[ QUOTE ]
I'm told the Devs have described the Defender as the best balanced AT.
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I stopped here, sorry. I might go back and read the rest...but can you provide a link or something that supports your statement?
You're using a solo test to compare the the *best solo AT to the *best team AT and are wondering why you're getting the those results?
Shouldn't you also test how effective a FF'er is on a 8 person team vs the scrapper too, to be, like, fair?
*take "best" with a grain of salt here.
Why haven't you slotted dispersion bubble for defense and taken hover/combat jumping which provide superior defense for defenders? Why Tough and not Maneuvers, which helps you AND your team? Right there you have 22%+ defense to all. Later you can boost your defense with IOs and your offense with Power Burst + AIM + Assault/Tactics. But you'll never out damage a scrapper. You will, however, make your teammates invincible with your small bubbles. It's a fair tradeoff.
Also, do you utilize PFF/Detention Field for a safe way to rest during a tough fight?
PRTECTR4EVR
Clouded:
I'd love to post where the devs said that, but I've never seen it. I'm only reporting what others have told me when I've brought this up in the past.
Iceboxer:
Yes, I'm comparing them because they both are expected to solo, and both are expected to overcome the same challenges. I'm not saying the Defender should be as good at it, but the discrepancy is extraordinarily large. He's simply not able to accomplish the same things.
As an example, the first mission in the arc I mentioned pits the hero against Catburglar, a NPC with Clas and Ninjitsu. The Scrapper defeats that foe with no need for inspirations, while the Defender was unable to do it, regardless of inspirations. Even using the Nemesis Staff was insufficient (note that the staff does around double the damage of the Power Blast...). The Scrapper can face 12 soldiers at once with some difficulty. The Defender is hard pressed by three.
Putting them both on the same teams reveals little. Grouped with 8 other players, they each rely on the group for support. The difference is that the Scrapper doesn't need the support of a group. It's just useful.
There are more balance points than solo performance alone.
There are more defenders than FF/EB alone.
And yet, solo performance is necessary to all the ATs and all the power sets. The fact remains that Defenders have low values in all areas.
Blasters have high damage, but low defense.
Tankers have lower damage, but are compensated with higher defense.
Scrappers have a balance of the two, having decent to good offense AND defense.
Controllers have high defense by virtue of their controls, and can have decent offense too, but these benefits are resistable, and they have low health to compensate for the reliablitiy of their defense and offense.
These ATs all have this regardless of whether they're solo or grouped.
Defenders have low defense AND low offense. That's a fact, regardless of what power sets are being used.
Now, I'm not saying they should have their abilities buffed extravagantly. I'm saying they need some help. Personally, I'd say a damage buff is in order, but that's my own preference. Whatever help they get, they need something.
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I'm told the Devs have described the Defender as the best balanced AT.
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I stopped here, sorry. I might go back and read the rest...but can you provide a link or something that supports your statement?
[/ QUOTE ]
From Statesman, 4+ years ago.
But this post often gets paraphrased out of context, with this bit being frequently omitted:
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BUT....I'm extremely concerned about the perception that Defenders "aren't needed" and thus "can't find a team" at high levels. Defenders should fill a valuable role at ALL levels and help Archetypes achieve levels that they can't reach by themselves. After all, Defenders are all about buffs (and debuffs). Every Archetype should be extremely happy when the Defender provides a resistance or defense buff...
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This bit also gets glossed over:
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There are certainly issues with individual sets and powers - and those we're always looking at. Defenders, however, don't have any overarching problems.
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FWIW, I think this post still rings true. Some sets do have problems ... but defenders in general? Not so much. I can solo on my FF / rad OK, but I can solo much faster on my scrapper. But, mostly, I'd rather team with my bubbler than my scrapper, and my scrapper is purpled.
Again, the rate of soloing isn't even the issue. It's that the Scrapper can overcome challenges that the Defender CANNOT overcome without the use of extraordinary measures.
I mean, in the final analysis, the game comes down to doing and surviving damage. There needs to be a balance between these extremes. As I described in my previous post, the other ATs have some semblance of balance in this regard, while Defenders in general do not.
True, some power sets fare better than others, but these sets are those in which the Defender benefits from his powers, such as Rad or Dark (Debuffs). The sets with buffs, such as FF, are hampered by the fact that they can't use their powers on themselves. Even so, they still have lower offense and defense than anyone else.
[ QUOTE ]
Defenders have low defense AND low offense. That's a fact, regardless of what power sets are being used.
[/ QUOTE ]
You are stating your opinion as fact. [eyeroll] To counter your "fact," I will give as examples my two favorite characters.
My Storm/Dark can solo 12 enemies quite easily, no inspirations required. I wouldn't say that she is an offensive powerhouse, but she gets the job done. She is replete with defense, however. Even the rare mez that gets through usually isn't enough to defeat her, because the debuff in 'cane lasts 10 seconds after they leave the toggle, so that's usually enough time to wake up and recover.
She isn't an unstoppable beast, but to say that she has low defense is absolutely laughable.
My Kin/Ice, on the other hand, IS an offensive powerhouse. His defense is definitely low, but I would bet money he could out-damage a non-AoE-focused scrapper fighting large groups. His damage is anything but low.
I will freely admit that these are high-performing combinations and are not necessarily representative of Defenders as a whole, but honestly, what combination would be representative? Defenders are so diverse in function and even roles that it's hard to really nail down a baseline.
Finally, you said in your original post that scrappers don't benefit much from what teammates bring. Let me ask, what do scrappers bring to their teammates? If there was any AT that I felt had no role on a team, it would be scrappers. Every AT can kill things, and Blasters kill things faster than scrappers. Tanks take alphas and hold aggro better than scrappers. Defenders and Controllers have team support and force multiplication. What do scrappers have?
(For the record, I'm not saying Scrappers are useless, just that they bring less to a team than the other ATs. That doesn't stop me from enthusiastically inviting them to my teams.)
Bye, everybody!
*Champion*
Scrappers > defenders at self-buffing
Defender > scrappers at buffing the entire team and debuffing opponents.
So ... what, precisely, is the problem?
It's not my opinion that Defenders have low offense and low defense. They do. It is a fact.
Now, as I said, there are some combinations that work pretty well. Storm and Dark both debuff the target, an effect that benefits the Defnder as much as any teammates he has. That is why it works fairly well. Further, Hurricane is considered in some quarters to be among the most powerful effects in the game, and has been repeatedly nerfed. Either way, try fighting foes outdoors. See how long you last in a Rikti raid. Hurricane is only useful if foes choose to stay at arm's reach. Kinetics and Ice are also debuff sets. This is all as I mentioned in my last post.
I didn't say scrappers don't benefit from teams, just that they benefit as much as anyone else. As for Scrapper contribution to teams, I'd say it's the ability to hurt Bosses more than other classes, by virtue of their Critical Hits, but that's really another thread.
[ QUOTE ]
Scrappers > defenders at self-buffing
Defender > scrappers at buffing the entire team and debuffing opponents.
So ... what, precisely, is the problem?
[/ QUOTE ]
If all else was equal, there might not be a problem. However, all else is NOT equal. Defenders have HALF the health of Scrappers AND do less than HALF the damage. As for debuffing, that remains to be seen. Scrappers with Darkness powers can do a pretty impressive job debuffing, and that's just one example. Further still, Defenders being better at buffing the team does nothing for him when he has no team. It's not a valid comparison.
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It's not my opinion that Defenders have low offense and low defense. They do. It is a fact.
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No. It is not.
My Defender Tanked a map filled with PPs. If you think that my Defenses were low, I don't want to know what your definition of high is. I debuffed their accuracy so low that the entire team was close to the soft cap of Defense.
So your statement that Defenders as a whole have low defense is your opinion. If it's a fact, it's an incorrect fact. SOME Defenders have low Defense, but they make up for it in their ability to buff the rest of their team.
[ QUOTE ]
If all else was equal, there might not be a problem. However, all else is NOT equal. Defenders have HALF the health of Scrappers AND do less than HALF the damage. As for debuffing, that remains to be seen. Scrappers with Darkness powers can do a pretty impressive job debuffing, and that's just one example. Further still, Defenders being better at buffing the team does nothing for him when he has no team. It's not a valid comparison.
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Yes, it is.
You're taking one specific example of play and using that to view balance. That is like me saying that Blasters are out of balance with Tankers because Blasters can't hold aggro. It's a ridiculous comparison. Both Defenders and Scrappers shine in different scenarios. On teams, Scrappers aren't as useful as Blasters, because Blasters can do more damage, and somebody else usually has the aggro, so incoming damage for the Blaster is usually minimal. Defenders have a number of roles on a team, depending on their primary/secondary combination.
My Dark/Psi can Debuff, Buff, heal, rez, mez, or do decent damage, depending on what I'm focusing on. Solo, it isn't that great (but I'm at no risk of dying). But it more than makes up for that with what I can do on a team.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
QR:
This is complete crap.
You don't even use EB's best attack, Power Burst, which is available to you at lvl10. You are also using one of the few Defender primaries with no means of self buffing your damage or recovering health.
The Scrapper should be able to get through the mission more quickly, and due to his killing speed, more safely than the Defender can.
If you can't get through this mission on your Defender, the problem is you not the AT.
Edit: clarify that my post is directed towards OP
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The Defender has 477.9 health.
He has Tough, which provides 15% resistance to smashing and lethal, and Dispersion Bubble for 10% Defense.
His basic attack is Power Blast, which does 45.31 damage.
His best shot is the same Power Blast, for 45.31 damage.
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Don't you have Power Burst yet?
I'd expect any /Energy Blast Defender built for solo-ing to have all three single target blasts by level 10. Bolt - Blast - Bolt - Burst makes a pretty decent attack chain with a little bit of recharge in there.
Not only will that increase your damage output, it'll drop the incoming damage because of the more reliable knockback (60% per hit) from Power Burst.
EDIT: Great minds think alike, CDN 
Ha, guess so!
Your Defender, whatever his power sets, will do less damage than any other class. I call that low offense. As for having low defense, I have already said that it does depend to some degree on the power set in question. I've already said that debuffing sets are better off in this regard. I described the defenses my character had. Dispersion Bubble and Tough. That's as much as I could get at that point. Those powers provide decidedly minimal defenses, so I call that low. Further, the character has less than HALF the health of the Scrapper, lower than anyone except Controllers. I call that low defense as a cumulative effect.
What power set did you use, and at what level, to debuff them through the floor?
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That is like me saying that Blasters are out of balance with Tankers because Blasters can't hold aggro.
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No, it's not like that at all. I'm speaking in terms of doing and surviving damage. Holding aggro has nothing to do with that.
My inclination is to buff Defender damage to close to default Scrapper levels, but perhaps the focus should be put on the sets that are unable to be useful to the Defender.
As I say, debuff sets like Dark, Ice or Rad are useful to the Defender whether or not he's in a team. Power sets like Emp or FF are of little use solo (and of limited use on teams, since he still can't use them for his own benefit), so perhaps the solution to this is to make these sets useful to the Defender when he's solo.
Again, I'm looking for equivalence, not equality. If you're contending that Defender offense is fine because they're high defense, then they should ALL have that level of defense. Personally, I'm not seeing that level of defense. However, according to Mids, by late level, I'm anticipating over 23% Defense and 71% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal. That does include the use of Tough, Weave and Temporary Invulnerability.
I don't have Power Burst, it's true. That's why I compared Power Blast and Storm Kick. Power Burst would have compared to Crane Kick. I expect it would still do less than half the damage of the Scrapper power.
However, I disagree with the other statement. If the Defender is going to have less offense, he should be able to act more safely than the Scrapper. Like the Tanker, if it's going to take longer to defeat a foe, you need to have the defenses to allow you to take that time.
I'm just not seeing that level of defense, frankly.
I've been playing this FF/EB character recently, but I've also played a Storm/Elec and a Rad/Rad, each to at least L22 (the stormie is L38), so I'm not looking only at one example. It's just the one that seems most noticiable. I shudder to think how I'd be faring if I was using Elec instead of Nrg.
Of course, all this is made worse by the fact that it takes the Defender two to three times as much endurance to complete the same tasks as the Scrapper, but I'll not get into that in this thread.
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My inclination is to buff Defender damage to close to default Scrapper levels, but perhaps the focus should be put on the sets that are unable to be useful to the Defender.
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I would LOVE to see a rad / sonic with round-about the same base damage as a scrapper.
In fact, I'd love to see 8 of them on a team.
But, seriously.
You're nuts.
Giving giving the game's force force suppliers high base damage renders everyone else obsolete.
You're talking about a lvl 22 bubble/eng defender with unslotted dispersion bubble, tough!?, and no powerburst. I'd say it's time you posted your build cause I think the issue is closer to your build/tactics than it is a broken AT.
I mean hey, this guy isn't having any problem doing stuff with his bubble defender that Scrappers, Tanks, Warshades, Blasters, Brutes, Stalkers and Controllers have done (to name a few).
Try using your second build to make a solo build for your FF/NRG. Skip the team shields, use only powers that benefit you, slots your attacks heavily, and get AIM. Trust me, it works wonders on my FF/NRG who is only level 26 and has no issues soloing a mission, even if it has bosses. And she is only relying on Dispersion and Knockback/down for protection, as well as PFF for a panic button.
[ QUOTE ]
It's not my opinion that Defenders have low offense and low defense. They do. It is a fact.
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... sets like Emp or FF are of little use solo ...
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An Emp/Energy Soloing Invincible Missions is "weak" ?
Emp/ Duoing at levels a scrapper can only dream of, grant that's not solo but Perma-Elude Defenses with Perma-Instant Healing that's a benchmark even the most expensive pair of scrappers would be hard pressed to match.
An FF/Archery tanking AND killing an ITF roof-top with 60+ mobs ?
An FF/Archery passing the RWZ challenge, a challenge that many scrappers can't pass, is low offense and low defense ?
A Rad/Sonic soloing a Giant Monster, a Giant Monster that NO Scrapper has ever soloed nor will ever solo, is low defense and low offense?
A Cold/Ice dishing out the equivalent of 160 to 190 Single Target DPS, a number that surpasses many, if not most, scrappers is low offense ?
A Storm/Ice tanking an ITF roof-top with 60+ mobs at once is low defense ? (I *can* kill them too, but it is slow as when I tank I spend more time endurance on defense and less on offense. It's a trade off until I get a better build. This is as much a limitation of the build and a limitation of player skill, my lack of skill.)
A Fire/Kin (corruptor, but the inverse build works well with Ice, Dark, or Rad) That performs at a level that mirrors a spines/regen scrapper, is low offense and low defense ?
An Dark/Dark out tanking more than half the (non-stone) tanks she's ever met while doing more offense as well ? (this one is more subjective and harder to prove in raw numbers, but none-the less true)
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Further still, Defenders being better at buffing the team does nothing for him when he has no team. It's not a valid comparison.
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This statement sums up YOUR problem.
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I'm told the Devs have described the Defender as the best balanced AT. I'm forced to wonder at this. Consider the following.
I took my Defender and my Scrapper through the SAME mission, my AE World War Two arc. Both characters are L22 and fully slotted with SOs. Their attacks are all similarly slotted (1 acc, 1 end, 3 damage). The main foes are German Soldiers with 200.0 health.
The Scrapper (MA/Shield) walks easily through the missions. The Defender (FF/EB) is constantly in desperate condition. Why?
The Defender has 477.9 health.
He has Tough, which provides 15% resistance to smashing and lethal, and Dispersion Bubble for 10% Defense.
His basic attack is Power Blast, which does 45.31 damage.
His best shot is the same Power Blast, for 45.31 damage.
The Scrapper has 752.9 health.
He has the basic Shield toggles, plus Tough. His resistance is around 11.25%, and his defense around 13.84%.
His basic attack, Storm Kick, does 95.45 damage.
His best shot, Crane Kick, does 137.07 damage.
In each case, this doesn't even consider the effect of Critical Hits.
It seems pretty plain that the Scrapper has VASTLY more health, more defense and more offense than the Defender. The Defender is expected to overcome the same challenges as the Scrapper, yet he is significantly hindered by his lesser abilities.
This puzzles me, because the usual pattern is to compensate for lack of offense with increased defense, or vice versa. The Defender has lesser defense AND lesser offense, with no benefit to himself.
Now, the obvious argument will be that the Defender is "intended" for team play, but that is sophistry at best. ALL characters are intended for team play, yet only the Defender suffers for this.
I've said it before, and I say it again. Defenders need a boost in damage output or defense. It has to be one or the other. They can't continue to be the second class heroes they are at present.
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If doms can get their secondary damage buffed to around the 1.0 scale, they ought to buff defender damage to the 1.0 scale too. Same thing with corruptors as well.
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If doms can get their secondary damage buffed to around the 1.0 scale, they ought to buff defender damage to the 1.0 scale too. Same thing with corruptors as well.
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Except ...
Doms aren't force multipliers.
I'm not sure what you mean by "force multiplier".
My character IS built to solo. I did skip the team stuff. I will admit, and readily, that this is a bit of a concept build (I'll post it below), but the fact remains that he can neither do damage nor avoid damage, and that is what this game boils down to.
If an Emp/Nrg is soloing missions, he's doing it with barely more than one power set, since Emp is largely useless to the Defender himself.
ITF and RWZ are late-game, and I've already said that the defensive numbers for this character are decent in the late game. The problem exists largely at all earlier levels.
I'd love to know what Ginat Monster you're soloing. I've never seen ANY character of any class solo a GM. I'm not calling shenanigans, but it IS very hard to believe, and if true hardly stands for typical behaviour.
If you're doing 160+ damage, what level are you doing it at? What are other classes able to do at that level? How much more defense do they have? How much more health?
My problem is that I'm seeking parity.
That is, if we start from the same starting point, all the classes should be the same. From there Blaster get more offense but pay with less defense. Tankers get more defense, but pay with less offense. Scrappers, having a relative balance are more or less the standard. Controllers have more defense, and pay by having less health. Defenders have less offense, less defense (though this is being debated here) and less health. If we allow that their defense is higher, it's been paid for, either by lower offense OR lower health. As it is, BOTH conditions exist.
Again, however, I'm not seeing the high defense that people are claiming. As I've commented, maybe the issue exists in the specific power sets, but I'm unconvinced of this. Having played a Storm Defender to appreciable level, I have to say he feels VERY squishy at the best of times.
This is what I mean. If Defenders are to be squishy, they have to have a strength to compensate. Being able to buff a team is not compensation, because it's only a part-time boon.
Anyhow, here's the build.
I should mention, I've swapped out Force Bolt for Power Blast, and reslotted it.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Warpath: Level 50 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Energy Blast
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(3), DefBuff-I(3)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(7)
Level 2: Force Bolt -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(9)
Level 4: Energy Torrent -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(9), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(13)
Level 6: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(13), Flight-I(15)
Level 8: Air Superiority -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(15), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(19)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A), Jump-I(46)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(19), DefBuff-I(21), DefBuff-I(21)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(23), Flight-I(23)
Level 16: Boxing -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(25), Dmg-I(25), Dmg-I(27), Dmg-I(27)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(29), Heal-I(29)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(31), EndMod-I(31)
Level 22: Tough -- EndRdx-I(A), ResDam-I(31), ResDam-I(33), ResDam-I(33)
Level 24: Weave -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(33), DefBuff-I(34), DefBuff-I(34)
Level 26: Power Burst -- RechRdx-I(A), Acc-I(34), Acc-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(50)
Level 28: Repulsion Field -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Repulsion Bomb -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(37), Dsrnt-I(37), Dsrnt-I(37), Dsrnt-I(39)
Level 32: Maneuvers -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(39), DefBuff-I(39), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 35: Explosive Blast -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(40), Dmg-I(40), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(42)
Level 38: Nova -- RechRdx-I(A), Acc-I(42), Acc-I(43), Dmg-I(43), Dmg-I(43), Dmg-I(50)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx-I(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(46), ResDam-I(46)
Level 47: Total Focus -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(50)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure what you mean by "force multiplier".
[/ QUOTE ]
Defender on team of 8 casts tar patch with no other debuffers. Each member of the team does ~30% more damage from -30% resist debuff (which is much harder to cap than +dmg buff). Do the math.
[ QUOTE ]
My character IS built to solo. I did skip the team stuff. I will admit, and readily, that this is a bit of a concept build (I'll post it below), but the fact remains that he can neither do damage nor avoid damage, and that is what this game boils down to.
[/ QUOTE ]
Your character, with 4 powers and 8 spent slots, could bring 44.5% defense to a team (albeit only 20% to himself). That's an absolutely ludicrous amount of safety.
[ QUOTE ]
ITF and RWZ are late-game, and I've already said that the defensive numbers for this character are decent in the late game. The problem exists largely at all earlier levels.
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Early game sucks for everyone but scrappers and blasters, in my experience. Tanks have terrible DPE ratios and crap defense, controllers and defenders do weak damage. But the buff/debuff sets are very strong from the get go ... unfortunately you can't use two of your strongest powers (bubbles) solo.
[ QUOTE ]
I'd love to know what Ginat Monster you're soloing. I've never seen ANY character of any class solo a GM. I'm not calling shenanigans, but it IS very hard to believe, and if true hardly stands for typical behaviour.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeesh, it's not exactly difficult.
[ QUOTE ]
If you're doing 160+ damage, what level are you doing it at? What are other classes able to do at that level? How much more defense do they have? How much more health? My problem is that I'm seeking parity.
[/ QUOTE ]
No blueside AT except controllers is even remotely on parity with defenders for stomping content in this game.
[ QUOTE ]
Defenders have less offense, less defense (though this is being debated here) and less health. If we allow that their defense is higher, it's been paid for, either by lower offense OR lower health. As it is, BOTH conditions exist.
[/ QUOTE ]
I had a dark and a rad go into a mission with 3 scrappers and a grav controller at level 8, vs huge spawns of level 9-10 council. A scrapper pulled and wiped the team before the rad got ther eand while the dark was afk.
The rad and dark went up a level and duo'd three large spawns (at level 8) while the 3 scrappers and controller struggled with one spawn below. Sure, we had sands of Mu, that made for an easier time killing a lot at once.
[ QUOTE ]
Again, however, I'm not seeing the high defense that people are claiming.
[/ QUOTE ]
You're playing a powerset that gives more than half its defense to other players. Total, it puts your teammates within a hair of the softcap (w/manuevers) while giving you a hefty 20% defense. Ridiculously strong at defense.
I could go on... but it seems rather pointless. What you should do is look up what all-defender teams do, and stop feeling entitled to great solo power while playing one of the least solo-friendly AT's coupled with one of the worst solo-oriented primaries.
I'm told the Devs have described the Defender as the best balanced AT. I'm forced to wonder at this. Consider the following.
I took my Defender and my Scrapper through the SAME mission, my AE World War Two arc. Both characters are L22 and fully slotted with SOs. Their attacks are all similarly slotted (1 acc, 1 end, 3 damage). The main foes are German Soldiers with 200.0 health.
The Scrapper (MA/Shield) walks easily through the missions. The Defender (FF/EB) is constantly in desperate condition. Why?
The Defender has 477.9 health.
He has Tough, which provides 15% resistance to smashing and lethal, and Dispersion Bubble for 10% Defense.
His basic attack is Power Blast, which does 45.31 damage.
His best shot is the same Power Blast, for 45.31 damage.
The Scrapper has 752.9 health.
He has the basic Shield toggles, plus Tough. His resistance is around 11.25%, and his defense around 13.84%.
His basic attack, Storm Kick, does 95.45 damage.
His best shot, Crane Kick, does 137.07 damage.
In each case, this doesn't even consider the effect of Critical Hits.
It seems pretty plain that the Scrapper has VASTLY more health, more defense and more offense than the Defender. The Defender is expected to overcome the same challenges as the Scrapper, yet he is significantly hindered by his lesser abilities.
This puzzles me, because the usual pattern is to compensate for lack of offense with increased defense, or vice versa. The Defender has lesser defense AND lesser offense, with no benefit to himself.
Now, the obvious argument will be that the Defender is "intended" for team play, but that is sophistry at best. ALL characters are intended for team play, yet only the Defender suffers for this.
I've said it before, and I say it again. Defenders need a boost in damage output or defense. It has to be one or the other. They can't continue to be the second class heroes they are at present.