I know this game isn't based around the classical roles that other MMO's are, and I'm fine with that. I still would like to be somewhat of a tanking character, because the role seems to me to be the most appropriate for a superhero (and I've grown to like it). With my Might character, I've used Str/Con as my superstats and the Might Inate Talent Superhuman to boost those. Now that I have access to Celestial, I've been playing around with the stuff in that set and I've noticed that Divinity (the Celestial Inate Talent) seems tailor made for a tanking character.

So I ask, how important is Presence for aggro management? Should I take Divinity? Should I superstat Presence instead of Strength? Would it be wiser to take Divinity and SS Str, or should I just use gear to up my Presence (although I'm still planning on using gear to boost my Dexterity and Recovery)?

I think you may want some PRE on your "tank build". But I don't see a reason that you would need it as a super stat. Crippling challenge and Crippling Strikes work very well to hold aggro.

Not terribly. Superstatted presence will boost your threat by something like 20-30%, which helps, but the difference between powers designed to generate threat and other powers is more significant. Bear in mind that aggro management in CO is much less reliable than in most MMOs; mobs will almost always occasionally go after someone else.

has it not been established that ranged tanks are the best?

60% of the time it works every time!

Except for the random lets bite that guy thing you can't stop, you should be fine with some crips! I have 10 presence and have no problems.

lol this.

Being a tank myself, I would frequently lose aggro prior to using my latest retcon. I had no precense in my gear at all, so I did an experiment and focused 100% of my gear on precense(this was without a retcon and con/end superstatted still). WIth all of my gear heavily focused on PRE my character sheet said I had around a 15% threat boost. I decided it wasn't worth it.

Why was I having trouble with threat? I was using challenging strikes. Challenging strikes kind of sucks, I guess. In my next retcon I switched to crippling challlenge and it actually works. I tap my crippling challenge and the enemy sticks to me like glue. I still have no precense in my build.

Oops yeah that's what I meant. Crippling = win, challenging seems a waste of time.

That doesn't bother me, since it would require my teammates to pay attention. I just want most of the love, not all of it.

I can't play ranged. It's boring and I always find myself in someone's face anyway. Either way, I feel more heroic jumping into the fray.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Crippling strikes certainly doesn't suck. You can use both strikes and challenge at the same time to build even more threat. Combine that with defensive combo and you should be able to hold aggro with a minimum investment in presence.