Why make a scrapper when you can make a brute?

Here it is, guys... the big question. Has it been asked before? Probably. Has it been answered in full? Not that I know of. So, it's still on the table.

What advantages does a scrapper have over a brute? Brutes have about the same amount of HP and do more damage. On top of that, if we're imagining, say, a brute vs. scrapper PVP match, the brute will be building rage the whole time... and eventually out DPS the scrap. In PVE, the damage differences are huge, and the brutes have arguably better defenses.

Once Going Rogue hits, will Scrappers be obsolete? Should I delete my level 24 elec/*? Which ARE cuter, kittens or puppies?!?

I don't play redside a whole lot, so I'm not overly experienced with brutes. But the Main reason I can see making Scrappers is that there are sets like Martial Arts, Broadsword, and Katana that brutes don't have access to.

I'm more of a puppy person.

Brutes have more HP, higher resist caps, and fury at 60% (I think) maintained makes them on par with scrappers.

You literally have NO idea what can of worms you're opening if the Forum Elites catch of wind of this thread. There's a raging debate amongst them on the matter. For the time being, I can offer you this:

Scrappers still have access to a few powersets brutes do not, their damage is dependable and their criticals are a great bonus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

1) The "big" difference in damage is in average, only 3% if i remember correctly. And that's assuming almost full fury, wich isn't always true in normal play.

2) Some people hate fury, some hate the randomness of crits.

3) With GR, scrappers will probably get gloom too, wich is one of the things that make brutes far superior now.

4) Yes brutes have better caps, but the same number. For defense, it doesn't matter, everyone softcap at 45%. For resistance, it only matters for godmode or the set's niche. (fire for /FA or nrg for /elec)

5) In PvP, both are lols. Granted i don't PvP much, but if it's like when i last heard of it, melee characters get eaten by ranged ones. Also, even the meleers know to kite a brute, so building fury is not easy. Brutes will only get advantage in fight-club style of duel, wich doesn't happen that often.

6) Absolutly no AT will magically becomes obsolete when GR hits. Everyone have different preference and the big proof is that "this" topic pops in every single AT boards. So less doom crying. =P

I'm not so much doom-crying as just flat out wondering.

I mean, it *is* kind of a good question. Is a scrapper's base damage higher than a brute's, then? How do the AT's damage compare at different levels of brute fury? I myself don't have a brute, so I have no idea how common it is to stay at 90% fury.

I'm just thinking, as a TF leader, if they both did about the same amount of damage, why take the squishier scrapper? Because it has a sword?

I find scrappers more fun.

It really boils down to a preference thing. Neither is far and away superior to the other.

Okay, maybe I didn't clarify well enough. (Or maybe some folks don't know what "obsolete" entails...)

Obsolete, in this context, would indicate that one archetype is "numerically" inferior to the other, while possessing no strengths to compensate for this. Who has more IO's, more skill, more influence, or more pimples on their back is all irrelevant. The question at hand deals with basic, equal-ground gameplay.

Nobody's trying to make the point that Scrappers won't be fun anymore. Neither are they saying that they will cease to do great damage and have great survivability. The POINT is: There is no mechanical reason to play or recruit a Scrapper *instead of* a Brute. My Lamborghini might not make your Escort drive slower, but if they were both available at the same price, why choose the latter? It has become obsolete.

Sorry, but the "but Scrappers are totally the stabbiest coolest thing in CoH" argument just isn't relevant here.

A team of 8 scrappers will plow through a mission faster than a team of 8 brutes. Why is that a fact?

EDIT: Trick question, it's not a fact at all. The point is that the original question is meaningless. Regardless of the numerical superiority of brutes, some players hate chasing fury and therefore won't.

Edit2: And if you really want to go with car analogies, scrappers have better acceleration but lower top speeds.

In very vague terms, Brute damage is comparable, and Brutes are more survivable. But while I have a go-go-go play style that works well with fury, I still prefer the Scrapper damage mechanic. Also, I prefer blue side. Also, I like Katana. Also, lots of people will disagree with my initial sweeping generalization. And "numerically superior" is very dependent on the situations you commonly find yourself in.

I like Brutes. Just not as much as Scrappers.

But then we start getting into the world of psycho-number crunchers with purpled out builds versus players that have never heard of Mids.

In the end though, with as many times as it's been brought to my attention, and with the still surprising event of someone being startled by my main's setIO bonuses list, I've finally accepted that players like us really are the exception and not the rule.

When *I* look at the differences between a claws/sr brute and a claws/sr scrapper, I see a considerable disparity in performance. How warped am I that a 2.2% difference at the top end on DPS is "considerable?" And that's with a set that was tweaked specifically to make it hit harder.

On the mitigation side, the disparity widens due to the way the higher brute HP is going to be doubly helpful, not only on the normal front but also with the passive scaling dam-res.

But that's one combo. For the other damage sets, if gloom isn't put into use, the scrapper wins on DPS. The brute wins on mitigation due to higher HP.

But that's all solo. I don't care what happens on teams for one very simple reason: On teams, things die so quickly that no one is going to actually SEE the differences between the two ATs unless they get hero stat dumps from the scrapper/brute players.

I wanna tank the RSF with my Scrapper \o/