JAXMAN

No problems on Triumph for me in a long time. My ISP freaks out now and again but what can a guy do about that?

I would think it would depend on your style of play. If you are building towards being able to take down tough single targets I wouldn't slot them for damage to keep minions around to power them. In normal game play DM/SD get Shadow Maul and Shield Charge for AoE outside of Soul Drain and Dark Consumption. I might not specifically aim for damage in the powers, but I would slot them for set bonuses, so depending on your other choices damage sets are usually a good place for bonuses.

With what you've got you are soft capped. Now the question is how much better to do want to be? Instead of using generic IOs you can mix and match from the cheap sets and keep the same amount of dense you have now, but also get more endurance reduction. Or you can use sets and get the set bonuses. You can do the same thing with your attacks.

If you go into the data view of Phlanx Fighting it provides 2.25% defense per ally near you up to 3 allies and that is enhanceable. It also provides 3.75% defense all the time and that is not enhanceable.

If you empty the slot in PF and monitor your def in Mid's totals and toggle it on and off for being calculated you will see your def fluctuate by at least 6%.

To see what your defense truly is solo you need to follow the instructions Norse provided. Or I suspect the next version of Mid's will have that set to 0 be default.

It sounds like you don't have your build in putted into Mid's exactly like you have it in game, and your Mid's totals sound like they include 1 ally in range of PF. Mid's can change the level of the buff based on if it's set to 0, 1, 2, or 3. It does the same for powers like Invincibility and soul drain.

When I open your build with PF set at 0 allies i see 46.4% melee def, 47% ranged, and 44.5% aoe. What totals do you have?

Then you have to go the Phalanx Fighting and set the number of allies from 1 to 0. that will lower the total Def to all about 2.5%

[ QUOTE ]
Well, if they want to stop PLing, but keep most of the nice parts about SKing, they could set it such that *if* you are SKed, you can earn XP as if you were on a team of similar size BUT as if all of your team members were YOUR level. ie the SKed people can't reap the benefit of the level disparity like an *actual* toon 5 levels below. Then they still get XP, they still get the benefits of a large team, they get the benefits of the enemy lvl difference, but none of the 'bridging' bonus. You *can* play with your friends, you just won't level faster than playing with equal level toons.

...but that's just me

[/ QUOTE ]

The only thing about this idea is that an sk would not get any additional reward for facing far greater risk. That wouldn't always be the case but if it were ever true it would be disheartening. People will go fight Hellions instead of Nemesis if that is the case. Now there will still be the cases where players door sit and don't face any risk at all, but that situation isn't restricted only to "bridging".

Considering people can make missions in AE that auto bridge for power leveling purposes, I don't see the logic in tackling normal old school hardly used any more bridging. But because this is the internet I can make a sweeping DOOM claim without all the facts. So either a lot more overhauls are on the way that go beyond bridging or players that are actually "playing" will be hurt by this.

As always I reserve the right to change my stance at any point in the future that will continue to allow me to be correct or prove I would have been correct except for some totally unforeseeable detail that may or my not actually be unforeseeable.

Well the data chunk from Mid's you posted had Weave set to off so what i initially looked at wasn't soft capped if you lowered PF to 0 allies, but you are over the soft cap with Weave enabled.

If you slot BotZ into SJ you do not need to toggle it on to get the set bonuses.

My Bots/TA is a joy to play, the only major draw back is that TA takes a while to develop as a secondary.

I stacked Maneuvers and some bonus defense with the Protector Bots' bubbles and mixed in the To-Hit debuff from Flash Arrow and presto the bots are very sturdy. With the bag of tricks TA has you can handle most anything in the PvE game.

In my opinion with Claws/WP recharge is less critical for a build than with other power sets. I went for max HP, but I think a better compromise would be a substantial HP increase with HPT, Accolades, and set bonuses and then mix in as much recharge as you can get. Throw in Tough and Weave and you have a pretty sturdy build.

On the Brute side of things, I'd think you could easily get a brute above the Scrapper HP cap. I might have to add Claws/WP into my considerations for my Claws Brute. Waffling between EA and SR currently.

Bah ignore me - I didn't see Weave was turned off.

Looking at your build, Phalanx Fighting is set to have 1 teammate in range. You need to edit the power in Mid's database to allow the minimum teammates to be set to 0. With that turned off you are a bit short on melee defense and over 2% away from ranged and aoe soft caps.

The thing that concerns me is how will they identify bridging and not friends actively playing together side kicked. The side kick feature is one of the reasons i've stayed around the better art of 5 years.

New players ahve less high level alts and when they want to play with friends/sg members they will no doubt have to sk more often than not. If they get no reward or very little reward why would they bother teaming with friends when perhaps they could do better for themselves solo?

I don't think that I would be affect3ed if bridging disappeared, the auto sk feature in AE has removed most of the requests I see for bridges. I guess I don't see the logic in adding a difficulty slider for auto farming and then taking away the easy leveling. Those that want to play through the content will, and those that would rather get to 50 and grind merits or farm inf will.

Well what do you want your build to do? My Claws/WP is mostly slotted for max HP but I coudl redo it for more HP regen. You could also go for some defense or a mix of everything.

If you slot Boxing for set bonuses, use 6 Razzle Dazzle IOs so you get the extra defense. And it isn't worth putting the 3rd def into CJ.

This build isn't the best in the world but it's soft capped with the Steadfast unique. And most of the sets are fairly reasonable. A lot of +def bonuses take 5 or 6 parts of the sets so usually you dont have to be using level 50's.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 50 Science Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Claws
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Medicine

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Strike T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(5), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), T'Death-Dam%(37)
Level 1: Focused Fighting S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(11), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(15), S'dpty-Def(17), S'dpty-EndRdx(37), Ksmt-ToHit+(43)
Level 2: Slash C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Achilles-ResDeb%(34)
Level 4: Agile DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 6: Spin M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(7), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(7), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(17), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 8: Follow Up C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Swift Empty(A)
Level 14: Health Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46), Numna-Heal(46)
Level 16: Combat Jumping DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(45)
Level 18: Focus Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(19), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Stamina P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(23), P'Shift-End%(37), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 22: Quickness Empty(A)
Level 24: Focused Senses RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def(27), RedFtn-EndRdx(39)
Level 26: Dodge DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 28: Lucky DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 30: Boxing Empty(A)
Level 32: Shockwave Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng(33), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45)
Level 35: Evasion S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), S'dpty-Def(36), S'dpty-EndRdx(39)
Level 38: Tough S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(39), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(46), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
Level 41: Weave RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(42), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def(43), RedFtn-EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Stimulant Empty(A)
Level 47: Aid Self Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal(50), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Super Jump Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit



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w00t!

Real Life Ding.

Initially I thought DB would feel a lot like Claws to me with the Follow Up clone and two handed weapons. I tried it out on a Brute and couldn't get hooked, now I might actually get a brute to 50 with i16. The animations are "prettier" with DB but pretty isn't what I'm looking for in a scrapper.

On the plus side for Claws, you can have a very good feel for the set by level 18~20. Where DB probably takes a while longer to mature. My DM/SD is/was the same. I was mostly "enduring" having to play the alt, until the mid 30s and things took off.

How can you not like Focus?

I could use a good birthday Strike Force and distract myself from my newest hero project. I'd lean towards bringing my Huntsman, Operative Jax(lvl 50). I could bring whatever works though.

Other primaries get along without DC and don't take CP. My DM/SD doesn't have either at level 43 and my end usage is only an issue in drawn out fights. So it will depend on your slotting choices and available funds.

I just let teammates know that if they choose to follow me and not the team they are responsible for their own agro. The same goes for me, if I'm going to argo a group while the team is resting or whatever I better not be drawing agro or AoEs back to the team. Also, if the team struggles when I break away then it's also a bad choice to go it solo.

But I simply refuse to stand around doing nothing when one person doesn't have their nuke recharged or needs a buff or isn't 100% full on end. As long as I'm not hurting the team I'm gonna go all scrapper lock on something.

It helps I play most of my non scrapper alts in a similar fashion. One should know their own limits else one should be in search of that vital piece of knowledge, no matter the Archetype.

To the original post, usually my scrappers die on teams in the low levels when my defenses are not equal to my offense, when any one in the team does something heroic, like a player not paying attention and pulling a second or third group to the team as i tend to not retreat when it's the wise action to take, and lastly I die when I think I can handle what's in front of me but I turns out I was wrong.

This list does not include when I forget to toggle up after dieing and die again instantly. Nor does it include the times I think the rest of the team would like Vengeance and I volunteer to be bait for them as the seem adverse to being dead.

My favorite part of this game is how diverse teams can be. Crafting a team play style per team is often very enjoyable. You may find that tactics that worked yesterday aren't very successful today with new teammates. Taking note of what they are doing can help identify a useful role you might fill in the team. Some times scrappers take the initial alpha, sometimes scrapper munch minions, at times you can be in charge of defeating bosses. Rarely will doing the same thing from team to team result in the same amount of success across different teams.

Instead of putting that extra slot in Tough, put it in Slash and slot an Achilles's Heel chance for -Resistance proc. It will help out your damage vs tough single targets.

It will take a while to get soft capped so once you get to 32 you will love Shockwave. It simply provides so much damage mitigation it's hard to describe. Enemies on their backs do considerably less damage. Once your defenses are built up, you can use Shockwave offensively. Aim at the front of the spawn and open with Shockwave, you can pack the spawn tighter so you can hit more with Spin.

On teams knockback is all about how you use it. Bunching spawns against a wall, or knocking runners closer to the tank, or away from squishies and the team won't mind it. Scattering a spawn just because Shockwave recharged will not be popular.

My DM/SD is on my second account without vet respecs piled up, so I used the dual build option at 22 to respec into Stamina and SOs. I had planned to use the second build as a leveling build and IO out the main build, but I have since changed my mind about powers.

I'm making my second build work for me and when I get close to 50 I'll respec into something that will exemp better. I did get a Freakspec in this wekeend so I'm all ready to respec.

I'm not sure if time has fogged my memory about leveling my SR or if my expectations are higher for alts now, but my DM/SD feels like I'm very tight on power picks. Either that or I'm talking prereqs that are only opening other powers and I have more "useless" powers than I care to have. I am really enjoying the alt since the mid 30s and level 50 is inevitable.

What I did was skip Shadow Punch in favor of Air Superiority, it opens up Fly at 14 and is a decent attack, plus it provides a lot of damage mitigation. AAO is great, once you can survive the large numbers required to max it, so that can be pushed back. If you have the resources a level 20 Miracle can be slotted at level 17 an that can help out some. In the end I limped along with the temp travel powers as long as i could.