For a newer player with no funds, I'd suggest the MA/WP, if those are the two you're considering. Willpower is pretty much "fire and forget", and you won't have to worry about Endurance issues too much.
Elec/SD has more potential for doing some of the more ridiculous things you might see folks posting about, but most of those ridiculous things are self-imposed challenges (like soloing AVs, beating up Rikti Pylos, etc.). The damage boost aura from Shield Defense (Against All Odds) does add a noticeable amount of damage, and doesn't really suffer from any sort of trade off in its defenses. What it lacks is a heal (although it does come with some +hp), Endurance management, and a damage aura (but Shield Charge is a crashless Scrapper nuke, so with Elec, you'd have two). The big trade off with high end Shield builds is cash. But for just a "walking around' build (i.e., normal content and teaming), it shouldn't be too costly.
MA probably has the weakest AoE capabilities of any of the Scrapper primaries. Elec suffers a bit from the reverse (pretty good AoE, not so much single target), but when paired with Shield, the damage boosting aura helps that out quite a bit.
I say go ELe/Shield its BLAST OF FUN, and its very good AT, with the AoE, etc.
I got one myself, and is unslotted and can still solo missions.
If you need any help you can always add me.
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Hey guys! I started my account and have been reading guides and builds ect...
I have it narrowed down now between MA/Will "Love the options to hit with a fist now instead of kick ect!!" and Elec/Shield.
I have some questions that I can't find the answers to.
Does Shield really add THAT much to scrapper damage? If it does does it trade off with defence? Are they much less tough?
Does AOE matter much? I know its better to have aoe attacks than not have them "IF the single target damage is the same" but im not sure if that is the case.
Of those two power sets what one do you guys think a noob with no extra Influence should pick?.
Thanks for you'r help!