Elec/Shield, I laugh at your face!

Actually I agree with you. I'd like for +resist to be equally available as +defense through the use of sets bonuses. It would make +resist an option for maxing out a build. However, I suspect, and have read quotes from dev's that imply they agree, that the way to achieve that balance would not be by adding +resist bonuses.... it would be by reducing the +defense bonuses. Those same quotes also said they wouldn't do this because so much of the player base has already invested huge amounts of time/inf/work to building +defense toons. Removing those bonuses would be a difficult task to accomplish.

Hrmm.. Perhaps, they should try adding more +damage type powers to the other scrapper secondaries to help with balance.

That's a decent approach. Adding +dam components to existing sets would be quick, easy, and popular.

Adding new sets with a resist focus would also be enormously popular, though.

Of course, the big issue right now is the runaway inflation fueled by all the AOE shields and proliferation added to the game. (sigh)

Why are Dev's so terrified of money sinks? WTF?

Uh....


Make better blasters.


Yes, a good scrap is terrifying, but a blaster is always a blaster. Sorry. The issue is that on most teams, blasters are aggro/movement limited, not damage limited. A smart blaster makes friends with every decent tank they meet.

I'd be shocked and dismayed if Shield Defense got a brutal nerfing. Wouldn't surprise me if Hamios stopped doing their thing in Active Defense, though.

Since SR softcaps so much easier than Shield does, and comes with Quickness in the set, my SR characters tend to have MUCH higher recharge than my Shielders, since I have more slots to devote to non-defense bonuses.

But the reason to have +recharge on an /SR toon is to run higher damage chains. Yet, Shields wins on damage, hands down over /SR. /SR tends to be viewed as good for damage due to the ability to get high recharge and for the ability to slot for +recharge easily, but it doesn't beat shields.

Keep in mind... a big source of +recharge is from Luck of the Gamblers which slot in defense sets. Shields has defense powers, too. SR has more places to slot LoTGs... but /shields has enough places that combined with pool powers you can still slot all 5 easily. That makes the available +recharge better for /shields then all scrapper secondaries other then /SR. (/electric can do well with quickness, but you can't get all 5 LoTGs slotted in a /elec build without dipping very heavily into pool powers and multiple pools you may not want to take otherwise).

It's really not just a matter of shields by itself being great. It's more a fact that it has a perfect synergy with the existing IO sets.

Bingo.