Energy Aura or WP for my Staff Scrapper

Maybe this belongs in the i22 forums, but I am interested in getting opinions from the Scrapper community, not just VIP Beta people.

I've played both to the early 20s on the beta server, and just can;t pick between them. At those early levels, with free attuned enhancements and ATOs, they are both powerful and worry-free. I am wondering about the experience with each at endgame levels, and leveling in an environment when slots won't always be filled optimally.

My current main is a DM/Regen, so I would like to try something different, but I also like to solo a lot, so survivability is very important to me, as is the ability move quickly from fight to fight without much downtime. Regen is probably still the king of that, but like I said, I want something a bit different.

Thanks in advance for helpful comments!

They are both awesome.

I think it comes down to concept.

Both are pretty great, but for most content I like EA better:
- I prefer the clicky heal and end sapping over the passive extra regen/recovery,
- prefer softcapping defs with less effort,
- like the end drain and slow resists and the extra energy and toxic resists,
- +recharge is always good, as is slowing enemies, and EA's survivability is not as heavily affected by how many foes are in your aura as WP's is,
- and I like being able to have full stealth without the stealth pool or SS.

But against Psi damage (which abounds everywhere, it seems), EA sucks and WP is great. WP's godmode is also crashless and has a fixed recharge time, so it's great with a single extra slot and gets a lot more use from me than EA's godmode (although I admit the crash isn't so bad when you can refill your end bar often, but I still dislike it).

I guess if you prefer having a bit more control over your armor's survivability with active healing/sapping (more active than activating WP's godmode if it's up) and if you don't mind the psi hole so much, go EA, I personally think it's more fun. But if you prefer a mostly toggle-and-forget armor and concentrating your fun in your attacks, then go WP.

If we were talking brutes, with their higher HP (leveraging WP's regen better - not that it's bad for the scrapper, mind you) and with their inability to stealth stuff due to fury, I might be more inclined to WP. But anyway you look at it, you should enjoy yourself a lot no matter which one you pick.

EA.

This is one of the reasons I'm going Staff/WP Stalker.

WP for Scrappers is all toggles. It just get's boring. That one click heal in the Stalker version makes a huge difference in (imo of course) enjoyment of the set.

Thusly, EA I find to be a more fun set to play from that standpoint.

However, know that the cloak doesn't work with your mez protection (enemies will get taunted by your mez/-rch toggle even while cloaked) so the cloak becomes pretty much useless.

Though, I hear it still gives good stealth to enemies not in range who would normally aggro on sight of you. Maybe that's even the point of the power, but eh, if I can't use it to stealth (not just scrapper stealth) it just becomes meh for me.

Has a few holes, but they can be worked around with just a bit of work.

Of course, if I could talk them into turning NIN's mez protection into a toggle and adding Smashing resist, I'd be set there >_>

Thanks for the input. I've been playing the WP one a bit more on Beta, and it works fine, but like you've both pointed out, it's boring. My main is a DM/Regen, so I am used to VERY active management of my survivability. The fact that WP doesn't have a click heal might be the deciding factor. I hate the fact that when the bar starts to get red, there isn't much to do other than eat a green or run away...

WP works a little better for my Concept, but not so much so that I feel it is absolutely necessary...

I'll have to try it out, then. Thanks for the suggestion!

I have a TW/EA scrapper and I have loads of fun playing it because i can go into a group and suck away the enemies end while adding to mine and getting more def but the bad part I dont like about EA is that when you get hit, you TAKE damage. EA offers very little Res against things while WP offers a lot more