Give Scrappers a real inherent power

Hmmmm, maybe there could be something here.

Tanks and Brutes have a 5 target Taunt, because they are set up to hold agro.

Stalkers have Placate, because they are set up to avoid agro.

Scrappers aren't really designed to do either of those things as a primary function, as evidenced by the fact that only a few of their secondaries have a taunt aura in them.

It's also true that Confront is the most universally skipped power out of all Scrapper primaries.

How about a tweak to how Confront works? In it's current form it is just a single-target version of the Taunt that Tankers and Brutes have.

I had an idea of how it could be adjusted without drastically affecting anything.

Here goes:

Make it more like an "Intimidation" power. The Scrapper has called out his target, making it clear that he is coming for that target specifically. This rattles the target, causing their attacks to be slightly less accurate and (maybe) slightly less damaging for a time.

And I mean Accuracy, not To Hit. Specifically, a debuff that counteracts Accuracy bonuses that NPCs get for being higher rank or higher level. The catch there would be that if the target does not have an accuracy bonus, the debuff does nothing, making it rather pointless to use on minions.

Since AVs get a 50% accuracy buff, the lowest their final To-Hit will ever get is 7.5% as opposed to the 5% of most other critters. If Intimidation* gave a 50% debuff to that accuracy, it would reduce the AV's Accuracy bonus to 25%, effectively lowering their To-Hit floor to 6.25% instead of 7.5%.

Interestingly enough, this effect would be more valuable the lower your defense is. If you're already softcapped, the AV's accuracy bonus is applied to 5%. If you have no defense at all, it is applied to 50%. Normally, an AV attacking a Scrapper with 0% defense will hit 75% of the time. Using Intimidation on that AV will reduce the final To Hit from 75% to 62.5% instead (if that debuff was 50%)

It would still function as a Taunt, because it would be dumb to ignore a guy who just said he's coming for YOU, but the Accuracy debuff would replace the -range debuff found in Tanker and Brute Taunt (and Confront as well). And since it woudl still function as a Taunt, any Scrapper who took it and slotted it with a taunt set will not have to change their build.

50% might be (and probably is) too strong, I just used that to illustrate what I'm talking about.

It would be something that no other AT has, that relates to the "traditional" role of the Scrapper (attacking single hard targets). And if done correctly it won't really affect performance in a really noticeable way (because reducing To Hit from 7.5% to 6.25% isn't a huge improvement, and it probably would not be that strong anyway).

The other catch is, time spent using this ability is time that could be spent attacking instead, leaving the Scrapper with the choice of whether he wants to reduce his enemy's accuracy against him or attack. Most Scrapper players I know would choose to attack again, and STILL skip this power, so it probably would not end up being game-breaking at all.

The other idea I had is give Scrappers the ability to apply a minor regen debuff when they land 2 Critical Hits on the same target within a given time span. Make the time span long enough and the debuff small enough that it will only really come into play against something that survives more than a few hits from the Scrapper in the first place.

I dunno, that's just my idea. Don't think it's really necessary, but it would be kind of cool for the Scrapper Taunt to work slightly differently from Tanker and Brute Taunt, to reflect their slightly different role (not really meant to take agro for a team). And 99% of Scrappers will probably still skip it anyway

*I don't have a name in mind for it, so I went with Intimidation.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Try my widow who has 90% damage and 192.5% recharge from a standing start. That does not include muscalture alpha or a second follow up or TT Vengeance.

I made the suggestion in another thread but I'll make it here. I dont think they need it but if you want something that makes them unique give scrappers an inherent 25%-50% debuff resistance across the board. It makes them more solo friendly and more team friendly. With this change it will take more than 1 or 2 debuffs to stop a scrapper from damaging something.

Really though I think blasters need a look at and be given their damage kings spot back. Easiest way I can think of with out actually increasing their damage is to make a portion of the damage of all blaster attacks unresistable.

Right, a lesson in perspective from the side who thinks Stalkers haven't become absurd? If people thought Scrappers were powerful before but now Stalkers do better, just do some simple arithmetic. What happens when Stalkers get Titan Weapons? What happens when Stalkers get Fire Melee? Fiery Aura?

Anything about the status quo mentioned isn't always going to be the case...not unless nothing will ever change, but that's not going to happen. But I suppose no one bothers thinking about that so I'll just continue to be scoffed at.

EvilGeko is correct. This would make for a good, non-power-enhancing change.

EDIT: Of course, EvilGeko is always correct.

This is a really good idea. Change Confront into a Mag-1 Fear with -Acc attached.

Also, great arguments; I think Confront was skipped more than Stamina was taken (before the Inherent change to Fitness).

You use Confront? What for? I'm curious since I've never seen or heard of anyone using it.

I've never not had confront, since March 2005. For everything really. Pulling low levels, one of the inner circle late levels, Tanking AVs for teams, saving someone from dying in the nick of time, attracting a target immediately onto me who could be detrimental to someone else who could be the keystone of the team so to speak. It's almost like an absorb pain.

Tanked the first all scrapper STF with it and we had no more than 5 defeats total which is much better than anyother result which even included, what we didnt include, temp powers such as pets and nukes.

Doing Tankers jobs for them, doing things that the confrontless Scrappers think they can yet can't always when it comes to it. I wouldn't touch a confrontless Scrapper with a barge pole. All my Scrappers have it and it works well in PvE and PvP.

If I see a squishy teammate taking damage, I click on their name (to target through them) and hit Confront.

As you might guess, I most often play Tanks.

Then we'll probably see a surge in this kind of sentiment again, at least for a while, and it will still be absurd.

You do realize that these are mutually exclusive statements don't you?

I didn't say everyone has it all the time, I said anyone can easily get it. Those are two completely different things. The fact that it can be easily obtained, and few bother, illustrates that the majority of players in the game don't see it as something worth having.

It apparently says more about the playstyle of a lot of people than anything. I'm far from the only person who never uses the power analyzers.

You're welcome.

I think that is really cool.

...yeah. I think you just revoked your Brute card.

And to be honest... HOW is Confront more 'Versatile' than Taunt? Just being Single Target doesn't mean anything, as the rest of the group seems likely to know where you are and what you are doing the moment you land an actual attack.

Confront is a single target, half-duration form of taunt, and I have yet to encounter a situation where it would have served my Scrapper better than going up to the enemy and using a medium-strength attack.

So I am in full agreement with the concept that any new mechanic for Scrappers could easily alter how Confront works without sacrificing anything of significance.

Did you READ my suggestion? Or did you stop at the part where I said "tweak Confront"?

Because if you HAD read it, you would have seen the part where I mention that it would still remain a taunt power, with the exact same magnitude and duration. The taunt effect of the power would remain 100% unchanged. I didn't mention replacing that with a Fear effect anywhere in my post.

It would just have the -range replaced with a different secondary effect. Not breaking the Cottage Rule, because it doesn't change the function of the power. And most scrapper players who don't frequent the forums would probably not even notice a difference in it.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

I don't see this happening.

I know, it's really... really sad.

Sure, the idea to make Confront a little more unique is interesting. If it was merited or even possibly needed. Scrappers get enough survivability as it is and are unique enough as it is. If a Scrapper player can't even see how a Scrapper plays differently (and in good ways) compared to Brutes and Stalkers, this conversation is doomed for a resolution.

Nothing suggested in the OP would make my Scrappers more unique than they already are (and they are unique compared to my Stalkers and Brutes), and I would much rather see dev time focused on something that is actually needed in game.

Like I said earlier, this is the 1% complaining about how the 99% might actually be evening the field by a slight bit. It's silly to even be having this conversation, but I suspect it's lasted this long due to the gawker status merited from watching people that want to have their cake and eat it too. The only thing that could make this worse is if we were rickrolled and linked to Jersey Shore reruns at the same time. *shudders*

What would a Jersey Shore version of a rickroll be, anyway? A Snookibomb? *shudders again*

Such frightening imagery..... shame on you.

Originally Posted by PapaSlade Rangle's right....this is fun.

I'm not sure about the others posting here, but my argument for changing confront is not that scrappers need the help. I just don't like useless powers that are skipped by 90% of all players, and that goes for any powerset. I wish they'd go through all of the powersets and replace the powers that everyone skips.

Just because you skip a power because you find it useless doesnt make it useless. You are giving away your limitations as a Scrapper as we speak.

Just because YOU take a power like Confront and try to shoe-horn it's usage into your playstyle doesn't mean the power itself is good or worth taking for the 90% of people who don't take it. After all... they don't take it. Compare this conversation about Confront to one about Time Bomb from Devices. A power almost everyone skips, that has a role but such a small one that nobody really cares about it. Now imagine that EVERY Blaster secondary lost one of its powers for Time Bomb... and you now have a situation in which everyone who plays a Blaster is skipping the same (mostly) useless power regardless of their powerset choices. Now... you have "Confront-itis" a rather deadly disease. That's pretty much the best indication of the problem right there.