players to break his/her own current stun with unfetter like abilities. Because… c’mon!
I think this could correct the “Citan falls asleep in groups” issue.