Defensive item changes

So we're several weeks/months into S3 already and I got curious. What do you think about the defensive item changes?

I myself feel mixed about it. Several items that got used a lot got hit hard ( Stone of Gaia) which kinda makes me sad a bit.

For the cloak tree I don't have a load of comments as this one is still pretty good, cause duo protections is always nice.

for the other 2 trees I do find the Iron Mail tree getting pretty outclassed Breastplate one. I know the Iron Mail one gives HP, however I do find they can give some more protections. next patch Sovereignty gonna get it getting the amount of protections to 60 (for this item on stats you need to include the aura) getting close to the 75-80 protections in the other tree.
IMO the Iron Mail tree should either have a HP or protection boosts (only exclude sov for it) Even in costs the tree is higher (cause Mystical Mail which got pretty bad now)

the other trees for physical are fitting a more niche build (e.g. lotus crown

Magical protection the Talisman tree is pretty fine (only heartward could get the increase sov's getting too)

However the other tree for magical protection are less. I don't really find the passives on Enchanted Kusari tree that good (the Genji's Guard is the better one for movementspeed only Oni Hunter's Garb is countered hardly by basic attacks, guardian initiation and DoT abilities)

The Enchanted Buckler tree is also more for a niche

And lastly the health/regen tree (I think regen tree is the better name for it wasn't it). IMO this tree is really bad. passive wise the items are all good. stats wise they are so bad.
The problem here is the regen. it's a good stat too have but during a fight it's useless af. HR really needs to rework/remove this tree. Or they should make it into a health tree by boosting the amount of Hp the items give.
If you really want to have a regen item Heartward Amulet, Sovereignty and even traveller's shoes are as good.

So this is my opinion on most of the trees.

Yo Dev,

I'm also sad about Stone of Gaia. Was such a core item in Assault (but that's about it). The rest of the regen tree is underwhelming...still very sad about Mail of Renewal. And I see Gauntlet of Thebes being misused, at least in Assault...recent game, I was Hel, and our Odin picked that up first...really? I mean, I guess I get the idea, but that's pretty unnecessary as long as I'm doing my job and they play it safe enough. 26 minute match, 60k healing =P

The Cloak tree definitely feels the most solid these days to me...Urchin was always a good item, and the other nerfs have definitely given stronger emphasis to this.

Feels like Hi-Rez is really trying to balance things though. Season 2 was almost always Heartward Amulet + Sovereignty, and I still really like that the aura matches the general protection stat. With the start of Season 3, it was pretty strongly Breastplate of Valor + Bulwark of Hope, but both of those have seen minor nerfs. Along with the new buff to Sov, feels like things are closer than ever, which is probably a good thing.

I'm not too excited about all of the new items, though. I pretty much never get Genji/Oni, etc.

In the end, I think they're moving in the right direction for standard items overall, but definitely need a rework of some type in the Regen tree and the new items...maybe.

Stone of Gaia was a good pick up in solo lane for magical protections against a non healing mage as it gave 80 protection like Pestilence

overall they need to still tweak (or even rework) a lot of items to reach the goal of getting them all used in some way (from global to niche) like LoL and Dota has. They are on a good path tho when you look at builds now compared to last seasons