So I got lucky with drops on drops after farming the Tholian ground quests and I decided to toss on the new set pieces when I got two the two set bonus. Well, when I did I noticed no buffs from being attacked, so I moved back to my other set assuming I just wasn't noticing it, but when I got the full three set I still saw no buffs and was not able to use the Violent Discharge ability. So either the proc chance is so small it's never actually useful, or it is in fact broken, which I'm leaning towards the latter.

I have had the same problem... big anti-climax

Stand in one of the pools of the exterior map, this charges the armor while damaging you... seriously needs rethinking.