Hundred_Nations

You mean the twelve-footer with the exploding face? That 'The Destroyer.' It's a magical suit of armor created by Odin, sort of an Asgardian robot, that Loki sends to Earth to kill Thor and, y'know, whomever else gets in its the way.

The problem with Triage Beacon, at least for me, wasn't that it couldn't ever be useful, it was that I would have had to select it at the expense of something else. If I ever take it, it will be at level 40-something, after I've got the other 11 or 12 powers that are much more useful. If I was given Triage Beacon for 'free', I would certainly use it.

Right, I made it sound as though playing in Paragon City was the key. While I do think it's easier to find a team blue-side, I also find it easier to play a Controller or a Defender and recruit teammates to provide the damage-dealing than to play a damage-dealer and try to find defensive characters to team up with. So I would prefer to play a Defender over a Corruptor in a team, even when GR goes live and I can choose either one.

According to Mids' Hero Designer, Acid Mortar is -26.6% to -20%, Assault is 18.8% to 15%, and Tactics is 12.5% to 10%, all in favor of the Defender. That's un-Enhanced, and because Enhancements work as percentages of the base, the Defender's numbers will improve on a steeper curve than the Corruptor's (except for Assault and the Resistance debuff on the Mortar, which can't be enhanced). With 3 SOs, for example, a Corruptor's Acid Mortar is a -32.4% Defense debuff, while the Defender's is -43.1% (although that difference may prove to be overkill against a lot of enemies).

Defensively, a Defender's FFG provides +20.7% Defense buff when slotted with 3 SOs, while the Corrupter's provides 15.6%. OTOH, the Status Effect Resistance, which some might say is more important than the Defense buff, is the same for both.

I haven't done the math, but I feel like the Defender's team bonuses applied to 2-4 damage-dealers surpass the damage inflicted by a Corrupter without the bonuses and defense provided by a well-played defensive character. But it all depends on what you're good at playing and what you enjoy playing, and what kind of teammates you can assemble. My experience has been that fewer people are good at playing Defenders and Controllers than at playing Blasters and Scrappers.

If leveling quickly is your aim, playing in teams is probably at least 3x faster, so whichever character is the better team-player (for you) is the one you want. But if playing solo is more important than teaming, I think the Corrupter would be the hands-down better choice.

As a team-oriented player, I'm wary of the mob-scattering effect of the grenade launcher [EDIT: No, actually, I loathe the mob-scattering effect of the grenade launcher ]. The cone powers with KB can at least be directed, and knock the mobs in the same direction. The 360-degree knockback on powers like M30 Grenade and Explosive Blast is, at best, an annoyance while teaming. I actually think Knockback should be considered a drawback to most powers that have it, rather than an advantage, and those powers should do more damage rather than less. While soloing, the AoE damage from the grenade would be nice, and the AoE Knockback would be a defensive benefit.

To paraphrase Mandy Patinkin, "I do not think that word means what you think it means."