[KM/SD] Long-time Defender, first-time Scrapper

So I've been in City of Heroes since about Issue 6. Almost all of that time has been defenders of one stripe or another, with brief stops at other archetypes. I've only taken one non-defender to 50 (and that was entirely by accident). However, I rolled a Kinetics Melee / Shield Defense scrapper the other day on a whim and she just flies. Quick Strike and Body Blow are two beautiful bread-and-butter attacks for my attack chain, and Power Siphon. I'm actually got a scrapper up to the level where I can get a travel power. This is unfamiliar territory for me. So! Where I need help: Getting some idea of where the rest of my path to 50 will take me.

I have the first four powers of KM, and it looks like that gets me the most important basics; I don't plan on getting Torrent or Confront, although I will get Burst and Concentrated Strike. Focused Burst is a ranged attack, which makes me wonder how well it does in the overall game; is that a good choice?

For Shield Defense... I don't see a single power I don't want to take. Even the tier nine power, because it's the only source of physical resistance other than Deflection I see. It seems to be very toggle-heavy, though.

My three pools I'm looking at right now are Leadership, Jumping, and Medicine. In the case of Jumping, it's because I want to have some level of Hold protection running at all times, so I'm taking Acrobatics; for Leadership, I want Assault and Tactics for the accuracy and damage to squeeze out more damage will normally get me than six slots. (Not to mention I'm not a solo player.) Medicine for Stimulant and Aid Self, as I know Shield Defense lacks a built-in self-heal, and being able to rez my teammates is just great for teams. What should be my fourth pool, or should I leave it at three?

Assuming I get all the powers I mention above, that's 23 of my 24 powers. That doesn't leave much room for anything else. Are epic pools as important to high-end scrapper play as they are to high-end defender play?

I'm also falling down a lot - running out of endurance, toggles fall, I die. Is slotting for +recovery more important to Shield Defense than it is to other powersets? Speaking of, is any specific sort of slotting absolutely critical for eitehr powerset?

I guess I'm rambling. I'm having a lot more fun as a scrapper than I've ever had, I'm grateful for any advice on how to keep this rush going. ^_^

Repeating some of what BrokenPrey said for emphasis.

Don't take Acrobatics. I personally put three recharge SOs in Active Defense. You don't technically need that, but I found that about half my deaths were because I'd let it lapse because I was busy doing other things and got stupid. An extra slot seemed worth it to me for insurance. Take the Fighting pool. Tough and Weave are what you're after. Hasten from the speed pool is also good, but not critical.

I'm of the opinion that every melee toon should have at least one ranged attack. It may not be part of your usual chain, but there will be times you'll be glad to have it. If you're an IO set bonus sort of person, it also helps with slotting choices, since you're not then limited to melee or PBAOE sets. Some melee sets have to dip into epic pools for ranged attacks, but Focused Burst is good because it boosts Power Siphon.

I just put active defense on as my auto power and then leave hasten as the first spot on my main attack chain bar. This leave 0 chance that I do not have active defense on and I would much rather pop hasten than active defense when it comes up.

Something I think might be kind of important to lay some emphasis down on, in regards to your endurance bar... Manage Your Attacks. Much is often the same woe from sets like Dark Melee and Claws, you animate fast, you recharge fast, you burn fast. In the early levels you're kind of in a pickle for slotting. Yes we have Stamina a birth now, but that doesn't totally alleviate the stress factor. So we assume you're around 14-16 in level, you'll be making your march on to some bigger things, (the dual bursts), and find they pack a pretty end heavy punch too. When you're fighting a group, focus on evenly dispursing your damage. Don't waste your damage. If a target has a sliver of life left, wait for Quick Strike, and pop them once, don't drop Body or Smashing, save the 2-3 points of endurance, save the damage and redirect that onto the next target. This will become especially imperative when you get to Burst. Think you can drop a mob with two Bursts? Give a second, if you can handle the duration safely, and just apply it twice, don't dump a few single target attacks if--in the end--you'll just have wasted the end.

Playing Defenders as a primary role may be giving some illusions to your end bar as a whole with the Defender Inherent, and (not to say you don't) but the often lack of a front-runner for attacking that is Defending. Scrappers are like a tank full of sharks compared to a tank full of Koi Fish (Defenders). They're happy and content when cared for in both cases, but at any moment the Sharks might flip out and kill someone.

And, to full bury the hatchette: Active Defense, 2-3 Rech SO's, move on to IO's and start packing an occasional Global +Rech bonus and you can easily move that down to one single Rech IO, and still have it up 100% of the time.

Also, stay away from toggles you don't need at the time. It is possible to run full speed into the wind from 1-20 on your Melee defenses alone (fine print: depends on conditions, and teams, and willingness to except flirting with the floor on occasion).

As for Leadership/Medicine. Medicine is solid, but if you're looking towards an occasional handy rez, earn your Day Jobs and save up the Rez Temps (unless you're flooring it to 50, and really want it), Stimulant and Aid Self is a solid go-for, but that last power you might want to consider leaving available, as Tough and Weave as nice, fast, easy ways to help develop (any) this defense set to 45% Melee/Ranged/AoE. If, after all that's said and done, and you still have room to pack in Assault/Tactics? Well, Tactics is a great place to drop Gaussians for some more global +Def (Although, so is Power Siphon ).