Depends on who you ask.
Regen is weak to everything, but it's consistently weak to everything. Survivability is pretty much determined by how fast you can trigger off heals and how good your regen rate is.
Willpower has a smiliar high regeneration rate, but no direct heals. Instead, you do get basic defenses and resistances.
Regen is more reliant on paying attention to your heals and triggering the right heal or buff at the right time...
Willpower is less hands on. Set your toggles, rush a group, and that's about it. Which is probably why it's recommended more. It takes less effort to play a Willpower than to play a Regen.
***
Some things to remember about Ninja Run.
A: It's not actually that fast.
B: It dosn't actually jump that high
C: You can't slot it with anything
Now, if your running a Regen or a Willpower with their native recoveries, stamina, and body mastery, the endurance drain on Ninja-Run isn't going to be an issue. You'd probably just be able to toggle it, and not worry about it. However, if you ever joined a team, everybody would forever be calling you Captain Slow... since even the guys with flight will be leaving you in their dust.
Ninja Run is a neat toy... but as a replacement for one of the existing travel powers? It isn't.
***
As hinted at, yes, you would be taking Body Mastery for Physical Perfection.
The key on both Regeneration and Willpower is... Regeneration. An SO slotted regen scrapper can be hitting 35 hp per second just standing there with Integration turned on. Trigger Dull pain and instant healing, and you can top 140 hp per second on SO's.
An SO slotted Willpower scrapper can be hitting 25 hp per second by level 44, and topping 70 hp per second in a mob by 44.
So, yes, you'd want Physical Perfection just to keep pushing regeneration higher and higher.
***
Now, while I do have a lvl 50 katana, it's a katana / sr stalker... and thus isn't exactly comparable to Katana on Scrappers.
My highest broadsword scrapper is in her 20's, so again, not exactly a full range of experience there.
On the surface, I can tell you from the raw numbers that broadsword hits harder than Katana. However, Katana tends to have quicker attacks, and quicker recharges. In practical use, a Katana or Broadsword will give about the same Damage Per Activation.
For a story-based soloer everything can work, so out of your choices I'd pick Katana/Regen. Reason being you get nice tools very early - Reconstruction by level 2, Quick Recovery by level 4, Divine Avalanche by level 8. Katana having fast animations and recharges you're going to do a respectable amount of damage at low levels.
While you don't need a travel power with the ninja pack, I think you should consider getting one with that specific alt. Regen is a loose build with room for power picks, and if you do story arcs you're going to travel a lot.
Thanks for your posts guys, appreciate your time. I think i will go with regen, as for the broad sword / katana problem, well i guess it is down to what theme i can come up with first that is the most original. 
No doubt i will be back to this thread seeking more answers later on.
Peace! x
I'm very partial to MA and claws.
I think my MA/Inv could have gotten to 50 with only solo. And my Claw/Elec generally just totally rules.
Soloing is lonely.
I soloed a lot because I didn't like starting up teams via waiting for replies and sending out tells. I also couldn't get behind the idea of staying on someone elses team too long while my story arcs got old. The reason for soloing now are for merits and some old habits are hard to break. But I love doing TFs. Go figure.
As far as soloing, any set that can take out a boss with little trouble will do just fine. Kat/regen is good but im gonna throw my hat in for BS/regen. Both have powers that do the same thing. Broad sword just looks... Raw! All that carnage it causes with the swing of one hand. Not to mention the coolness of the look with ninja run. Also, more sword options. Especially with martial arts giving you 3 more.
Ninja run is not a replacement for a travel power. It is a weight of your shoulders before you get a travel power. I can only imagine the head ach of moving across IP with only ninja run. I have to admit, flipping into the middle of a mob then hitting whirling sword is fun.
"All problems can be solved by throwing enough scrappers at it."
@Riez on Virtue, Protector, Champion, and Exalted server.
I know I'm a major proponent of all things */Regen, but I'm actually going to have to recommend */WP, especially if you dislike redraw (which all of those clickies in */Regen will force). The lack of redraw, the set-it-and-forget-it mentality behind */WP, and the overall better average performance of */WP all add up to make it the better option, in my view.
Honestly, the decision as to which one is better to take probably depends more on your chosen difficulty. If you're going to be treating yourself as more than a single person, */WP becomes the even more obvious choice because it does incredibly well when it's got lots of targets feeding RttC. If you're going to run on 1 man missions, then */Regen is better because there won't be much to feed RttC.
Now, between BS and Kat, the only difference between them is that Kat cycles its attacks faster than BS does. Because endurance consumption is functionally the same between the two (i.e. they achieve roughly the same DPS and endurance use is based purely off of damage dealt), it's not going to change much. Kat has slightly flashier animations but BS has more crunch to it. Honestly, it's pretty much an aesthetic choice.
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This is a massive pet peeve of mine that I really wish people would stop fomenting. It's completely and utterly false that */Regen benefits an inordinate amount from +regen. In fact, it benefits less than any other set out there exclusively because it already has a boatload of damage recovery and damage recovery is simply a linear addition. It's actually more effective to focus on damage mitigation when attempting to optimize */Regen (and */WP) because, by increasing damage mitigation, you're functionally increasing your damage recovery with a multiplier rather than by nickels and dimes. When you've got 100 hp/sec damage recovery, getting another .25 hp/sec isn't going to do much of anything but 1% defense is going to equate to another 1.01 hp/sec.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
As hinted at, yes, you would be taking Body Mastery for Physical Perfection.
The key on both Regeneration and Willpower is... Regeneration. An SO slotted regen scrapper can be hitting 35 hp per second just standing there with Integration turned on. Trigger Dull pain and instant healing, and you can top 140 hp per second on SO's. An SO slotted Willpower scrapper can be hitting 25 hp per second by level 44, and topping 70 hp per second in a mob by 44. So, yes, you'd want Physical Perfection just to keep pushing regeneration higher and higher. |
This isn't to say that you shouldn't take Physical Perfection. You should. It's a decent power, even if it does have base values so low it might as well say "proc mule" in the description. The reason to take it, however, isn't for the regeneration. It's for the recovery and the ability to slot a large number of incredibly useful procs into it.
I say: make two characters (say, Katana/Regen, BS/WP), work through the content two different ways. 
Others have summed up the differences in the sets nicely. I have a BS/Regen, and timing was indeed key playing him (healing in time and juggling with redraw). Hit like a ton of bricks though. I also have a DB/WP, on which I can pretty much concentrate on offensive combos and leave defense to the passives. I can be a bit more...lazy with her.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
Hmm you have given me alot to think about, which isn't a good thing when you are as indicisive as me lol.
I never even stopped to think about the redraw involved with regen as i have played it with Martial Arts.
WP would seem like a better choice, but i'm not sure if i'm into the whole *hybrid and versatile* thing, i prefer a solid set.
Who knew rolling alts could be so hard? 
I'm also finding it hard to come up with any broad sword and katana themes which are original. This is probably because i quit for a while haha.
Thanks again for your comments, appreciate it!
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WP is a solid set. It's hybrid in that it has regen/resist/defense as it's defenses, but it's a solid set. A set that becomes even more solid, if you grab a few IOs for it, and Tough/Weave.|
Originally Posted by Bin Man
Hmm you have given me alot to think about, which isn't a good thing when you are as indicisive as me lol.
I never even stopped to think about the redraw involved with regen as i have played it with Martial Arts. WP would seem like a better choice, but i'm not sure if i'm into the whole *hybrid and versatile* thing, i prefer a solid set. Who knew rolling alts could be so hard? I'm also finding it hard to come up with any broad sword and katana themes which are original. This is probably because i quit for a while haha.Thanks again for your comments, appreciate it! |
My suggestion...pick a sword/WP.
No redraw. It's toggle and go
I say pick the sword because, really it's all about what do you want to do...fancy sword play or hard hitting headsplitting sword play?
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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... or two swords! DB/WP is my latest project and I am having a great time with him. DB is a lot of fun with combos, and positioning is a constant challenge to maximize the AoE in the set. Having a less clicky set like WP is, for me, a relief to be able to focus on combos and positioning. After playing a lot of support toons, it is fun to put on a few toggles and SLASH.
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Originally Posted by BrandX
My suggestion...pick a sword/WP.
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Some Established Villains:
Father McKenzie - Fire/Dark, Voltage Adapter - Elec/Nin
Some Established Heroes:
Sous Chef - DB/WP, Frost Advisory - Ice/Kin, Papa Xmas - Ice/FF, Bubbe - Sonic/Kin, Redeker Plan - Arch/Dev, Dr. Duplicitous - Ill/Kin
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i will disagree with this, entirely.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
***
Some things to remember about Ninja Run. A: It's not actually that fast. B: It dosn't actually jump that high C: You can't slot it with anything Now, if your running a Regen or a Willpower with their native recoveries, stamina, and body mastery, the endurance drain on Ninja-Run isn't going to be an issue. You'd probably just be able to toggle it, and not worry about it. However, if you ever joined a team, everybody would forever be calling you Captain Slow... since even the guys with flight will be leaving you in their dust. Ninja Run is a neat toy... but as a replacement for one of the existing travel powers? It isn't. *** |
all things being equal (flight PLUS swift slotted with a flight.....OR Ninja Run PLUS swift slotted with a run AND sprint being slotted with a run)
Flight = 56.1 mph
Ninja Run Speed + Sprint both toggled = 59.x mph (i have 5% extra to run speed, so don't know exact decimal place).
Now, if you want to waste a power AND a slot, by all means put a second slot into flight and then you won't be Captain Slow.
However, if you are taking flight in order to 2 or 3 slot it with Zephyr, then you will be roughly the same speed as the ninja run + swift + sprint...and you'll get the defense's to boot. which is great!
i dropped hover and flight, respec'd combat jumping (which detoggles ninja run anyhow).
it's not a neat toy, it's an alternative, and it does let you free up slots and powers. and with the amount of teleporting around that's currently available, there's really no such thing as Captain Slow. and if you're worried about places that require flight, well just pick up a jetpack
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and it doesn't work on Master Runs.|
Originally Posted by _Padre_
i will disagree with this, entirely.
all things being equal (flight PLUS swift slotted with a flight.....OR Ninja Run PLUS swift slotted with a run AND sprint being slotted with a run) Flight = 56.1 mph Ninja Run Speed + Sprint both toggled = 59.x mph (i have 5% extra to run speed, so don't know exact decimal place). Now, if you want to waste a power AND a slot, by all means put a second slot into flight and then you won't be Captain Slow. However, if you are taking flight in order to 2 or 3 slot it with Zephyr, then you will be roughly the same speed as the ninja run + swift + sprint...and you'll get the defense's to boot. which is great! i dropped hover and flight, respec'd combat jumping (which detoggles ninja run anyhow). it's not a neat toy, it's an alternative, and it does let you free up slots and powers. and with the amount of teleporting around that's currently available, there's really no such thing as Captain Slow. and if you're worried about places that require flight, well just pick up a jetpack |
I stand by my statements. It's not that fast. It doesn't jump that high. It's not a replacement for a real travel power. It's a toy.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
and it doesn't work on Master Runs.
I stand by my statements. It's not that fast. It doesn't jump that high. It's not a replacement for a real travel power. It's a toy. |
That's a completely subjective statement (Not the masters runs part). You really shouldn't take your opinion and present it as fact, because it isn't. And I for one wouldn't make my power picks purely on how well they work in master runs.
Oh yeah, I suggest you make a katana/wp. Slot DA as an attack and spam it along with The Lotus Drops and Flashing Steel and mobs will melt. You will level very quickly, and not die much. Fire would also be a good primary and kill stuff faster but have much less mitigation.
Given the new difficulty options, your best bet for a fast leveling toon is actually something with lots of AoE damage. I suggest Spines as a primary and Invuln as a secondary, so you can melt mobs without them running away from you thanks to Invincibility's taunt effect
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My toy at level 32 has a faster jump speed than SJ's base speed at level 50. My toy is my travel power and I have yet to get a complaint. Doesn't work on master runs? Doesn't matter, not my cup of tea with this character.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
and it doesn't work on Master Runs.
I stand by my statements. It's not that fast. It doesn't jump that high. It's not a replacement for a real travel power. It's a toy. |
Is it good enough for the OP? That's for the OP to decide but we can at least provide them with enough information to make an informed decision.
Badging in a PvP zone?
If you are treasure hunting on a battlefield wearing an enemy uniform, there is a high probability that you will be attacked.
This is an enjoy-the-ride game. "50" is only a number, not the goal of the game. - Noxilicious
A fast solo'er... well, I've played the following to 50:
BS/Regen
Spine/Regen
BS/Shield
All three were solo'd a fair amount of the way. Early game the BS/Regen was, by far, the most survivable. Mid game the Spine/Regen started to really take hold... probably around the mid-20's or so. Unfortunately both of the Regens got much squishier (comparatively) in the 40's. From around 35 on the BS/Shield was far more survivable than either of the Regens and a considerably faster killer. It was a slow starter though; it didn't come into it's own until the mid-30's.
My only WP character is my 48 Fire/WP brute... my impression is that overall it's a decent secondary but it has struck me as being somewhat squishy. Maybe it's that I'm trying to play it like a tank or my BS/Shield but it isn't as tough. I know it's apples to oranges but I think a decently built BS/Regen scrapper is tougher than a decently built Fire/WP brute.
My vote really depends on if you want something that's good from the start and still decent late or if you're willing to suffer a bit early for an incredible late game performer. If you want to be good early and still decent late then the BS/Regen might be up your alley. If you're willing to suffer until the mid 20's and become awesome in the 35+ game then BS/Shield is an excellent choice.
It would also depend somewhat on your budget for IO's... on straight SO enhancements the BS/Regen will be the strongest all the way to 50. Toss IO's into the mix and things change.
Remember, this is just the sets I've actually played to high levels... lots of other combinations would work equally well or possibly better. I've been considering Fire/Shield lately... and I'm currently working on a Shield/Fire tanker.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
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I have to agree with this. Been experimenting with several toons and solo i can get most of them to 10 in 1 hour or less( provided that it has good aoe from the get go(popping insps as main mitigation).
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Originally Posted by Silverado
Given the new difficulty options, your best bet for a fast leveling toon is actually something with lots of AoE damage. I suggest Spines as a primary and Invuln as a secondary, so you can melt mobs without them running away from you thanks to Invincibility's taunt effect
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BS/ and Katana/ both have decent AoE with the added benefit of an attack that boosts Melee Defense, which helps smooth leveling by complementing the regen in either /regen or /WP, and thereby also allowing for ease of soloing Bosses and AVs. |
Originally Posted by TRTerror
I have to agree with this. Been experimenting with several toons and solo i can get most of them to 10 in 1 hour or less( provided that it has good aoe from the get go(popping insps as main mitigation).
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I'm not sure if the OP intends to solo AVs, but being able to easily cap Melee Defense along with high regen will make it much easier than going with a more AoE-centric primary like Spines/, which also has lower ST DPS.
I vote Kat/WP. I made a BS/WP and with moderate IO slotting for Defense bonuses I was able to mow through 8-man spawns of Rikti Communicaiton Officers even after they summoned all their minions without any survivability issues. While the CRUNCH-factor was fun on the BS, it is slower which makes it more difficult to create a smooth attack chain. Were I to reroll him, I'd make him into a Kat/WP.
If you decide you defiantely want to go /Regen, the I reccommend BS/ to go with it because Back Alley Brawler just announced that he was able to negate the weapon redraw during combat on BS/. Katana/ isn't slated to get this fix until after GR is released.
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Soon redraw won't be an issue, so keep the long term in mind when deciding.
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Originally Posted by Umbral
I know I'm a major proponent of all things */Regen, but I'm actually going to have to recommend */WP, especially if you dislike redraw (which all of those clickies in */Regen will force). The lack of redraw, the set-it-and-forget-it mentality behind */WP, and the overall better average performance of */WP all add up to make it the better option, in my view.
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Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
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Respeced my claws/sr scrapper again on a whim. He has no true travel power. Ninja Run, Sprint, Swift, Quickness, Combat Jumping. CJ is 4 slotted with the three zephyrs and a LotG +recharge. The others are single slotted with a basic run IO. (Yes, I am aware that CJ detoggles when NR is enabled.) Just under super speed MPH. It works perfectly well as a replacement for a standard travel power for me.| Ninja Run is a neat toy... but as a replacement for one of the existing travel powers? It isn't. |
It also allowed me to break 1930 HP mark and I now regen at 30HP/sec while retaining my fu, slash, focus, strike, repeat attack chain with no pauses and no hasten.
It is true that it won't function on master runs, but I don't care about those.
To the OP, WP is a much smoother ride than regen. Regen does cause redraw, which sucks and diminishes your damage output.
My bet is that you'll have more fun going sword/wp.
Be well, people of CoH.
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What makes you say this?| Soon redraw won't be an issue, so keep the long term in mind when deciding. |
EDIT:
OH!
Quoting BAB:
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Good news everyone, I think I have figured out a way to bypass weapon redraw in combat. I've tested it with with various non-weapon powers or weapon powers from completely different sets, and it seems to work out. This means that you will be able to use any power in a chain with a weapon power, and not have to redraw the weapon...even completely different weapon powers. It will just instantly appear in your hand and play the attack animation. If you're not in combat, out of range, or have no target selected...then it will play a non-rooted, interruptible version of the weapon draw animations. Some minor issues with consistently playing a weapon draw animation outside of combat, or the weapon draw animation playing when it really does need to...but that shouldn't interfere with combat. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get to every powerset at once, but I was able to get the following powersets done. Broadsword Claws Dual Blades Archery Battleaxe War Mace Trick Arrow Thugs Mastermind Dual Pistols Robotics Mastermind Pulse Rifle Arachnos Widows Arachnos Soldiers Patron "mace" powers Munitions Ancillary Pool The rest will have to wait until sometime after GR: |
I'm going to have to seriously reconsider some attack chains. Followup, Slash, Focus, Gloom sounds mighty nice.
Be well, people of CoH.
rofl go for melting faces with fire blast lol...im gonna do that with my claws/sr
Whatsup guys!
This is where you come in!)
Okay so you know the score, you make a toon, hit the sewers, then grind through all the missions without looking back...
So i've been thinking of a *new* toon, planning on solo'ing it to 50 so i can really get into the story and learn the game inside out.
(Yes, i know its hard work alone
Okay so i'm going to be making a scrapper, i've asked around and it seems regen is the best for solo, other people have said willpower though. Any of you guys seem to think otherwise? Or shed some light on as to why willpower over regen?
For my primary i was thinking of single target damage, e.g. Broad Sword Or Katana. Is the endurance cost of Broad Sword much more noticable than Katana? After getting my Spines/ Dark to 50 i want something alot smoother
(i also have Martial Arts at 50, Martial Arts just doesn't seem good in the damage department)
With the new ninja pack out is it still worth taking a travel power? And with the new body mastery power, can't remember what it is called but it's like a health and stamina combined, is that worth taking if i'm regen and already taken swift health and stamina?
Appreciate any feedback you can give!
Peace x