ClawsandEffect

There are a few things you could do to improve your build, with both the primary and the secondary.

I'll mention them as they occur to me.

Slot High Pain Tolerance for healing first, and then maybe sme resistance if you have the slots to spare. HPT raises your max HP, which makes your regen more valuable. The resistance it gives isn't all that great, and it can be short slotted for resist if you're tight on slots.

Slot Mind Over Body and Tough with 4 Reactive Armor. That will give you ED capped resistance values, and 1.25% S/L/E/N defense.

Take Strength of Will and just leave the default slot in it. It doesn't really matter when you take it. Put your Steadfast Res/Def there instead. SoW doesn't really need to be slotted, and putting the Res/Def there lets you save a slot for something else.

You don't need Conserve Power. And you REALLY don't need to 3 slot it. If you want Body Mastery, take Focused Accuracy instead and 2 slot it with Rectified Reticle for a 1.88% S/L defense bonus. You can put some end reduction in it if you have the slots to spare and want to run it. Though you should have the end recovery to run it for short periods without the end reduction.

The Leadership pool is commonly taken with the power picks you gain from inherent Fitness. I usually take Maneuvers for a little more defense and Tactics because I can slot 2 more Rectified Reticle in it.

3 slot Numina's Convalescence as many places as you can fit it. On a Willpower I would put it in HPT, Fast Healing, and Rise to the Challenge. You want the extra regen and max HP for 3 slotting it. You can move the Regenerative Tissue and Numina's procs to Health or Physical Perfection.

3 Performance Shifter Chance For +End will fit on your build, and it isn't a bad idea to slot all 3.

3 LotG, including the recharge, is good for all your defense powers. I usually go Defense, Def/End, Recharge. Don't bother with doing that in COmbat Jumping though. The amount of defense you gain from it isn't worth it. I usually put just the LotG recharge and a Kismet +Acc in CJ.

Now, for attack slotting.

Your slotting for Shadow Punch and Smite looks good.

I'd swap the slotting in Siphon Life to have 4 Kinetic Combat instead of the 4 Mako's Bite you have in there now. The Touch of the Nictus will be just fine in it.

I'd also give Midnight Grasp the same slotting as Shadow Punch and Smite.

If you want to save some slots, you can use a Nucleolus Hami-O in place of the 2 Mako's Bite you have in your single targets. It will get the enhancement on the powers to a similar level and you have no use for the immobilize resistance Mako's gives you. If you do that you can save 3 slots for other stuff. (I'd leave the 2 Touch of the Nictus in Siphon Life though)

Now, the AoEs. For a Willpower, Obliteration isn't the best choice for your AoEs. Since Willpower uses typed defense and doesn't resist exotic damage well, you want Energy/Negative defense. Eradication is a great set for that.

4x Eradication will get you: 1.8% max End, 3.13% E/N defense, and 2.25% max HP (highest Max HP bonus not in a purple set). You can round them out with 2 Scirocco's for more regen if you like, or you can put a Nucleolus in there as well if you want to save slots.

Now, Dark Consumption is a good pick, you don't really need the end recovery, but it will accept Eradication so you can get the bonuses from it. I'd just 4 slot it.

Shadow Maul I would give 4 Eradication and 2 Scirocco's (Acc/Rech and Dam/Rech)

Soul Drain should get 4 Eradication and 2 Rectified Reticle.

You don't really need the rez. In fact, the rezzes in Willpower and Regen both suck. It doesn't give you untouchable status and you have to slowly stand up. You will quite frequently be killed before you finish standing up. Take Strength of Will in it's place.

Hope that helps you a little bit with your dilemma

PS, I concur with mauk, your bio is pretty cool.

Honestly, I don't really care how you built your scrapper.

I was under the impression, since you posted a build of your own volition, that you were seeking advice or feedback on said build. And I gave you both. If you didn't WANT advice or feedback, why post a build for people to look at? And why brag about tanking 2 of the tougher things for a scrapper to do with that build if you weren't expecting criticism?

If *I* posted a build and bragged about what it could do I would fully expect to get some skepticism about it, especially if the build isn't up to the task. Yet you seemed to be posting your build and bragging about what it allegedly did, expecting everyone to just take your word for it in the section of the forums that is KNOWN for having a large amount of game knowledge in it's regulars.

I think your build is horribly inefficient, and could be a hell of a lot better than it is, without spending that much more on it. But you're happy with it, and I'm not going to try and force you to see things my way. I've explained my reasoning as best I can and you still don't see how my build is better, so there's nothing more I care to do in that regard.

I would not be at all happy with that build, because I can tell by looking at it that it would not be capable of doing the things I enjoy in the game.

If I HAD a character high enough on Protector I'd LOVE to see that build tank an ITF and an STF. I'd love to see that build attempt tanking Lord Recluse while the towers are up. I'd love to see that build tank all 5 AVs at the end of the ITF. Because, just from general knowledge of what is required in a build to do those things, I don't think your build is capable of it. Hell, MY build isn't capable of tanking tower-buffed Recluse, I can tell that just looking at it, and I'm not all that confident that it could handle all 5 AVs in the ITF either. That's why I'm skeptical, I know what MY build should be capable of, and those two things are most likely beyond it, so that makes me really question how the hell YOURS did it.

Which brings up the question: When you did those things, what ELSE was on your team? Because I seriously doubt your build is capable of those things without some serious support in the form of buffs and debuffs from teammates.

These aren't in the game due to the wide variety of animations in the game. Imagine how horrible a long robe or a long skirt would look while you're doing something like Storm Kick or Eagle's Claw.

They were tried, and they looked like crap, so they didn't put them in. (heard this from Jay the costume guy)

Yeah, Strength of Will gets you to 90% S/L resistance with just the Steadfast in it, and it lets you save a slot to put somewhere else, instead of adding one to HPT, Mind over Body, or Tough.

You could. But combining to make reds will leave you up a creek if you need a purple and don't have one.

I shoot for 700%, or as close as possible without taking away from other stuff. Anything over 600% will be just fine. You could go as low as 500% if your defense is good enough.

Since you aren't quite softcapped, I'd shoot for 600%, and maybe try to get close to 700% if you have room in your build.

I haven't managed to get it much higher than 700% without gimping the rest of the build though, so trying for any more than that probably isn't a good idea.


Yep, Mid's does it for you automatically.

It's in the info window. Click on any powers that will affect your recharge. Then look at the info for the power you want to know about, and it will show you the adjusted recharge of that power.

Everything but the Hami-Os can be obtained with Hero Merits. If I'm patient enough, I can build this for LESS than you spent. You're only looking at the cost of things on the market, without taking into account the fact that you can acquire that stuff by other means.

My typed defenses are significantly higher than yours. Fire and Cold are about the same, but they are also the rarest damage types to find not paired with something else.

And you don't think Rikti and Arachnos use a lot of S/L attacks?

My E/N defense is 7% higher, and my S/L defense is 11% higher. That's a BIG difference when you're talking about defense in the 30-40% range.

On a 100 damage attack, you take 49 damage while I take 51. I'm getting hit significantly less often than you though, so it doesn't even come close to evening out. On average you will be taking 500 points of damage more than me because attacks that hit you did NOT hit me. Resistance is irrelevant when the attack doesn't hit.

And your resistance is only higher because you have the Cardiac Alpha slotted. If I slotted Cardiac mine would equal or surpass yours.

Ever fight an AV? They hit hard. If you get hit a few times in a row you're going to need that regen to keep your face out of the dirt.

Also, the more enemies you have attacking you, the more damage you are going to take, even with high defense. By also having high regeneration I'm in less danger of being killed because I took more damage than I could handle.

Also, I ramped yours up, and when we're both surrounded my regen is a little under 200% higher. Yours is sitting at 984%, mine is at 1166% or so.

Mine can run Focused Accuracy (not slotted for end reduction) if I want without causing my end to bottom out.

Also, using 2 Efficacy Adapters gives me a Max HP bonus. My build has 300 more HP than you because I did things like that. More HP = Better regen.

It doesn't need much in the way of slotting to be an effective power. Everything else I could have taken there required slots I didn't have available to spend.

I can keep Follow Up double stacked fairly consistently, which equals more damage output.

Higher To-Hit means I can fight higher level enemies without suffering a penalty on my final chance to hit them. How accurate are you against +4s? My build stays at 95% against them.

See my above response. Higher level enemies reduce your effective To-Hit, so that accuracy is less beneficial. Adding 60% to 95% is a lot better than adding 60% to 60%.

I didn't mean to leave it toggled on. But my damage is still higher because, as I mentioned above, I can double stack Follow Up on a fairly consistent basis. I don't think you can.

Additionally, I slotted Follow Up as an attack FIRST. My Follow up is dealing 86% more damage than yours is. And my Focus is dealing more than twice as much damage than yours, even taking Follow Up and damage bonuses into account.

In an attack chain of Follow Up - Slash - Focus - Strike -Repeat, I will do a lot more damage than you will. And that's a pretty basic Claws attack chain that doesn't require a great deal of recharge to achieve.

Already addressed this.

A 20% chance for 20% -resistance is better than a 100% chance for 0% -resistance.

It also increases the damage of the entire team against that target, not just yours. You have a damage proc in your Slash, that gives YOU a 20% chance of dealing 71 more damage. My Achille's proc gives the entire team a 20% chance to deal 20% more damage. That adds up to being a much bigger benefit than an extra 71 damage from just you.

Wait, you are using MORE slots to get LESS bonuses....and MY slotting is wasteful?

You gimped the damage of your best attack, and didn't even get the defense bonus Thunderstrike gives for 3 slots.

Look at your attack slotting and the defense bonuses you are getting from it. Touch of Death is a good example: You slotted 6 enhancements and got 1.88% S/L defense. I slotted 4 enhancements and got 3.75% S/L. I also got equal or better enhancement values out of fewer slots spent, because you used 6 and I only used 5.

Your 5 Serendipity netted you .64% F/C defense, and barely more than 1% overall defense from Combat Jumping. The 6 Red Fortune got you 1.25% E/N. The 6 Obliterations got you another 1.88% S/L, while I slotted 3 Eradication for 3.13% E/N

Yes, I'm ignoring the positional bonuses from those powers. Why? because the GAME is ignoring them. With your defense numbers, the only benefit you are gaining from 6 slotting all those sets is the small amounts of typed defense.

That is the point I was making the whole time. You 6 slotted powers that didn't NEED 6 slots, for bonuses that weren't nearly as effective as what you could have gotten in fewer slots from different sets.

It makes no sense to 6 slot powers that don't benefit from the extra slots, like Red Fortune versus LotG. 4 LotG gives you the same defense bonus as 6 Red Fortune, and you end up with 2.5% more recharge.

I don't believe that it is an impossibility to design a worthwhile F2P system at all.

However, I DO believe it is an impossibility for THIS game.

The only time I've ever seen a F2P business model adopted after starting as a subscription based model it was a last ditch effort to save the game. Making SOME money is better than shutting down.

The perception that going F2P means the game is going under is a very real problem, especially if the game was successful as a subscription based game for a long time. Just like server merges, it creates the impression that the game could not survive any other way. CoH going F2P after 7 years of being successful with subscriptions would very much create the impression that the game is on life-support.

I don't know about you, but I would be very unlikely to spend money on a game I see as being on the way out. I can't imagine too many other people out there would feel differently about it.

It's not blind rejection, at least not on my part. I'm very well aware of what I'm saying.

If CoH goes F2P at this point in it's history, it WILL be seen by the online community as being an indication that the game is going under. Especially with the recent events occurring with our competition being fresh in people's minds. They see one game that went F2P after trying subscriptions fail miserably, the are going to assume that the same thing is happening here. You're not going to convince an internet community that what they saw in one case isn't the same thing they are seeing in another, especially when they have no reason to believe otherwise.

A lot of people who currently play rarely would go free to play because it would be cheaper. Especially if you let former subscription players keep all the stuff they unlocked already, because it wouldn't be fair to say "Okay, thanks for subscribing for so long, now if you want to play for free....you need to pay us to unlock all the stuff you've been playing with for years already."

That would be a good number of F2P players who would not be spending money unlocking stuff because they already had it.

From my viewpoint, the potential negatives of going F2P outweigh the potential positives by a wide margin. It is MUCH safer to continue the current business model and continue making a modest profit than it is to switch to a F2P model and suddenly find yourself in a succeed or fail situation. Because once you switch to a F2P model there is no going back to a subscription model. If F2P fails miserably and the game dies, there won't be anything they can do to save it.

So, from my perspective, it looks like this:

Subscription based: steady modest profits.
F2P based: potential greater profits, but also potential complete failure and game shutdown.

If I were the devs, I would not risk the very existence of the game on the potential to make more money. If there's no guarantee that it would be more profitable (and there isn't), they shouldn't risk losing everything.

Yes, it will cause redraw, but it isn't meant to be used in an attack chain. It's more intended for tagging runners or pulling. It has a use, and it's a ranged attack, which lets you slot Maelstrom's Fury for the defense.

Okay, I got the placement backwards.

But...you only need to take ONE of the first two powers to unlock the next two.

You can take Gloom, and then Darkest Night. And then you can take Dark Obliteration.

You do NOT need to take Soul Tentacles in order to take Dark Obliteration.

See? Gloom, Darkest Night, and Dark Obliteration, NO Soul Tentacles:

This.

Siphon Life is your second hardest hitting attack.

The only time I slot any healing in it is if I'm slotting for typed defense, and then it's 4 Kinetic Combat a Nucleolus, and a generic heal IO.

Spiritual Alpha will enhance it too, if you decide to go that route (which wouldn't be a bad choice for a DM/SD)

Well, I solved your Sapper problem. They'll hit you so seldom they won't matter anymore.

As promised, here's the build.

The highlights: Softcapped to all types except Psionic. 3238 HP (with accolades), 1166% regen when surrounded by enemies (686% with just one in range of RttC), and the attacks are all slotted for damage (no gimping attacks for set bonuses). Oh, and it has over 200% end recovery too.

I suggest Spiritual Core Paragon for Alpha slotting. It will boost your recharge and it will boost all of your regen or Max HP powers. The attack chain I advise for single targets (like AVs and such) is Nimble Slash - Blinding Feint - Attack Vitals Combo. You actually don't need any global recharge at all to run that chain either. (You can put another -res proc in Sweeping Strike, but it's REALLY expensive, so I didn't put it in the build)

Overall, the build probably has a midrange price point. No purples or PvP IOs driving the price up, and everything in it can be gotten with Hero Merits to keep the cost down if you're patient with it.

Oh, and Sweep was the combo I dropped, the knockdown is less important when everything is mostly missing anyway. Between your defense and your regen, you'll be just fine.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.94
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Willpower
Secondary Power Set: Dual Blades
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(3), Numna-Heal/Rchg(25), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(46), Aegis-ResDam(46), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46)
Level 1: Nimble Slash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), HO:Nucle(33)
Level 2: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(3), Numna-Heal/Rchg(31)
Level 4: Ablating Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), HO:Nucle(34), Achilles-ResDeb%(34)
Level 6: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(7), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(7)
Level 8: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(9), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Heal-I(37)
Level 10: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(11), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(11), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(37)
Level 12: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(13), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(13), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(15)
Level 16: Typhoon's Edge -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(17), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Erad-Acc/Rchg(40), HO:Nucle(40)
Level 18: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(19), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(19)
Level 20: Blinding Feint -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(21), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(21), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Rec'dRet-ToHit(42), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(43)
Level 22: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), P'Shift-End%(23)
Level 24: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(27), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(27), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 28: Vengeful Slice -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), HO:Nucle(43)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31)
Level 32: Strength of Will -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 35: Sweeping Strike -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(36), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Erad-%Dam(45)
Level 38: One Thousand Cuts -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(42)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- RgnTis-Regen+(A)
Level 47: Laser Beam Eyes -- Mael'Fry-Acc/Dmg(A), Mael'Fry-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Mael'Fry-Dmg/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50), LkGmblr-Def(50)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(45)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(48), P'Shift-End%(50)
Level 4: Ninja Run

Huh? Since when is this true? Last I checked, Gloom and Darkest Night are both tier 1 picks in Soul Mastery. You should be able to take either one at level 41 and the other at 44.

If they are playing for free, and not spending a lot of money on microtransactions, those new/returning players aren't bring in any more money for NCSoft.

The only way the devs or anyone else can convince NCSoft that a free to play model is a good idea is if they can guarantee the game will remain profitable if they do it. And there is no way to make that kind of guarantee.

There's also another aspect I hadn't mentioned: With the game earning less money (which is likely), they will probably cut the staff down again. That means there will be less content being released, and it will take longer.

I'd like to see you convince the devs that free to play is a good idea when what you are essentially telling them is: "How would 75% of you like to be unemployed so we can play for free? Isn't that a GREAT idea?"

Also, free to play MIGHT give the game a quick infusion of cash when people buy the stuff they want, but what happens to that cash flow when most everyone has everything they want? They aren't going to buy stuff they don't want or need just to keep the game alive. After the first 6 months of F2P, the profit margin is going to narrow dramatically, NCSoft will start laying devs off, players will get annoyed that content is taking longer to be released, and basically it will be the beginning of the end for the game.

Free to play might work for some other games, but I don't see any way it could work for THIS game.

Going free to play after 7 years of being subscription based just screams "This game is going under soon!". You might get some new players, but they'll all be under the impression that the game will be gone soon, so they won't want to waste their money buying stuff. And because they are under that impression, they will probably be right.

Yep, it was Castle. he said as long as he worked there he would do everything he could to prevent it. I don't think it was a coincidence that inherent Fitness and Castle's leaving were announced at around the same time. (though I've been told by another dev that inherent Fitness wasn't a catalyst for him leaving)