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I can't do as much verifying as I normally do (posting from my iPhone), but I believe that AAO is one of the most powerful taunt auras in the game (beaten only by Chilling Embrace). Consider that AAO has a 1s pulse time (vs EF's 2s), longer duration of ~16.875s (vs EF's 13.5s), and has a dmg debuff as well. Couple that with the fact that the Scrapper inherently does more damage than Tanks and it is very easy for me to see a Shield Scrapper out threat a Tank. Heck, I knew something was wrong with the dev's old explanation of how threat worked because my Invuln Scrapper would routinely out threat Invuln Tanks who didn't Taunt, and that's with both charaters having the same aura.

If you want to hold aggro on AVs over a Scrapper with a Taunt aura, you pretty much have to take Taunt and use it liberally. (If the Scrapper starts attacking first, or somehow steals aggro from you, keep in mind it may take more than one Taunt to regain aggro.) Personally, since playing a WP Tank with a 5 slotted Taunt, I don't think that I could play without it so well slotted anymore - even with a better aura. Taunt aura Scrappers are nowhere near as rare as they used to be (not to mention teaming with Brutes) and being able to routinely hold aggro over them is invaluable.

[edit: Oh, and when I was playing my Invuln Scrapper I would steal aggro mod fight, even if the Tank initiated combat. If they didn't Taunt, I would just build more threat over time than a Tank could.]

This is one of those issues I wish would be discussed without going to pointless extremes.

Soloing +0, x0, no bosses is pretty easy, even without mez protection. The spawns are small, almost all enemies can be dealt with in a single mez, mobs have terrible tohit chances and low damage. Is it possible for something to go wrong and die? Absolutely, but it should not be happening with any degree of regularity. Heck, depending on character / level / enemy group being fought, sometimes I've gotten mezzed and not even bothered with a breakfree.

On the other hand, if you turn up the difficulty (larger spawns, bosses) the possibility of things going wrong greatly increases, disproportionately compared to melee characters. Also, even if each spawn only has one 'dedicated mezzer,' there is a high possibility there will be multiple mobs that can mez. For example, any Freakshow with a hammer arm can apply a stun. For lower levels, there are always the Tsoo Ink Men.

[edit: Squishies would also be more susceptible to problems caused by not seeing a mob, ambushes, etc. Whenever an encounter starts off without the player shooting first, they're going to be at a bigger disadvantage.]


Some squishies handle mezzes / harder content better than others. My Dark/Rad/Dark Defender, for example, can deal with quite a bit. She can handle large groups of mobs quite easily due to a plethora of aoe control, and permanently lock down bosses between OG and Cosmic Burst.. If she gets mezzed, mobs will still be debuffed (FS, Fluffy), crowd controlled (lingering Oppressive Gloom, Pet Gaze, Cosmic Burst), and healed (Fluffy). On the opposite side of the spectrum, my Dark/Rad/Soul Corruptor is far more brittle. She can crush large groups of mobs (TT to lock mobs into the debuff fields then chip them to death), but if she gets mezzed, all her mitigation shuts down. I understand that herding mobs is above and beyond what is 'normal,' but it's frustrating that her specialty is so easily shut down.

I will say that sometimes in groups lack of status protection can be more frustrating. As the teamsize climbs, more mezzers spawn. This makes it easier for one to catch you sideways. (Thankfully, you'll have support from you team so you probably won't die, but you time spent incapacitated can increase. The LGTF is a good example of this.)

Do I think that squishies should simply be given status protection? No, I don't think that would be the right solution - but I do wish there was a bit more leniency. Here is a rough example of what I mean. Give every character a passive that ticks every T seconds. It has a X% chance to give a MAG Y status protection for Z seconds. Just off the cuff numbers: every 5 seconds has a 50% chance for MAG 5 status protection for 1 second. The idea behind it is that even restrained heros fight back against their restraints - allowing them to briefly act. It might be firing off a strategic control, eating an inspiration, using a heal, landing the killing blow, etc. The main purpose is to prevent perma lockdown, while still leaving them as a potent threat to be dealt with instead of trivializing them.


Let me say I'm not the best squishy player out there. I'm very conservative with inspirations, thinking "I think I can handle this," which often gets me into trouble where if I ate insps off the bat I would have been much better off. I also acknowledge some players could do things on squishies I might not be able to. This is just my perspective on the matter. I speak for no one but myself.

[edit: Oh, one last thing - none of my squishies are completely tricked out on IOs. Some have more investment than others, but none of them are softcapped, perma-hastened, etc. Generally just enough to plug some glaring holes (like end consumption).]

I only have limited experience with SR (lvl ~31 DB/SR) and no experience with Ninjitsu, but a couple other differences between the sets:

SR can attain ~30% def with its powers.
Ninjitsu can attain ~21.645% def with its powers (~24.57% with slotted Hide)

SR has scaling resistance.
Ninjitsu has no resistance, but a self heal comparable to Reconstruction.

SR has knockback protection / resistance.
Ninjitsu has fear protection.

SR can hit 95% def resistance.
Ninjitsu has 34.6% def resistance.

SR has...?
Ninjitsu has Caltrops, Smoke Flash, and Blinding Power.


Is one better than the other? Hard to say. Softcapped Ninjitsu is likely stronger over time in conventional fights than SR because of the self heal, but it doesn't have the scaling resists, either. The biggest thing SR has over Ninjitsu is the def resistance, which mean it's extremely unlikely SR will ever suffer cascading failure, something Ninjitsu still may have to worry about from time to time.

I'm guessing you've tried this already, but if you haven't already, you could herd up some demon fuel to give your offense more kick. Depending on any restrictions you're placing on yourself, you could always OD on inspirations, too.

Also, crunch out the DPA of your powers accounting for 50% fire res and 25% s/l res, it may change your prioritization compared to an unresisting target.

The defense, no question. Don't forget that it will only take two t1 purples (or one t2) to softcap you. That is a huge benefit when the going gets tough.

If you're facing enough def debuffers to redline your defense, then you'll never notice the 5 hp/sec difference, anyways.