Laevateinn

I can't speak for others, but personally, I'd look at your build, wonder why you'd shortchange it so, shake my head and keep playing normally.

I think this difference is artificial and people focus more on one end only because they've been told to by the prevailing groupthink.

I've teamed with some very good Fire/Kin corrs that kept the entire team SBed while mowing down hordes of enemies.

There's very little math involved in making a good build. (Mids' is there to do the math for you.) Most of it involves good judgment, experience, logic, a sound knowledge of game mechanics, and creativity.

The best way to develop these is just to play the game, do a wide range of content, try different things out and be observant and inquisitive. Eventually you will figure out why certain powers are considered mandatory to take, why some build goals are chosen over others, and some of the more obscure game mechanics. A few rules of thumb will tide you over until then (the most important one - no more than 3 of any single type of SO in a power, since there are severe diminishing returns on the 4th).

Mids' is nice since it does the math for you and it lets you see how different enhancements affect power statistics, but it can be misleading sometimes. It's also not bug-free - till this day, it overestimates the average damage done by Fire Blast's lingering damage, for example. People who base build decisions exclusively around Mids' and power info as seen in the game (and there are a lot of them on the forums) almost always get something wrong.

If you use a build made by someone else, make sure to pester them and get them to explain why it is built a certain way and justify (quantitatively if possible) the decision.

By being persistent, employing sound logic, and ignoring those who oppose any beneficial change ever.

P.S. squishies can now get mez protection too!

-Gadgeteer

No, Traps does not cut it. There is no powerset in game that properly conveys the feel of the high-tech gadgeteer hero. It is criminal that it's so hard to get lasers in a superhero game and that there is no player orbital laser attack. I want time-stopping chronofields, disintegration beams, orbital strikes, and a cruise missile attack where I do the O-portal wrist tap animation and a Tomahawk flies in and blows up everything.

Yes, provided that it is not already stacked to the maximum allowable (which will almost always certainly be the case in team AV fights).

Flawless Reactive is 5x15 fire damage - nearly twice the average damage of purple damage procs. In every attack.

4 Basilisk's Gaze (+1.25 ranged def, +7.5 rech). Pick and chose whichever pieces will let you cap hitchance against +3 or +4 enemies.

If you are talking about ATs with wildly different strengths (e.g. Corruptors and tanks), sure. For ATs that have broadly similar roles or capabilities, comparisons are entirely fair. There's nothing incorrect with noting that the best scrappers deal comparable damage to the best blasters while being 10 times tougher.

Yes. You will still need to handle ambushes and enemies above the taunt cap (tanks can hold the aggro of roughly one x8 spawn; and that really isn't a lot at all). More importantly, though, I would say that being able to handle your own survivability makes the game more fun regardless of whether it is necessary. It frees you to take the initiative and play how you like as opposed to following another player about in scripted roles.

It depends on the powerset, but generally no.

In some cases the buffs are so powerful, the weaker Corruptor value doesn't mean much. (e.g. Fulcrum Shift)

In some cases debuffs are based on pseudopets, so Corruptors get the same value as Defenders (e.g. Sleet)

Casual players are the non-existent demographic everyone pretends to be to insinuate that devs have to cater to them. If you want very rare anything, you're not casual.