Chaos_String

Ah, yes. Fire melee. For the silent, unseen killer.

Let's see. Produces bright light? Check.
Makes a very noticible sound? Check.

And wait, what's this? It also emits a very noticible amount of heat?

It's brilliant! And I thought Energy Melee was good.

Nice. When you get the LotGs upgraded you'll be able to run GD > GC > SD > GC gapless for a lot of damage.

I seriously doubt you need the third recharge in CP though (esp. once you get the LotGs; the uptime will be better than 50% with just 2 rech). I'd stick that extra slot in SD and slot a damage proc, personally.

Good revision.

I'd envisioned shriek-scream-shriek-shout, but shout is pretty slow. DPS might be better without it, I dunno. Kinda too lazy to check right now, as well.

Also in i16 PvP will be reduced to a simple game of rock, paper, scissors.

No, really. Just a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Well, the good news is that your positional defenses are already where they need to be: at or above 45%. That's great; you don't need to shore it up. In fact, with defense numbers like that, clicking Elude will do absolutely nothing to help your survival in the great majority of situations.

So, what you need is more damage output and endurance sustainability. Those are relatively simple fixes.

Here's my take on tweaking your build. I put the AH proc in GC where it will help most. I worked a couple damage procs in elsewhere. I slotted the Miracle unique into Health (not cheap, but can be bought with merits) and replaced the LotG def/rech in Weave and Agile with 2 LotG +rech (also not cheap, but can be bought with merits, too) to tighten up the attack chain. I got rid of Hasten and Elude and replaced them with Aid Other and Aid Self. I replaced Web Grenade with Conserve Power. I upslotted Build Up.

These changes will give you the damage output you need, chaining GD > GC > SD > GC > FS > GC for 175ish dps (factoring 28% Build Up uptime, 65% AH proc uptime, and 95% hit chance). That's enough damage output for most AVs. You'll also have sustainable endurance and an emergency self-heal.

So with those changes, you'll be able to solo AVs with no temps/insps.

I could post you a completely revised build that's much more optimal (Edit: as Umbral has no doubt done already), but this one makes use of most of what you already have, with just a few unintrusive changes.

I for one am hoping that EA doesn't get Energize to replace Conserve Power. And therefore I suppose I'm hoping that CP doesn't become the 5th power in the Mu PPP.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I have a dog in the race.

It's a lvl 50 DM/EA brute, a highly-tuned, 4.5 billion infamy build which can solo multiple AVs simultaneously, herd multiple-boss spawns of lvl 54 rikti to a pylon, destroy the pylon while ignoring the rikti, and then defeat the rikti. And it does this with only minimal risk of dying. Defense is airtight, passive regen is very high, hit points are significantly augmented, and self-healing is huge.

But the way I've got everything slotted, I depend on the full efficacy of Conserve Power to meet my endurance needs without having to rely on Energy Drain except in emergencies. (Because ED is a long animation that eats into DPS.) And frankly I get more mileage out of the minor heal than the endurance reduction, because I typically surround myself with lots of fodder for Soul Drain, anyhow.

For me, an extra self-heal and some more regen would contribute to survivability, but frankly that's survivability I don't need; whereas losing half the efficacy of Conserve Power would force me to dump Gloom (my highest DPA attack) to respec into Mu Mastery (assuming CP was relocated there), or alternatively, to reslot all my powers for better endurance management at the expense of some damage output.

I can't help but guess that it would be a losing proposition for my /EA brute.

I reckon it would be a big buff to most others, though.

Well, in the end, you're the team leader; the responsibility to make decisions is yours. You must do what you feel is right, and then feel ok having done it. However:

1) It's probably best not to give directions in team chat using all caps. It sounds childish, like you're yelling, and maybe like you're a little desperate to exert control. Nobody likes or respects that in a leader. It's better simply to be direct and courteous, like this: "Everyone stay on point, please. Let's follow the tank and avoid excess aggro."

2) Whomever (I presume the fire/kin or his imps) aggroed the adds and caused team deaths needed to get a tell from you reinforcing the directions you already gave. Not to be upbraided in team chat, where you're just chewing him out, but reminded in a tell to get with the program (and that you're in charge). Like this: "Hey, your imps are drawing aggro that we can't handle. Either keep them under control or dismiss them." Then, if he keeps screwing up, or if he (oh no he didn't...) argues back to you, kick him. Boom. Don't ask questions, don't debate the issue, don't threaten, don't take a vote. Just kick.

3) Then, if the tank starts to upbraid the fire/kin in team chat, you send him a tell saying, "I already sent Kinetic Scorcher a tell. If he keeps screwing up I'll kick him. Now let's get back to the mission, please." And then if the tank continues to be disruptive, or if he cops attitude with you, or if he refuses to budge, or whatever, you Johnny kick him on the spot.

Now, you're right: the game is for fun, and I don't blame you for trying to be really affable and easygoing in team chat and remind everyone that it's a game and to enjoy it. It's probably easiest to enjoy yourself that way. But sadly, that kind of affable, laissez-faire attitude commands very little respect, and sometimes you need to put all 8 people on the same page, following the same game plan.

To that end, being intelligent, fair, polite, and considerate, while at the same time tolerating no nonsense, does command respect. And people will generally follow your lead if you can pull it off.

So yeah, you were justified kicking the tank. It's your team, and your responsibility to kick players who are disruptive or those who leech. But you probably could have handled the problem that led to the conflict in a much firmer way, and that probably would have kept the team together.

That's my .02inf, anyway.

Well, I'm in.

Look forward to chatting with you guys in game. You're all bloody brilliant.