SpittingTrashcan

There are many differences between the sewers and the AE, but the one that strikes me as most relevant here is that people generally leave the sewers, and go on to do other things in other zones.

It is supremely unnecessary to dismember the accepted meaning of "force multiplication" in order to justify the usefulness of scrappers on teams.

I would guess it would be one of Spines, /Fire (tanker version, with Combustion), Claws, or SS. It depends on what you mean by "best" - the AT and complementary set make a big difference in final DPS.

I suspect that if the devs had the game to design all over again, they would incorporate some form of diminishing returns in from the start - most likely a gentle curve with the softcap as its asymptote - such that mitigation becomes logarithmic in its growth and effectively additive in its contribution to the survival line.

I also suspect that they would apply it to the current game, if not for the whole "pitchforks, torches, blood in the streets" thing.

The hint is in the thread title - unsubtle. I already have a bog-standard MA/SR stalker, and I just never liked the ST burst style. I'm trying something different: a Stalker that functions pretty much like an ambush AoE scrapper. I'm taking AS as a utility power and a slot mule, but it's not the core of the strategy and will only rarely be my opening attack - it'll be getting about as much use as the snipe on a Blaster.

Once I decided on that, the rest of the build actually falls into place quite naturally.

For the feeling of raw, brutal power: Ms. Exquisite Agony, my SS/Elec/Mu Brute. She was a monster before I16 - now, with dark lightning, ground punching, and Energize, she's a carnival of carnage.

For being an unshakable mountain: Sadishir, my Stone/Stone Tank. She fights villains and doesn't afraid of anything.

I like my others as well, to varying degrees, but I come back to these two pretty often.

It's amazing how much simpler this is with /Nin.

1 Hide
1 Charged Brawl
2 Jacob's Ladder
4 Ninja Reflexes
6 Danger Sense
8 Build Up
10 Hurdle
12 Combat Jumping
14 Health
16 Kuji-In Rin
18 Chain Induction
20 Stamina
22 Kuji-In Sha
24 Super Jump
26 Thunder Strike
28 Hasten
30 Placate
32 Lightning Rod
35 Blinding Powder
38 Kuji-In Retsu
41 Mu Bolts
44 Ball Lightning
47 Assassin's Shock
49 Swift

The Arsonist is still suicidal, but what can you do.

Apologies for lack of Mids'. This build is a little odd. I haven't filled in the slotting, because at this point I'm just looking at power order.

1 Hide
1 Charged Brawl
2 Jacob's Ladder
4 High Pain Tolerance
6 Reconstruction
8 Build Up
10 Hurdle
12 Mind Over Body
14 Health
16 Indomitable Will
18 Chain Induction
20 Stamina
22 Heightened Senses
24 Hasten
26 Thunderstrike
28 Fast Healing
30 Super Speed
32 Lightning Rod
35 Placate
38 Strength of Will
41 Mu Bolts
44 Ball Lightning
47 Assassin's Shock
49 Combat Jumping

I think you can see where I'm going here. My main concern is the first 22 levels - I may swap in Assassin's Shock for Mind over Body at least until I can get Chain Induction. Once in the 30s, though, I figure that for anything but single hard targets, LR and TS from Hide is a good way to say hello.

I'm not married to the secondary, if a different one would work better for this.

This increases my temptation to make an Elec/ Stalker. I found my MA/SR's complete lack of AoE damage frustrating, but this is a whole other ball game.

It's worth emphasizing that "provides force multiplication" is not equivalent to "is an asset on a team."

It's also worth emphasizing that, while Scrappers can indeed be assets to teams, their well-rounded effectiveness specifically sets them apart from Holy Trinity ATs - Tankers, Blasters, and Defenders - who are specifically designed around sacrificing some aspect of their solo capability in order to obtain unparalleled power in another aspect. In short, Scrappers can be useful on teams, but the trinity are designed around teaming with complementary archetypes, and provide a great deal of benefit when they do.

It's also worth noting that the thread was about how Brute Claws would be nerfed, and therefore it was worthless to play. Even if the first condition could be said to have come true, the implication was clearly bonkers - I don't have a Claws/ brute now, but even with the reduced numbers given I would still strongly consider rolling one if I were looking to make a new villain.

In the relatively short time that rep has been active, I have never seen someone with a rep counter to what I would predict from their posting history.

I don't endorse the rep system as it is implemented, because I think it is easily gamed and provides no information I couldn't determine otherwise; but I also don't buy into the idea that people with low rep are enlightened iconoclasts (though they frequently believe that they are).

Pure resistance numbers, unenhanced, from toggles and passives only, for the four primaries that can be said to be resistance-based:

Elec:
35% S/L
35% F/C
82.5% E
30% N
35% P

Fire:
30% S/L
90% F
20% C
30% E/N

Dark:
30% S/L
30% F/C
20% E
40% N
50% P
20% T

Inv:
45% S/L
20% F/C
20% E/N
20% T

This doesn't tell the whole story, though.
- Inv backs up its resistance with a +HP/heal power and a +def aura, as well as resistance to several debuffs.
- Elec has end drain, drain resistance, a self-heal, +rech and some other tricks.
- Fire has a powerful self-heal, end recovery, and offensive tools.
- Dark has two mez auras, a damage aura, and the most powerful self-heal in the game.

For pure survivability, Inv is generally considered to be jockeying with WP for second after Stone; WP has a greater breadth to its survival tools and some additional utility, but Inv has a superior taunt aura.

As an addendum to what I told you in the Brute forum, it's considered poor manners to post the same message in multiple forums. I understand why you did, but when you have a question that covers multiple ATs it's best to put it in the Archetypes and Powers General Discussion forum.

Well, hm...

First off, there's no need to pick and choose: with 12 character slots per server, you have plenty of room for alts. And I can't advise you on PvP because I don't participate much myself.

For a simple, survivable character that is easy to build and play, I would recommend any Willpower brute. Electric Melee, Claws, and Super Strength all have good area damage, although Super Strength has to wait the longest to get it. That said, all Tanks, Brutes, and Scrappers are completely playable at this point, so you can choose whatever you like and do all right.

I was talking recently with a friend about the more elderly content, particularly heroside content, the writing of which treats certain things that are now somewhat old hat as if it were new news (who are these strange soldiers with their antiquated uniforms and bizarre weaponry? could it be *gasp* Nemesis?). I understand that MMO writing is to some extent under the same restrictions as long-running serial comics - every issue is somebody's first - but it seems a little strange to go into the RWZ at 35, where certain facts about the Rikti and Nemesis are fairly well disseminated, and then step out to have a chat with Maxwell Christopher about the possibility that Nemesis might, just might still be active, oh and have you heard the terrible secret of the Rikti?

This got me thinking about Ouroboros. Ouroboros is supposed to be a time travel device, but we only use it to access "past" missions that are still available in the "present". Combine the two threads of thought, and an idea sprang to mind.

Obviously the devs do not want to scrap all the existing heroside content, and of course neither would the players like having it disappear - there are badges in them thar missions, after all, to say nothing of the old content that is actually good, or at least beloved by some. But what if all the antiquated content were shunted off into Ouroboros, and replaced by newer content more savvy to the issues of the present day? It'd provide an outlet to add tons of new content created with the lessons of the past 16 issues in mind, as well as advance some of the dangling plotlines and address unresolved questions to please the continuity buffs. If well introduced, the new missions would still be a good introduction to the setting for a new player - just the setting as it is now, rather than as it was when the game was released.

In fact, if the devs were extremely ambitious, they could create a continuously advancing story by refreshing the available missions periodically and shunting the prior versions into the mists of time - still accessible through Ouroboros, of course. Your character's path through the game could meander through time as well as space.

It'd require a great deal of backend work, I suspect - much more than the current version of Ouroboros, if I am correct in my guess as to how it works. But it would be one solution for expanding and revamping existing content without feeling a need to preserve antiquated content in the "live world" on the one hand, or flushing previous work on the other.

Elec is sparklier than WP or SR, but not as sparkly as Inv or Stone.

Of course, EA is still prettiest.