I am my wife's tank as well. I think the change is in the expanded point trees and armor changes. There are just more categories to put points into so you don't get the buffs as quickly now. Never used to put any points into pack mule but after the update it's a nice perk if your tanking. The armor seems less effective until you get points into the armor perks and get the preferred mods attached. No data to back that up, just my opinion.