Horror of Nightmare

Having played many a brute (and having the largest group of my favorite toons be brutes and tanks) - Here's my two cents.

Axe/WP - He's Big, He's Bad, He cleaves masses of enemies mercilessly. Finally - Fiiiiinally, the masses manage to take him down.... And then he gets back up, charges in and the masses go flying as his axe slices through them.

Mace/WP - There the mob is enjoying their day - and WHAM - a giant, musclebound psycho with a mallet shows up and the picnic is over.

SS/FA - The screen shakes as the mobs melt.

The theme - Appears to be that WP epitomizes "Brutiest Brute" while also living up to it in game. Conceptually, Invuln would suit just as well depending on how you twist it. The idea being that bullets just don't stop the Brute. Stone could also play from the "zomg it's a giant stone golem of death come to smack us down!" perspective. Axe, Mace and SS seem to be the attack sets that "feel" amongst the most brutish. Fire melee is great damage and fits brutes conceptually as "Oh hey! DPS!" - but it lacks the high impact, screen shaking "HULK SMASH" That SS, Mace and Axe all have. Stone shares traits with these, but when I think "Brute" I think old skool WWF more than I think "manipulates element in really cool way". Grab a chair, smack the guy. No chairs? Grab a bat! No bat? Grab a shovel! No shovel? Grab an axe! NO AXE? Grab the enemy face and apply it to nearest splotch of pavement >_>

That's brutes in my logic. Brutiest brute? SS-Axe-Mace with WP/Invuln/Stone. Which one makes most sense? Depends what kind of brute. Any mix of those can be a monument of raging brutality - Pick your favorite and you're set.

I agree with EvilGeko's idea the most. The CoP is relatively difficult, especially without nukes. Being an individual who leads them once a week on Live server Freedom, I know it requires a large amount of careful team building and organization, especially if you intend to succeed without nukes and other possible temps. And even without temps (assuming strong team synergy) - it can be beaten in fifteen to thirty minutes. As the current system stands, it makes sense how low the reward is relative to the time the trial takes - but not relative to the difficulty.

Making it a reward you can only get once every 3 to 4 days, or once every 7 days per individual toon - would allow the rewards to be made notably more substantial and ultimately worth the trouble of fighting for them.

Perhaps a small pile of side appropriate merits - 5 hero merits, 5 villain merits. Another might be a large amount of influence - say 50 million. (arbitrary number, insert what you think is fair.)

I also agree that the temp buffs should be increased a bit. As they are, I find them both underwhelming and a bit annoying in live server because you just choose the reward and the buff is randomly given. What buff an individual wants should be their choice so it actually applies to their playstyle.

Of course, all the reward revamp and increase would hinge on that reward only being available every so often and essentially Unfarmable.

TA on a Defender does present a fair amount of heightened debuff as compared to its function as a secondary on a Cor. And in combination with DP you can do a variety of things like ignite your own oil slicks, as well as stack debuff via cryo or toxic rounds. The overall effect will be stronger when used by a defender.

As a corruptor, you'll find that your damage does increase. But, until scourge kicks in, only as noticably as debuff decreases. Scourge would push your damage high enough that if you enjoy the build but want to do more damage instead of more debuff - then a reroll is worth it. If you prefer stronger debuff, Defender is for you. Both methods of playing have their merit.

Survivability can be achieved on either side to the same approximate extent. Especially with the use of Epic/Patron Powers. That is all in personal preference and precise toon build.

Endurance - Depending on playstyle and build, yes. You may acquire some endurance issues. I have always noticed endurance being eaten faster by my Cors then my Defenders. Partially because of the way Vigilance works. But also due to the fact that Cors are also typically treated as a more aggressive AT and I have often seen them built with more of an emphasis on damage. Meaning a faster attack chain that potentially consumes more endurance faster. Both ATs are capable enough of this though - Again that comes to player preference.

Personally, I'd favor a TA/DP Defender (Will be making one come GR). Higher debuff numbers, strong internal power synergy and the ability to stack debuffs with the one that suits the situation all combine to be very effective. I also find the redraw to be hilarious - It can slow you down a little, but hilarious never the less. For those who dislike double redraw, a Rad or Cold/DP would be two examples of potentially more suitable builds.

Hope that helps your decision some. :-)