Fire Armor is generally considered one of the squishier secondaries, which is I guess how it pays for its big damage buff. Willpower is very solid. Willpower isn't strictly better than Regen, but it's a lot EASIER than Regen without giving up any top end power. It will probably also work better in a team situation, as Rise to the Challenge helps your damage mitigation scale up on teams. So I'd suggest Willpower unless you like to take a very active role in your own survival. I'd further suggest Katana/Willpower. Katana gives you a big defensive buff in Divine Avalanche, is capable of higher DPS, and I think has better AoE output than Martial Arts.
On Willpower, take at least the first seven powers. Resurgence and Strength of Will are optional, though I wouldn't skip Strength of Will either. For Katana, your must haves are Gambler's Cut, Build Up, Divine Avalanche, Soaring Dragon and Golden Dragonfly. Sting of the Wasp will probably be helpful while leveling up. Flashing Steel and The Lotus Drops will give you the AoE damage you'll want in a team situation. So pretty much take everything but Calling the Wolf. I'd definitely also grab the Fitness and Fighting pools.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
When comparing the primaries, I would concur with Werner that Katana has better potential than Martial Arts in terms of the numbers and stats. However, Martial Arts has steadily become more popular lately, so it might just be a fun set to play with. That's my opinion of the two.
Fiery Armor is pretty squishy compared to WP and Regen, but it does have more damage potential, as Werner has said.
Regen tends to have a smoother ride at lower levels and up to the higher levels, but it tends to require more attention in order to keep it at high performance. Willpower is easier to play, as Werner has also pointed out, but it will still be kinda of a drag until you get to level 20, as most other secondaries. By that time, it picks up and starts to feel better up to the high levels.
The Confront/Taunt powers are always skippable. Self-rez are also skippable if you want to free up a slot.
Let me put it this way:
Take the Willpower scrapper, add Tough and Weave, and you will be at least as durable as a Fire tanker with Tough and Weave. The tanker will have better resistance against incoming exotic damage, but you will have better defense versus that same damage, and be close to the tanker's figure versus smashing and lethal damage.
And on the willpower scrapper you won't be knocked down, either.
The offensive tradeoffs that Fire used to have for its general squishiness just aren't there any more, and none of them are going to do Katana or Martial Arts any good. Fire only works well with immobilize, hold, or maybe knockdown; stun doesn't help, -defense doesn't either, and knockback is positively counterproductive.
You do get a costly but fairly effective damage aura, more useful for a tanker than a scrapper. You'll get Burn, whose piddly damage before the mobs start running mean that it's a wasted choice unless you have a way to keep them from running: no help for Katana or MA. And you get Firey Embrace, a Build Up type power with twice the recharge time of a regular Buildup, that benefits Fire damage more than others: not much help there. And you get your self rez, which you will want to put three recharges into.
Willpower will just give you a very tough scrapper with almost limited endurance. Fire Aura is useful mostly if you really like one of the ancillary pools and want to take four powers from it. Its chief advantage is that you can get every useful power from your secondary by level 16.
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"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
Just finished up a kat/wp. Insanely good. 2280 health, capped defenses, 50+% res l/s, 700+% regen, and limitless endurance running gc/da/gc/sd/gc/gd. Leveling up is as good as it gets, AND you have more freedom in early level power choices because you only need one slot at twenty to take quick recovery instead of the usual 3 fitness powers for stamina (though you'll want that later for the limitless endurance). And if that's not enough you get a tier 9 that doesn't wipe you out when it crashes. The best part is, you toggle up wp and thats it - you're free to attack, do dmg and kill stuff, which is what scrappers are born to do (and with katana, other secondaries that require clickies can cause you to have to redraw your katana which cuts into your offense). And katana offers you capped melee/leth def all by itself, which is great dmg mitigation, and it's top 2 attacks both have solid knockdowns that are there for you often, while offering great single target and aoe dmg. It's a great combo.
A lot of people like martial arts, and I think it's ok, but it could use some work imo. The dmg mitigation isn't nearly as good as katanas, nor are it's aoe abilities.
Fire armor simply doesn't have the survivability of wp, and it has lesser end help and tier nine action. On top of that, no kb protection, and a scrapper that is getting kb'd is a sad, sad thing, imo. The only thing it gets as compensation is burn, which enemies simply run out of and fiery embrace which is on way too long a recharge to justify all that you give up to get it.
Thats not to say MA or FA are bad or unplayable, just that I feel kat and wp are better in most situations. I've played all those sets to 50 and they all have their moments and all are fun to level up.
Fiery Aura has one other ability you failed to mention. It helps a bit with Fiery Aura's survivability too. Maybe you just figured it was a wash vs. Willpower's +Regen?
Healing Flames is a pretty good power.
I really like my Kat/FA scrapper, although I do not doubt that a Kat/WP would be more survivable and with QR, might even be just as powerful offensively (maybe one day Consume will be given a one minute recharge).
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
Im not real familiar with the term "Squishy"
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Im not real familiar with the term "Squishy"
[/ QUOTE ]
When you hit a bug, it goes squish.
When you hit a blaster, it goes squish.
When you hit a tanker, your hand goes squish.
No scrapper is squishy, but Fiery Aura has some drawbacks. 
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Im not real familiar with the term "Squishy"
[/ QUOTE ]
When you hit a bug, it goes squish.
When you hit a blaster, it goes squish.
When you hit a tanker, your hand goes squish.
No scrapper is squishy, but Fiery Aura has some drawbacks.
[/ QUOTE ]
So we might perhaps define squishy as easily killed. Fragile would probably be more descriptive, but just isn't the word we use for some reason. Also, we often use squishy as a noun, which refers to someone of the more easily killed archetypes, like blasters, defenders and controllers.
So I might say, for instance, Protect the squishies! meaning perhaps Get that boss off of the defender! At least I might if I ever teamed or ever talked when on a team.
Or I might say, for instance, Most scrappers are just another squishy until the mid levels. By that, I mean that at low levels, they can die almost as easily as characters that are more commonly expected to be easily killed.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
[ QUOTE ]
Im not real familiar with the term "Squishy"
[/ QUOTE ]
I'll also add that it's not a derogatory term, but more descriptive.
Thanks so much for definitions people! This is truly a great community!
Whats up ya'll! I am wanting to create a scrapper toon for teaming but having difficult deciding my powers. I have it narrowed down. What do you all think of these toons?
katana/FA or MA/FA or MA/WP or katana/WP
Between all these sets, which powers should I pass on when lvling up? Is Willpower better than Regen? Any other combos that might be fun.