Robotech_Master

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do you mean electric melee? that's the new brute attack set. Brutes had Energy melee at launch.

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No, I mean that in the downloadable Prima Guide update, Brutes' Energy Melee is nowhere to be found. And given that the section is spread across pages and meant to be substituted for, rather than added to, the power listings in the I6 Prima guide, it's unlikely that it was left out because it was already there.

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Statesman, Jonyu and I all worked on translating the numbers in game to the Prima Guide. There are likely some typos and a transposed digit or two, but most of the numbers are accurate.

I think the pool powers values were all based on a fictional AT with all mods of 1.0 -- so if you apply your AT mod to the values, that should get you pretty close. Oh, and also, all the values are calculated at level 50. So, in many cases you'll get lower values at lower levels.

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Castle, how can the numbers be "accurate" if, in order to get the applicable values, we need to apply another calculation to them--and the guide is missing, not only the necessary figures we need to do the calculations, but any indication whatsoever that an additional calculation is even required? The purpose of a guide is supposed to be to keep us from having to look anywhere else for information. If we can't get accurate figures out of the Prima guide without consulting someone's board guide for the modifiers, then how is that more convenient than just checking a board guide in the first place? And how does it help the people who don't even know they need to look?

And anyhow, that doesn't address the question which was the subject of this thread: Are the values for Aim and Build Up different from what we'd been told they were, if so, why?

(For that matter, why are Energy Melee for Brutes and Dark Melee and Dark Aura for Stalkers missing from the guide update altogether?)

I've been looking through the Prima Guide and notice that it lists the values for Aim and Build Up differently from how we've been assuming they all worked. We all had believed that Build-Up was +50% To-Hit, +100% Damage, and Aim was +100% To-Hit, +50% Damage.

According to the downloadable Prima guide, however, Build Up gives +20% To-Hit, +80% Damage, and Aim gives +42.5% To-Hit, +42.5% Damage.

What's up with that?

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As someone who does bug testing, it's actually very easy to miss bugs that seem blindingly obvious once they are discovered. Especially in software that is being constantly tweaked by multiple people. As much as people like to rant about this sort of thing, it really does fall under 'these things happen sometimes'. And they happen to everyone.

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I have a friend who is a doctor of computer science. He knows inside and out the development cycle, QA, and so forth, and he's always the first person to correct me when I show up spouting whatever new conspiracy theory about how The Devs Are Out To Ruin Our Game that I've read on these boards and probably should have known better about. He's the first to remind me that actions that seem to make sense on the surface often have unintended consequences that people never even realized.

In a discussion I had with him the other day, he has noted that he now believes Cryptic's QA process to be so ineffective as to be nearly nonexistent.

The problem is that development and QA are handled separately, and firewalled off so that they don't talk to each other much. And where this might be a good idea for large teams working on monolithic software that doesn't change much--facilitating better separation and validation--it's not such a good idea for smaller teams working on a very dynamic code base. It's like those old EDS commercials about herding cats, building airplanes in the air, and/or running with squirrels. Very tricky to do--and at this point, Cryptic isn't doing it at all well.

This is astonishing. Truly astonishing. The one set of statistics modification numbers that the devs haven't hidden behind the veil of "Aaah! No 'City of Math'!"...has turned out to be half wrong, and apparently they've been wrong since the beginning of the game two years ago.

Why on earth did this take so long to come out? Why wasn't, say, the fact that the oranges were "so much weaker" than purples when they were introduced, sufficient to get the devs to say, "Oh, and by the way, purples are really not 25/33/50 after all..."? It seems clear that the oranges' numbers were being scaled against the actual values of the other Inspirations rather than their described values. Why didn't anyone correct it at that point?

I mean...wrong for two whole years?

This makes me wonder what other "facts" that we take for granted aren't true.

With this level of QA, Cryptic is really squandering the first-mover advantage in the superhero MMORPG genre. If they don't get their act together, and Marvel or DC come out with something better, they're going to eat Cryptic's lunch but good.

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FYI: Electric Shields' Grounding Power will have Immobilize and Knockback Protection added. The set will still not have a Heal power or HP Buff power.

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Great!

Now how about seeing about getting it added to the Fiery Aura and Dark Aura sets for Brutes and Tankers?

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And "100 times" isn't accurate, it would actually be 100 minus however many Infected you actually did defeat in Outbreak. You have to defeat at least 9 (IIRC?) to get out of Outbreak, so 91 times at the most

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The thing is, the number of Infected you defeated didn't start getting tracked until Issue 2.

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Plus, some folks may have skipped the training session entirely.

Wow! They actually got someone I know to write a novel for them.

Robin Laws was an occasional visitor to a P&P-game-industry chatserver where I hang out; I've even played in a Feng Shui session he GM'd. His Feng Shui RPG is absolutely terrific. I think I'm going to make an effort to snag this book.

I'll even make sure not to judge it by its cover!

A couple weeks ago, a columnist for Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show interviewed me and a few others--including professional novelist and CoH fanfic-writer Mercedes Lackey--on the subject of fanfic. The article is now up, and mentions City of Heroes fanfic in it too.

The columnist is looking for feedback since the next part of the article will be about the fans' perspective.

Will Brutes' Fury not building properly in PVP get fixed?

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If I may offer a suggestion...is it worth discussing planning one's respec to take into account the pvp zone autoexemp cutoffs (25 for Bloody Bay and 30 for Siren's Call)? Even for those who only dabble in PvP, it's worth thinking of those cutoffs when assigning powers during a respec.

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In all honesty...things like that really should be included in planning one's build to begin with. I didn't mention it in this guide because this guide actually started out as a section for my next revision of my Rapid XP Gain guide, and would have come right after another new section on where to look for advice on your character build. So I didn't think of putting anything in here about it beyond "come up with your build" because in my mind I already had this whole long section talking about it. It's just, that section is in another guide.

People should put thought into their rebuilds, yes. If I had been meaning to write a fuller respec guide, that looks at more than just the immediate actions surrounding using the interface, I'd probably put something like that in. For the purposes of the guide, I was just kind of black-boxing the redesign process.

Perhaps I should have put something about what order to choose your powers in your build, but I was more focussed on using the interface itself. Presumably, power-order-choice flaws in the build would be caught by people on the forums to which the would-be respecker posts his prospective build.

You are indeed right that power order choice matters when planning a respec, to make sure that you have the powers you need at the levels to which you exemplar. If I ever do another version (which is kind of unlikely unless the respec interface changes drastically), I'll put something like that in; for now, your comment serves as a decent enough warning in and of itself.

This is a new section for my guide that will be incorporated into the "Poweradventuring" section of the I7 version.

7) Adversity Builds Character--and So Should You

Even if you have picked the fastest-levelling class ever, you've only done half of what you need to ensure success. The other half is building the best version of that character you possibly can--because the difference between a good build and a bad build can mean the difference between levelling rapidly and hardly levelling at all. And thanks to some of the developers' decisions, coming up with a good build isn't necessarily easy.

Back when City of Heroes was in the planning stages, there had never been a truly large-scale successful MMORPG. Jack "Statesman" Emmert thought that part of the problem might be that other MMORPGs gave their players too much confusing information--so City of Heroes would provide only simple summaries of what powers did, with none of those confusing numbers. (Subsequently, World of Warcraft, which discloses all numbers for all powers, became the biggest hit MMORPG ever, causing a chagrined Emmert to admit that perhaps he had been slightly mistaken.) And so we have the system City of Heroes has now, wherein power effects are given vague descriptions, which really don't mean too much of anything.

Admittedly, this system does avoid the confusion of overloading a player with numbers. However, it causes the confusion of not really telling a player much of anything, which is arguably worse. This means that, when building a character, you can't trust the power descriptions you see on the training screen. A power that sounds like the best power ever might turn out to be the worst power in the set. For example, Fiery Aura's Temperature Protection power is a power that no Fiery Aura player in the know actually takes; half of its effects are completely redundant with the shield toggles, and the other half are mostly unnecessary. Yet a newbie player reading the power selection list would have no way to realize this.

The only way to find out what powers are good and what are stinkers is to learn from experience. Fortunately, there are enough experienced players out there that you do not have to rely only on your own experience. Obsessive number crunchers and statisticians with statistical analysis programs have discovered or extrapolated likely numbers for just about every power out there. Obsessive programmers have compiled these into character-creating programs like Sherk Silver's Character Builder and obsessive guide-writers have written guides around them. All the wisdom you need to figure out your own optimal build is right at your fingertips.

Here are a few recommended places to look for guides, numbers, and advice, in order from most to least recommended.

The City of Heroes official board's Guides & FAQs category. This is where guides are placed that are meant to stick around a while. You may even be reading this guide from there (although since some people have mirrored my guides on their own websites, this is by no means a sure thing). You can find guides by browsing the subject lines, searching on key words, or checking the Guide to Guides. (A guide referencing the Guide to Guides...recursive enough for you?) The Guide to Guides may be your best bet, since some guides don't actually mention their subject in their subject line.

The best guides will be informative and will make recommendations about what powers to take and what to avoid, but will not try to lock you into one specific build. They will also include suggestions for strategies in the use of powers, and may even give you a few tips you didn't learn here. (For examples of what I modestly consider the best sort of guide, see my own guides to Robotics/Dark Miasma Masterminds and Energy/Energy Brutes.) Be advised, however, that since the Guides board does not expire old posts, it is possible you could find guides dating all the way back to when City of Heroes first came out. Look for some indication in the subject line what Issue they were meant to cover, or else check the posting date. The most modern guides will say I6 (or I7, if you're reading this after I7 has come out). Given the number of changes in each issue, obsolete guides may not necessarily have the best advice. Anything before I5 will not take into account I5's Damage Resistance and Defense reductions, and anything before I6 will not include Enhancement Diversification. Anything before I7 will not cover whatever changes end up being made in I7. Ideally, you want something at least I6 (fall-winter 2005) or later.

Even if you don't find an exact guide to your particular power set combination, you can still pick up useful information by reading guides that are partial matches. For example, if you were playing a Spines/Super Reflex Scrapper and couldn't find a Spines/Super Reflex Guide, you could still learn about the Spines set by reading a Spines/Regen guide and about the Super Reflex set by reading a Katana/Super Reflex guide.

The City of Heroes board for your archetype. Whatever archetype you're making, check that board. If you're making a Scrapper, read the Scrapper board; if you're making a Brute, read the Brute board, and so on. You will find lists of guides for that specific archetype there that may be more current, or have more links, than the Guides Guide to Guides (whee, more recursion!), but you will also find threads discussing important aspects of powers and power sets that can help you figure out what to take and what to skip. If you have any particular questions, don't be shy about asking them. Remember, there are no stupid questions...only stupid people who ask stupid questions.

Other advice sites. There are plenty of other fansites and advice sites on the 'net for City of Heroes, such as City of Heroes Warcry, that used to have a lot of good character-building advice; however, the game has changed a great deal and some of the information may not necessarily be current any longer. The warnings above about checking the issue or posting date apply doubly here.

Character-building programs such as Sherk Silver's Character Builder. These programs, which provide an interface to let you build a character's power selections and slots from scratch, have their good aspects and their bad aspects. Good aspects include letting you try out sample builds for your character before he even leaves the training zone, and letting you see the numbers for each of your respective powers. Bad aspects are that the numbers in the version you have may be outdated or otherwise wrong due to updates to the game (or statistical discoveries) more recent than updates to the program, and they also do not give you advice about the powers beyond their printed descriptive text and what Enhancements they can take.

However, sometimes all the guides and good advice in the world will not be enough to keep you from making a mistake in your build. If you have a pre-existing character, you may already have. However, you will have the chance to correct that in the form of the three "normal" and one "freebie" respec you are granted over the life of your character. For information on how best to use those, see R_M's Guide to Using Respecs.

R_M'S GUIDE TO USING RESPECS

Even with all the excellent guides and good character-building advice in the world, you will probably make a mistake in building your character sooner or later--or maybe you already have. But never fear--that's what character respecification, or respecs, are for. A respec gives you the chance to rebuild your character from the ground up, correcting any mistakes you might have made along the way.

You will have access to 3 "normal" respecs over the life of your character, from doing the Terra Volta Reactor or Nerva Archipelago Thorn Tree Task or Strike Forces, as well as one "freebie" respec (often referred to as a "freespec") that comes along at irregular intervals, such as at major holidays or new Issue releases. If you have used your previous freebie, it will be refreshed when the next freebie is issued. However, if you have not used it by then, you will lose it; you can only have one freebie respec at a time and the new one will replace the old one.

If you have obtained or been given at least one respec, you may be wondering just what to do with it now that you have it. That's where this guide comes in.

This guide will be divided into three sections:
<ul type="square">[*]Considering the Respec will cover things you should consider before you ever begin the respec procedure.[*]Performing the Respec will cover planning, testing, and then committing your new build.[*]The Respec Interface will cover things you should be aware of while actually using the respec system.[/list]CONSIDERING THE RESPEC

Before the question of how to respec, there are a few things to think about in regard to setting up for the procedure.
<ul type="square">[*]Always use your "freebie" respec before using one of the ones you earned from a Task Force or Strike Force. Your freebie will eventually be replaced, but the others will not--and it's always possible you might need them someday if a change to a power important to you comes with no freebie granted. To find out if you have a freebie, as well as to use it if you do have it, type /respec into the chat box. If you have a free respec available to you, the respec screen will appear (and you can simply click "Cancel" to exit from it until you are ready to use it for real); otherwise you will receive an error message and will have to visit your respec contact (Jack Wolfe inside the Freedom Corps HQ in Galaxy City for heroes; Arbiter Lupin standing just east of the trainer in Nerva for villains) to respec. Note that if you have a freebie available shortly before another one will be issued, you may wish to go ahead and use it even if you do not wish to make any extensive changes.[*]Before you begin the respec procedure, you may want to take a screenshot with the user-interface windows enabled. (If you do not already have a macro set up for this, type /screenshotui 1 and then hit print-screen and then type /screenshotui 0 to set it back to no-GUI again.) After you respec, the order of the powers and macros and so forth in your trays will be scrambled up, and having a screenshot handy will help you remember what powers went where.[*]Some people are very careful to plan their respecs to come only when they have reached levels that end in 2 or 7. (22, 27, 32, etc.) This way, they can sell off all the white or yellow Enhancements they currently have slotted and buy completely new green ones of the next rank up after the respec. This has the benefit of "recycling" all the otherwise wasted slotted Enhancements for a much-needed monetary infusion. (Some people will do this even if they do not otherwise need a respec at all, to recover the cash that would otherwise be lost--especially if they have a freebie available and know another one will soon be replacing it.) If this is your first character on a particular server, then this money you recover may well be an important consideration for you; even if not you might wish to limp along for another level or two to obtain the extra benefit from something you would be doing anyway. It would probably be most worthwhile to do it at levels 27 and up, when the sold-off Enhancements would be SOs.[/list]PERFORMING THE RESPEC

Given the rarity of respecs, you should make utterly certain that you do not make a mistake before you burn one. This can take a bit of effort and thought, but in the end the feeling of utter certainty that you have done it right is worth the extra trouble. You can, of course, skip any of these steps that you want to, and you probably will once you get more experienced building your characters. If this is your first respec, however, you had better take as much care as you can.
<ul type="square">[*]Plan first. Use a character-building program such as Sherk Silver's Character Builder to spec out your prospective new build. Use the export function and copy and paste it into a post on the archetype's forum, asking other people to critique the build for possible weaknesses. Make any changes you feel are warranted based on their suggestions, then when you're ready, print out a final version of the build to keep next to your computer for reference when you do the in-game respec.[*]Test next. Copy your character over to the Training Room, and run the respec there. You may wish to copy your character multiple times if you think you will be testing more than one potential build. (If you are using a TF/SF respec, you may want to position your character next to Jack Wolfe or Arbiter Lupin before you copy; if you are using a free respec, you might want to position next to your origin's Enhancement store first.) Slot all your new powers completely, rearrange your power trays, and then go run some missions. This may seem like a great deal of wasted effort, but having the chance to play your build before you commit to it can uncover potential weaknesses you hadn't ever considered. If you find the build doesn't work out as well as you had hoped, return to the first step and try again.[*]Commit last. After running through as many iterations of planning and testing as you feel are necessary, use the respec on the live server. Be very careful to make sure you make no mistakes. After that--you're done![/list]THE RESPEC INTERFACE

When you start to respec, you will be presented with a power selection screen similar to your training screen. You will get to choose each of your powers first, then each of your Enhancement slots. Next you will get to slot the powers with the Enhancements that were removed from the powers, then sell off any that remain and you'll be done. Here are some things to remember to make the procedure easier.
<ul type="square">[*]Because the interface doesn't tell you what level power you are selecting, you should select the powers in the order they're printed out on that Character Builder print-out you made earlier. You may also wish to say aloud to yourself what level power you are selecting as you select it, to help keep from getting confused. Remember that if you do get confused, you can always click the back arrow until you get back to an earlier power--or even until you exit out of the respec entirely.[*]The order in which you add Enhancement slots to the powers does not matter, only the final outcome. You may nonetheless have to add slots to powers in something reasonably close to the order in which you slotted them on the build sheet, to keep from finding you've slotted yourself into a corner.[*]When it comes time to slot the Enhancements into the Enhancement slots, be sure and move any Enhancements you want to keep but not slot into the 10-space row that represents your inventory. You should put any unslotted Hami-Os, Hydra-Os, or Titan-Os in there, even if you have outlevelled or do not intend to use them; you won't get any money for them in the buy-back, so you might as well give them to someone else. And, of course, you do not have to re-slot any Enhancements at all; you can simply sell them all back to buy new ones.[/list]CONCLUSION

The respec is a great game mechanic for straightening out character foul-ups. However, it is a limited resource, so it is important to be sure you get it right the first time. With the advice given in this guide, you should have a much better chance of that.

INHERENT

Power: Fury
Description: As a Brute engages in combat, it unleashes his Fury. The longer he remains in combat, attacking and being attacked, the more damage he deals.
Effects: +0% to +200% of base damage
Available: Inherent

Viewpoint: This inherent ability, along with the 850%-of-base-damage cap, is what gets Brutes the reputation of being infernal damage machines--to the point where some people seem to believe that it isn't necessary to slot attacks for Damage, because Fury will take care of that for them.

While these are good effects, they're actually only part of the story--because that is only 67% that of a Scrapper. That's right, 67%. While Tankers get 80%, Brutes have to make do with 67%, which means that Fury is no longer a neat extra, but rather something that is required to do our job. However, when we have it running, we can outdamage just about any other class in the game.

The version of this section that appeared in my I6 guide was a maze of mathematics and footnotes, and more than one person complained that it was moderately incomprehensible. Furthermore, due to a misreading on my part, it was mathematically wrong on top of that. I intend to do better this time.

But if you'd rather not risk mathematical confusion, here's the executive summary: Brutes can outdamage Scrappers in most situations provided they can get full Fury. If that's all you need to know, feel free to skip ahead. If you'd like to know by how much, read on.

There are two aspects of Scrapper versus Brute damage we will look at: base damage percentage, and attack brawl index.

Base damage percentage compares the damage that each class could do if they used an attack that would otherwise do exactly the same amount of damage--for example, Brawl. By having a character from each class use these attacks and comparing the amount of damage, we can discover how much more damage ability some classes are granted than others.

Because until recently, the only attack that every single character in City of Heroes and Villains had in common was Brawl, Brawl has become the standard unit of measurement for comparing the effectiveness of attacks. Thus, it has become common practice to measure how much damage an attack does in terms of "Brawl Index." If a power is listed as having a Brawl Index of 2.7778, that means a character using that attack, unslotted, does 2.7778 times as much damage as the same character would do using unslotted Brawl.

Base Damage

When we investigate base damage, this is what we find. Using the Blaster as the standard against which other damage-dealing classes are measured (don't ask me why), we have Blasters' melee damage set to 100%. By comparison, Brutes do 75% and Scrappers do 112.5%. (The numbers for ranged damage are different, but we aren't concerned about those for the most part.) Thus, Scrappers do 75/112.5 as much damage as Scrappers. At first these numbers look kind of ugly, but if we divide both sides by 37.5, we find it reduces to Brutes doing exactly 2/3, or 66.67%, of the base damage of Scrappers. (See this guide for more information than you could possibly ever want to know about base damage percentages.)

What this means is that, if we invented a made-up melee attack that could be taken by both a Scrapper and a Brute that did 100 points of damage for the Scrapper, it would do 66.67 (which I'll round off to 67) points of damage for the Brute. This assumes, of course, that the attack is not slotted and none of the above ATs are using Build-Up, Aim, Fury, or any other damage-boosting powers on them.

Imagine a Brute and a Scrapper have just been created with this mythical 100-point attack, and have just exited their respective Training Rooms. The Scrapper will not have access to Build Up or any other damage-enhancer--but the Brute will have his Inherent Fury, which can add up to 200% to his attacks (1). His base damage with that attack (67) is lower than the Scrapper's (100), but he only needs to get his Fury bar up to about 25% full (50% extra damage) to equal the Scrapper's base damage--and if he gets his Fury bar all the way full, he will be doing 200 damage compared to the Scrapper's 100. The calculations look like this:

Brute: 67 * (100% base + 200% Fury) = 200
Scrapper: 100 * (100% base) = 100

This means that, from the very outset, a Brute can do twice as much damage as a Scrapper if he lets Fury build. This, in turn, means that a Brute has no real need to slot for Damage until he reaches level 22. His attacks will do a significant amount if they hit, just on Fury alone--and it is far more important, thus, to be sure they do hit and deliver that damage (by slotting as many Accuracies as possible), rather than risking them not hitting as often but delivering a tiny amount more if they do.

Now let's imagine that the Scrapper and the Brute both advance several levels until they can both take Build Up, a 100% damage boost over the course of 10 seconds. If they both use Build Up, and the Brute still has full Fury, then over the course of that 10 seconds they're kicking it up a notch to where the Brute does 300 points of damage with this made-up attack and the Scrapper does 230. The damage gap has narrowed, but it's still there.

Brute: 67 * (100% base + 200% Fury + 100% Build Up) = 267
Scrapper: 100 * (100% base + 100% Build Up) = 200

Let's now imagine that they both hit 22 and can take Single Origin Enhancements for their attacks--and they slot 3 Damage SOs, to add another 100% to their firepower. For the 90% of the time they will not be using Build Up, but assuming the Brute still has max Fury, their numbers will look very similar to the above: 267 Damage for the Brute, 200 for the Scrapper.

Brute: 67 * (100% base + 200% Fury + 100% 3 DMG SOs) = 267
Scrapper: 100 * (100% base + 100% 3 DMG SOs) = 200

Now let's assume they both use Build Up. For the next ten seconds, their respective damage rates will be

Brute: 67 * (100% base + 200% Fury + 100% 3 DMG SOs + 100% Build Up) = 333
Scrapper: 100 * (100% base + 100% 3 DMG SOs + 100% Build Up) = 300

And thus at the maximum rate of damage they can do unassisted, the Brute is still outdamaging the Scrapper by 33 points. (And note that if we were discussing a Fire/Fire Brute in the above equations, with both Build Up and Fiery Embrace, the numbers would look even worse from the Scrapper's point of view.)

There is one last measurement to compare before we move on to Brawl Index: the damage cap. Scrappers have a 500% cap--meaning that no matter how many damage-enhancing effects are stacked onto them, they can never do more than five times the base damage of their attacks. Brutes, on the other hand, can reach 850%.

Let's assume that our Brute and Scrapper both receive infinite Fulcrum Shifts or pop infinite Enrage Inspirations, or at least enough to reach their respective damage caps. If they used the same imaginary attack we've been using so far, their caps would be:

Brute: 67 * 850% = 567
Scrapper 100 * 500% = 500

Thus, at their caps, a Brute still does more damage than a Scrapper can.

It should be noted, however, that a full-Fury Brute actually requires more Fulcrum Shift icons or Enrage inspirations (14 if using Build Up along with full Fury, 18 with full Fury alone) to hit his cap than a Scrapper (8 if using Build Up, 12 if not). So, if both the Brute and the Scrapper received 8 Fulcrum Shift icons or popped 8 Enrages, while using Build-Up, the Scrapper would actually outdamage the Brute. This is the only situation that I am aware of where an equally-buffed Scrapper would outdamage a Brute using the same attack.

((1) In actuality, due to the way Fury falls off faster the more you get, you probably won't ever see more than a 190% (95% Fury bar) damage boost from Fury--just as you won't see more than a 95% damage boost from 3 Damage SOs due to Enhancement Diversification. In both cases, I have rounded up for simplicity's sake.)

Brawl Index

However, base damage percentages only tell half the story. We have been assuming, for the above examples, that the Scrapper and the Brute are using an attack that does an identical amount of damage--that is, an identical Brawl Index. However, the only attack for which this is really the case is Brawl.

Let's compare one of the Scrapper sets to Energy Melee in terms of brawl index for its attacks. We'll look at the Broad Sword set, which is the highest-damage Scrapper primary. However, its damage is entirely Lethal, which is heavily-resisted in the late game, and it is also the slowest-animated Scrapper set. Still, it is only fair to compare the highest damage Scrapper to the highest damage Brute.

These are the Brawl Index values of the attacks for Broadsword, as taken from this post:

Broadsword
Hack - 4.5556 Lethal
Slash - 2.7778 Lethal
Slice - 3.4444 Lethal
Parry - 2.3333 Lethal
Whirling Sword - 2.7778 Lethal + (0.2778 * 3) Lethal = 3.3334 total
per target
Disembowel - 5.4444 Lethal
Head Splitter - 7.2222 Lethal

Energy Melee
Barrage - (0.6944 * 2) Smashing + (0.2500 * 2) Energy = 1.8888 total
Energy Punch - 1.9444 Smashing + (0.8333 * 2) Energy = 3.6106 total
Bone Smasher - 2.7778 Smashing + 1.7778 Energy = 4.5556 total
Whirling Hands - 1.6667 Smashing + 1.1111 Energy = 2.7778 total per target
Total Focus - 2.7778 Smashing + 7.1111 Energy = 9.8889 total
Stun - 0.4167 Smashing + 0.2778 Energy = .6945 total
Energy Transfer - 4.3333 Smashing + 8.3333 Energy = 12.6666 total

This comparison shows us that the Broadsword Scrapper's lower-damage attacks tend to be more powerful than the Energy Brute's--but this is probably balanced by their recharge times, since Broadsword is a slower set. The thing that is the most noteworthy, however, are to compare the sets' two most powerful attacks. It has already been shown that a Brute can outdamage a Scrapper on an attack with an equivalent Brawl Index. Consider now that the most powerful Scrapper has attacks that do 5.4444 and 7.2222 times their (100%) version of Brawl--but the most powerful Brute has attacks that do 9.8889 and 12.6666 times their (66.67%) version--and 2/3 of that is in a less-commonly-resisted damage type.

Let's compare brawl values adjusted for the differing base damages. We'll take the most damaging attack from each side, multiply the Brute's version by 2/3 for a direct comparison, then plug them into one of the equations above in place of our fictitious equivalent attack.

Head Splitter = 7.2222 Lethal
Energy Transfer = 12.6666 * 2/3 = equivalent of 8.4444 Smash/Energy

Assuming the Brute has full Fury, and both he and the Scrapper have
popped Build Up, the attacks would compare as follows:

Brute: 8.4444 * (100% base + 200% Fury + 100% 3 DMG SOs + 100% Build Up) = 42.222 times the damage of the Scrapper's unslotted Brawl)
Scrapper: 7.2222 * (100% base + 100% 3 DMG SOs + 100% Build Up) = 300 = 21.666 times the damage of the Scrapper's unslotted Brawl

So, assuming Fury is full, each respective attack is fully slotted, and Build-Up is running, Energy Transfer can deliver twice the actual damage in a single hit that Head Splitter does--and two thirds of that in a damage type (Energy) that is significantly less commonly resisted in the late game than the Broadsword Scrapper's (Lethal). And if they both hit their respective caps, the numbers look even worse: 71.7774 for the Brute, 36.1110 for the Scrapper.

Of course, this comparison is not completely fair, since it doesn't take into account recharge times, Endurance cost, and so forth. What it shows is that a Brute is capable of dealing a much higher amount of damage in a single blow than the highest-damaging Scrapper can; it does not compare relative damage per second rates or any other comparative performance over time.

But all of the above calculations are contingent upon your being able to obtain a good head of Fury and keep it there while dealing your damage. It's not usually too hard to get it up--there will be specific tips on that further down in this guide--but keeping it up can be a challenge, especially if you are on a team. However, if you can keep your Fury up, no class in the game except another Brute can outdamage you.

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible to just have the tick rate be different for PVP and PVE? Beause that could solve the problem.

[/ QUOTE ]
It wouldn't be possible, no. Power effects for PVP and PVE are not decided on a "what zone you're in" basis; they're decided on a "what kind of enemy is attacking you" basis. And Repel ticks the same no matter if you're being attacked by players, NPCs, or even not attacked at all.

A quick google will find you many FAQs and so forth on how to view and work with CoH demo files.

However, quick version:

Create a copy of your City of Heroes desktop shortcut.

Edit the shortcut's properties to tack on -demoplay to the end of the statement in the "Target" box.

Drag the *.cohdemo file onto the shortcut icon.

At tonight's Pinnacle raid, I took a 7-minute, 3.5 megabyte demo file of the "attackless phase," starting 11:30 into the hold phase when the raid bosses called people forward, 1 origin at a time, to get 1 attack in on Hamidon and back away, ending at about 17:30 into the hold phase when Hamidon was killed dead.

So we're looking at about a 4-5:00 Hami kill (not counting, of course, whatever amount he had been run down over the course of the hold phase prior to that). Since Hami was de-rendered, I couldn't see his bar.

Enjoy.

MATH ERROR

Boy is my face red.

The calculations, and the conclusions I draw based on them, in the Fury part of the Inherent Powers section of the guide are wrong.

I had misread the base damage percentages for Scrappers.

I had thought that Brutes were at .75, Blasters were at 1.0, and Scrappers were at 1.25...which would make Brutes' damage equivalent to exactly 60% of a Scrapper's. (.75/1.25 = 60/100).

But it turns out that Scrappers' base damage is actually 1.125, not 1.25...somehow I missed reading that pesky extra 1. Which throws the calculations and conclusions off.

Thus, at full Fury and with Build-Up, Brutes do still outdamage Scrappers. When you take into account the higher Brawl Indexes of Brute attacks, they do so even more. And their damage caps out higher too.

And naturally this comes out only when it's too late to edit the guide in place. I'm going to have to rewrite that section of the guide completely and put it up here sometime in the next few days.

Wish someone had caught that in the draft version. :/

Also, I'm told that powers don't start recharging until the activation time ends. (The annoying thing is, I actually knew this on some subconscious level as I figured it into my damage per second calculations that way.) Which means I need to rewrite the parts of my descriptions of Barrage and Energy Punch that talk about recharge rates vs activation times. I'll likely end up moving the thing about slotting to cut the time in half up from Barrage, and also add something about spending 3 recharges to gain 1 second of recharge reduction not being slot-economical.

Luckily I7, and an excuse to do a new edition of the guide, is just a month away!

Aha. With that change made, it seems like a reasonably workable build. I would suggest reading my EM/EA guide too just to see if any of my opinions on powers give you any second thoughts.

[ QUOTE ]
The Fury bar went to ~95%. It just seems like it won't quite go there.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think it actually does go to full, but it never stays full long enough for you to do anything because it decays so fast at that point. Your effective full Fury bar is 95%.

Out of curiosity, why are you taking Acrobatics?

[ QUOTE ]
Did you actually think about how this would work before you typed that? That system would reward Defense based sets almost exactly proportional to resist based sets. I'm surprised I even have to explain it...

[/ QUOTE ]
Except that this would still mean an EA Brute at his cap (i.e. running Overload or munching purples) would get almost no Fury at all. Generally, it's not a good idea to make the final power in one's set less desirable to use than not.

And come I7, he's already going to be 2/3 or more of the way to his cap just on his toggles--he's not gonna get hit nearly as often as he is now.

(Somehow the darned board interface double-posted on me. If a dev could remove this one, that would be good.)

SAMPLE BUILD

The following is the build that I presently have for my level 40 Energy/Energy Brute. It is not my first build; it is actually my third, having burned both of my respecs to make up for my mistakes and set it up this way. It probably isn't the best possible Brute build, and it could probably be improved a number of ways. (For example, taking Air Superiority at level 8 instead of Build-Up, then taking Build-Up at level 22 and pushing Aid Other and Aid Self back to 24 and 26 might be a viable option--but then I would have to steal slots from other powers to put into Air Sup...and so it goes.) I don't offer this as a prescription for what your build should necessarily look like. It's just a way of showing what's been viable in PVE for me.

If you're interested in PVP, well, you'll just have to come up with your own build.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Pouncetta Purrfect
Level: 41
Archetype: Brute
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Energy Aura
---------------------------------------------
01) --&gt; Energy Punch==&gt; Acc(1)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Dmg(9)Rechg(11)
01) --&gt; Kinetic Shield==&gt; DefBuf(1)DefBuf(11)DefBuf(13)
02) --&gt; Bone Smasher==&gt; Acc(2)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Dmg(9)
04) --&gt; Power Shield==&gt; DefBuf(4)DefBuf(13)DefBuf(15)
06) --&gt; Hasten==&gt; Rechg(6)Rechg(15)Rechg(23)
08) --&gt; Build Up==&gt; Rechg(8)Rechg(17)Rechg(17)
10) --&gt; Entropy Shield==&gt; EndRdx(10)
12) --&gt; Hurdle==&gt; Jump(12)
14) --&gt; Super Speed==&gt; Run(14)
16) --&gt; Health==&gt; Heal(16)
18) --&gt; Total Focus==&gt; Acc(18)Acc(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(23)Dmg(25)Rechg(25)
20) --&gt; Stamina==&gt; EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --&gt; Aid Other==&gt; Heal(22)
24) --&gt; Aid Self==&gt; Rechg(24)Rechg(27)Heal(27)Heal(29)Heal(36)
26) --&gt; Taunt==&gt; Rechg(26)
28) --&gt; Energy Drain==&gt; Rechg(28)Rechg(29)EndMod(31)EndMod(33)Rechg(37)EndMod(40)
30) --&gt; Energy Cloak==&gt; DefBuf(30)DefBuf(31)DefBuf(31)
32) --&gt; Energy Transfer==&gt; Acc(32)Acc(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)
35) --&gt; Whirling Hands==&gt; Acc(35)Acc(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(37)Dmg(37)
38) --&gt; Overload==&gt; Rechg(38)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)DefBuf(39)Heal(40)Heal(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --&gt; Sprint==&gt; Run(1)
01) --&gt; Brawl==&gt; Acc(1)
01) --&gt; Fury==&gt; Empty(1)
02) --&gt; Rest==&gt; Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------



PARTING THOUGHTS

I hope you've enjoyed my guide, and that I haven't put you to sleep too badly. Hopefully you haven't found too much to disagree with--and if you think I'm wrong about something, you'll (politely) let me know why. Even if my preferred playstyle is not your own, you should at least be able to use the information I've provided with yours.

Playing City of Villains is a constant learning process--you'll never know everything there is to know about it. (This is even more true with the way the updates often force us to redesign our characters entirely, but oh well.) With that in mind, you shouldn't stop with just my guide. Check out other guides, too, to see if they have different opinions, or information I might have missed. For example, Inspector6's An EM/EA Brute's Guide to Level 40 disagrees with me on the usefulness of Taunt, favors building for damage resistance rather than healing, and is more interested in PVP than PVE. It also has a potentially-useful template of when you should take the "must-have" powers that I was very tempted to steal for this guide, but thought better of. There's no One True Way to build a CoV character, so read and learn and make your own decisions.

But don't just read other Energy Melee/Energy Aura Brute guides--guides to Energy/* and */Energy Brutes, and even Energy/Energy Stalkers and */Energy Tankers might have some useful hints to offer as well. We share some of the same powers after all, even if the order and uses are a bit different.

Welcome to the world of the Energy/Energy Brute. May you have a brutally good time!


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to all the members of the Brute forum and friends from elsewhere who read the draft version of this guide and provided some excellent feedback, corrections, and helpful information. Thanks especally to Sable_Blaze for his kind comment, "I was seriously considering an EM/EA guide myself, but after seeing this...well...no point in it now!"

Extra-special thanks to Dragonov for providing _Castle_'s Fury equations, and anarchicgorilla for simplifying them and saving me many headaches.