Erratic1

This is a lot like saying, "Everyone else is getting paid more but your salary stayed the same, so you're okay." You and Tidge both ignore the reality and objectivity of actual, documented performance. Again, there it this (and more but not in the mood to link every indicator): Yeah, role protection. Everyone other melee AT had to have a defined role and Brutes got nerfed while other AT were buffed. And you're here agreeing with someone who literally only ever comes to the Brute forums to naysay any changes to Brutes--an AT they admit they do not like and treat their posts as somehow objective. Someone who in fact, when asked to describe what would prove to them Brutes are underperforming avoided giving any answer.

I think a more survivable Brute would have better clear speeds. Some of what shows a Brute down is recovery from being less survivable.

The issue between Brutes and Tankers is, to my view, minorly related to ATO. Changes to Tankers were not based on their ATOs but universally to the AT. Yes, Brutes have crap ATOs, but that is its own issue. If Scrappers and Stalkers can exist in the same role space, why do Brutes have to be excluded from any niche? Have Fury buff Brute defense/resistance variably as it does damage with a max target matching...say 40% of the difference between the current gulf between Brute and Tanker base values. Brutes would deal no more damage but would be a bit better at surviving and hence able to actually engage in, "Go, go, go!" play.

I could get behind this pretty easily except for one thing... It would reward those who campaigned for so long to put Brutes in the position they are in now. Toss in something to satisfy my spite...say removing Tankers inherently improved defense/resistance values (so they have to build to cap like Brutes do now) and lowering Scrapper/Stalker damage (let them build Fury to get back to what they have now) and I'm down for it. It has the beauty of preserving some of what makes Brutes what they are. Tanker fans shouldn't have a problem. Don't they they routinely offer their survivability is overkill? And Scrappers/Stalkers would keep crits.

Ston has done that across three different threads with plenty of statistics. You hand-waved the results away. So I want the parameters of results you won't dismiss for not being content you don't play regularly.

It's not about Trapdoor--you play that once in accessing Incarnate powers. Its about what it demonstrates. The question is what would convince you? Given you only show us in the Brute section to naysay Brute problems, I'm genuinely curious.

You don't play Brutes by your own admission, so how would you know? Oh.... ...its because you have an unsubstantiated view of how people think. I play all the melee classes, as do others...as did Ston. Your resistance to the actuality of where things are....well, I could suggest, in keeping with what your supposition on motivations, that someone who didn't play an AT admits to disliking it calling the AT fine is self-serving. But I will stick to the facts brought to the table--you don't have the background to support the assertion. It would be like me commenting on Kheldians, which I have yet to really get into and making claims of their performance/balance. So far as I can tell, you only show up in the Brute subforum to oppose the notion of Brutes being not well off: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/search/?&q=Brute&type=forums_topic&quick=1&author=Tidge&nodes=22&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

If the average player is not using IOs then Brutes are even worse off because they do not have anywhere near the survivability of Tankers, so the Tankers not only deal more area damage, but they are also staying in combat longer and generating xp faster. I had noticed my Tankers being able to increase the level of their missions sooner than my Brutes some time ago, but only relatively recently did it occur to me to instead leave the level alone and simply up the team size (while soloing). More guys hitting as hard versus same number of guys hitting harder in theory has a balance point, but the gradations on team size are finer than the level size. And of course you do not have to do any herding, the spawns all give you more targets to bring down at once. I recently finished leveling a Bio/DB Tanker, who because of the increased resistance/defense values plays in Offensive stance and has plenty of AoE attacks and he zipped through the levels. My current Fire/Claws Tanker--perpetual Follow Up +Dmg bonus combined with Burn, and area attacks, likewise melts groups that a Brute would have to take time recovering health for engaging. Better single target damage for a Brute? I guess if you're fighting a series of single targets that is wonderful, and certainly this past weekend while doing ToT I had some eye-watering hits while playing my EM/Electric Brute and buffed by a Marine Controller...but teams are focused on getting the mission/TF/trial done sooner rather than later and solo, well, if you want to spend more time getting a clear so you can occasionally see higher number single-target hits, be my guest.

You should. It is not really remotely open for discussion: Those are the times for Trapdoor per Ston. The lower the bar, the faster the finish. Trapdoor favors dealing area damage. We used to have another thread where people would post their times and Brutes were not beating Tankers. Per the graph above, using Titan Weapons, Dual Blades, Psionic Melee, Staff Fighting, or Broadsword Brutes come out ahead. Most of those are considered crap powersets. And for the powersets which are good (the left end), Brutes are not remotely close.

Bio has fantastic survivability. You just have to know when to use its three click powers. If Bio were any better, it would be nerfed (something some already think should happen). As for the visuals, even on minimal setting there are some. Best you can do there is color to not stand out against costume. As for why Brutes, Scrappers/Stalkers don't get Super Strength, Tankers don't get Energy Aura, and damage auras are best on Brutes. Also offensive powersets which are more single target focused are better on Brutes than Tankers.

What @Hero Star said is what I have noticed as goes its behavior. If the power does not recharge during the FF proc its recharge time reverts to what it would have been had FF not proc'd.

@Pepinillo, As goes Hasten, there is a point where you are close enough to perma that being a little short does not usually make too much difference. If being a little short allows you to shore up some other aspect of character performance, I would say go for it. Endurance was not a concern. Between Energy Drain and Energize you should be good for endurance. I just don't see what Boxing is bringing to the table. You make a good point on the impact of Rage Crashing.

So every melee in the game needs to go get Combat Teleport on the off chance there is an Energy Blast user around who cannot find something else to target?

As it appears to me... You've got Hasten toggled on but it is not actually perma. Your offensive powers all have pretty low accuracy values. You could fix this via your alpha slot, not proc-bombing, or taking Focused Accuracy (which you could take instead of Boxing). You have no +To Hit. At the very least I would place Kismet: +6% Accuracy (which is really To-Hit) in one of your defensive powers. You have very nice Defense values, but keep in mind Energy Drain boosts Def. You might be able to save some slots or gain other bonuses by trading down some of your existing Defense values. On the build I have for me (not played near enough) SS/EA Brutes the numbers look like: Sidera - Super Strength - Energy Aura.mbd Lower defense numbers (cannot have everything) but even on target hit by Energize brings her defenses up to a nice value. She has perma-Hasten and is capable of double stacking Rage (permanently if she times Energy Torrent right and gets a proc off Force Feedback).

Now go do it at level 19.

What a person finds fun is what THEY should be doing, but it is not a way to objectively view things and make an comparison of performance across ATs. I've had fun on objectively underpowered combinations, but that fun does not change the actual underpowered nature of the combo.

I admit, I had been considering Burn's area being boosted but had not checked that point. Were you using Follow Up to boost damage on both or looking at Burn in complete isolation? If I am following your numbers correctly, that would bring the final set of numbers to roughly 171 for the Tanker initial hit, vs 168 for the Brute, 9.55 ticks for the Tanker and 10.94/7.54 for the Brute. Totals would be 295.15 for the Tanker, 279.22 for the Brute. Mind, I am not saying the Tanker is better off but that the Fury break even point is pushed higher (you have established pretty solidly Burn working roughly evenly). Moreso if Follow Up is stacked twice. And keep in mind Claws was found to favor Tankers. So overall it still looks to me Claws/Fire favors Tankers, just not so much as I thought.

I learned something new about KREA today. During the generation process you do not need to use Quick Enhance to end up with clear, upscaled results. In fact, not using Quick Enhance can leave you at a result you prefer over what Quick Enhance will produce. The downside of this is the details will remain fuzzy until you upscale an image. I started from this screenshot: From: To: Edit: You don't even need to use the Generation interface at all beyond uploading your image. Upscale it and use the options presented on the Upscale panel. True, you get no feedback on what things will look like, but you can repeatedly tweak and upscale directly. From: To:

I don't slot SO, but rather crafted IOs, but that is neither here nor there to the point of perhaps your view being distorted as I actually exam people when I team and far fewer are Set IO'd to the gills than are.

The lead was 19. Truthfully the worst of it was the early missions with too many people running off as if solo, or pulling way too much. It got much better towards the end.

Yeah, shouldn't have invited the Stalker, but I was not the one in charge. In reality, the Stalker was a star.

+1 for the first mission, +0 thereafter. Six Brutes, a Scrapper, and a Stalker

Bosses aren't pylons. Elite bosses, which are not common, might at times approximate one (e.g. Protean*). Caves tend to have big rooms containing multiple spawns. So advantage Tanker there where in the hallways, with constrained spawn sizes it's more breakeven. But advantage + breakeven = advantage. And most missions are not caves in any event. You're talking an IO'd, endgame Brute. Talk to me about levels 20-49 and SOs. And as goes endgame, against the big, end of trial/TF, you want a Tanker. If the survivability of Tankers is overkill, then you have no objections to Brutes getting some of that...say half the difference now between Brute and Tanker values? Or maybe Tankers not getting any higher values and having to reach cap like Brutes do, through set bonuses and not skipping Toughness? Back on topic, I have yet to see anything substantiating Claws/Fire performance being better on a Brute versus a Tanker. The entire calling card of Fiery Aura is Burn, which favors Tankers. *I play every character I make against Protean. I can assure you the Tankers have an easier time than the Brutes.

So do eruptions of the Yellowstone super-volcano--something most people don't want to be present for.